Smylie Kaufman believes that Bryson DeChambeau’s iron game may be what stops him contending to win a third US Open title at Shinnecock Hills this week.
DeChambeau is one of the favourites to win the third major of the year, despite missing the cut at both The Masters and the PGA Championship.
Of course, the US Open has provided the two greatest triumphs of DeChambeau’s career to date. And it is interesting that Shinnecock Hills is perhaps the venue on the rota that asks some of the same questions as Pinehurst.
However, Smylie Kaufman has admitted that he has his doubts about DeChambeau’s chances over the coming days.
Why Smylie Kaufman does not expect Bryson DeChambeau to win the US Open
DeChambeau could not have been in better form heading into The Masters, having won twice on LIV Golf earlier in the season. Unfortunately, that form did him little good at Augusta National.
He lost shots to the field with both his approach play and around the greens at The Masters. And speaking on The Smylie Show, Kaufman suggested that DeChambeau’s game may not be ideally suited to Shinnecock.
“I don’t like Bryson this week, I don’t. I don’t like his iron game out here. It seems a little bit more of a links type of iron play, you need to be able to hit shots. Bryson struggles to hit shots,” he said.
“From what I’ve been watching of highlights I’ve seen on LIV, he’s been able to work the right flags, right? Right to left wind, some guys have solutions for that. You hold shots, you take more club, you add spin. Bryson didn’t seem to have solutions for that. I was seeing them hit more of those shots over the last couple events that he’s played. So maybe he’s been able to figure that out. But his approach stats weren’t good here when he played here the last time. And so based on what we’ve seen in the trend in his game, the short game has kind of let him down at the majors of late. It’s a big reason why he contended at other major championships and why he won two US Opens.
“What he did so well at Pinehurst, and I watched a lot of them that week, of course, he drove it incredibly, it was just high bombs, but he played so conservative to the middle of the greens all week. So if Bryson’s able to have a game plan in which he doesn’t get to where he’s chasing a little bit too much, and he’s got to be able to hit a number. If he can’t if he can’t hit a number, it doesn’t matter.
“You might get a sense of this too, because you’ve played the golf course, I walked it, I felt like there was a mix of flat lies and then a mix of ball below your feet, ball above your feet, downhill, uphill. But I think the flatter a lie, the better it is for Bryson. The more the lies are changing, I feel like the more difficult it is for him and the single length irons and then also, conditions that might make it tough.”
How Bryson DeChambeau performed the last time the US Open was held at Shinnecock Hills
DeChambeau is one of the players in the field who did tee it up when the US Open was held at Shinnecock back in 2018.
On that occasion, he finished tied for 25th. He had gone into the week having won the Memorial Tournament on his previous start.
DeChambeau ended up on 12 over par for the week. He was unable to kick on after recovering from an opening 76 by posting 69 on Friday in Southampton.
Interestingly, Data Golf shows that DeChambeau lost strokes to the field with both his approach play and around the green. He was excellent off the tee and on the green.
DeChambeau is a different player now in many ways. However, he approaches the game in a fairly similar manner eight years on.
So while it should not be a shock if he does contend, you can definitely understand Kaufman’s reservations.
