After eight holes of play on Sunday, Bryson DeChambeau led the US Open at Torrey Pines. A few hours later, he had finished in a tie for 26th place. But the long-hitter will look to put that behind him when he heads to Connecticut for the Travelers Championship beginning on Thursday.
DeChambeau will walk into TPC River Highlands as the favorite to win the Travelers Championship ahead of a strong field that includes five of the world’s top-10 golfers.
DeChambeau: Back nine was ‘just golf’
With 10 holes to play, DeChambeau was closing in on winning a second consecutive US Open championship. Then, he bogeyed both the 11th and 12th holes, and double-bogeyed the 13th to fall out of contention. A quadruple-bogey on the 17th only punctuated his collapse.
DeChambeau shot a 6-over-par 77 on Sunday, including an 8-over-par 44 on the back nine.
“People will say I did this or did that, and it’s just golf,†DeChambeau said afterwards. “I’ve had plenty of times where I hit it way worse than today and I won. It’s just one of those things where I didn’t have the right breaks happen at the right time. I could have easily gotten to seven, eight under today. I just wasn’t fully confident with the golf swing and just got a little unlucky in the rough and a couple other places.â€
Sportsbooks aren’t placing too much stock in his Sunday struggles. DeChambeau enters the Travelers Championship as the +1200 top pick to win the tournament at FanDuel Sportsbook.
That puts him just ahead of Dustin Johnson (+1300), who won the Travelers last year. Johnson hasn’t booked a win since claiming the 2020 Masters title in November. A chance to defend his title at TPC River Highlands could be just what he needs to bust out of his recent slump.
“Since January I haven’t played as well as I would have liked to, but I feel like the game is starting to come around at the right time,†Johnson, now the world’s No. 2 golfer behind Jon Rahm, told reporters on Wednesday. “For me it’s always going to be putting. When I putt well, I play well. It’s pretty simple.â€
Travelers provides showcase for Koepka/DeChambeau rivalry
Patrick Cantlay (+1500) and Paul Casey (+1600) are next on the board, followed by Brooks Koepka (+1700). Koepka has engaged in a heated rivalry with DeChambeau in recent weeks, a feud he says is good for the sport. The two could easily be among the leaders this weekend for the Travelers Championship.
| Travelers Championship Odds (via FanDuel Sportsbook | |
| Bryson DeChambeau: +1200 | Dustin Johnson: +1300 |
| Patrick Cantlay: +1500 | Paul Casey: +1600 |
| Brooks Koepka: +1700 | Abraham Ancer: +2300 |
| Patrick Reed: +2300 | Scottie Scheffler: +2300 |
| Brian Harman: +2700 | Tony Finau: +3000 |
“[The rivalry has] pretty much been on every news channel,†Koepka said, via the Connecticut Post. “To me, that’s growing the game. You’re putting it in front of eyeballs, you’re putting it in front of people, the game of golf, who probably don’t normally look at golf, don’t play it, might get them involved.â€
Rahm is the biggest name not participating in the Travelers. After winning the US Open last weekend, the new world No. 1 is taking the week off. Rahm ranks as the +850 favorite to win the Open Championship – also known as the British Open – next month.
