Bryson DeChambeau: Why He's Ready To Win Another U.S. Open

June 9, 2025

The complete case for Bryson DeChambeau to win the 125th U.S. Open at Oakmont. Recent changes to his equipment, performance level in Majors, and how he sets up for Oakmont Country Club is all included in this article from RotoBaller PGA contributor Joe Idone.

Since turning professional in 2016, Bryson DeChambeau has always played the game with an outside-the-box approach. His countless expeditions into the physics of the swing, numerous iterations of body and spirit, and unique courage to do things differently in an endless effort to problem-solve the game of golf have provided a breath of fresh air within an often stagnant environment.

DeChambeau has conquered the competition on golf’s most extreme stage at the U.S. Open twice in the past five years. Victories at iconic venues like Pinehurst and Winged Foot showcase his ability to outstudy, outwork, and outperform his peers on the most challenging examination of skill in the sport. When the going gets tough, DeChambeau gets going.

He’ll arrive this week at Oakmont Country Club, located just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ready to defend the U.S. Open Championship at a golf course that has the teeth to be the most difficult set of 18 holes on American soil. Here’s why I think he’s primed to win… again.

Engineered for Majors

Like most things with DeChambeau, it’s been a process. He’s not afraid to experiment, from 3D-printed single-length irons to long drive competitions and protein shakes. DeChambeau’s strength is his fully committed approach to engineering himself in ways that he believes give him the strongest probability of success. After 10 years competing against the best in the world, he’s finally honed in on a process that he knows works.

In his last six Major Championships, he has only one result outside of the Top 6. DeChambeau has gained an unworldly +62.95 strokes on the field in those events. The Majors, of course, require a baseline prerequisite of skill, but also ultimately reward patience and proper strategy — something DeChambeau has worked intently on in recent years.

DeChambeau gamifies everything. From his YouTube challenges to custom-built gym equipment, he’s creating competitive elements in all areas of life. It’s all creating body-markers for how to handle pressure and circumstance, a critical element to solving the puzzle of Major Championships. He’s built for this, both physically and mentally.

The Defending U.S. Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau arrives at Oakmont 👀pic.twitter.com/9mi8sutEzo

— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) June 9, 2025

Optimized for Oakmont

Oakmont Country Club is set to host the U.S. Open for the tenth time in 2025, the most for any course since the tournament’s inception. At 7,372 yards, Oakmont is not necessarily a course that disproportionately rewards power over precision. That said, distance is ALWAYS an advantage, and Bryson DeChambeau carries the ball farther in the air off the tee than any other player in the 156-man field.

Additionally, since April, western Pennsylvania has received an abundance of rain, 13 inches in the past 10 weeks, and a rainy forecast is in store again this week. The recently installed SubAir system will dry out the greens and keep them quick, but I expect the fairways to be wet, heightening the advantage of players who can carry the ball the furthest.

DeChambeau admittedly struggled at the PGA Championship with his proximity on approach. I believe Oakmont is unique in that approach play is somewhat devalued here. With fewer long approach shots compared to most Major Championship venues, and tiered, dangerous pin locations on Oakmont’s volatile greens, a sound strategy may often involve simply playing to 25 feet.

One area where DeChambeau has vastly improved, and that coincides with his Major Championship success, is his short game. He’s gained strokes around the green in his last five Majors, including leading the field at the 2025 Masters. It’s one of the areas where we’ve seen the biggest improvement from DeChambeau, and he’ll need it to deal with the five-inch-high greenside rough.

Oakmont features the most challenging greens in the world. A unique, "Jurassic-Parkian" strain of POA grass that has evolved over hundreds of years and enables the course to be pushed to the extreme. The head superintendent has said that green speeds could exceed 14 on the Stimpmeter this week. After a stretch through 2023 in which DeChambeau lost strokes putting in five out of six Majors, he has since turned that around, gaining an average of +2.6 strokes putting in his last six Major Championships.

Defending #USOpen champ Bryson DeChambeau is here at Oakmont trying to make history. Only two golfers in the last 70+ years have won back-to-back titles. pic.twitter.com/20XMDIyjtx

— Chris Harlan (@CHarlan_Trib) June 9, 2025

His Superpower

Bryson DeChambeau is actively one of the most dominant drivers of the golf ball to ever play the game. He’s gained at least 2 strokes OTT (off the tee) in his last 11 Major Championships. This year alone, DeChambeau was +4.8 at Augusta National and +6.7 at Quail Hollow Club off the tee. His ability to generate power without losing control of the clubface is unlike any other player in the game.

The fairways at Oakmont are narrow and canted along a ridgeline that runs through the property, effectively making them even more difficult to hit. In a recent YouTube video where DeChambeau published his practice round from Oakmont, he compared the course to Winged Foot on three separate occasions.

In the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club, DeChambeau — emboldened by his newfound power — deployed a “bomb-and-gouge” strategy of hitting it as far as possible after realizing how difficult it was to actually hit fairways. He won that tournament by six strokes.

I fully expect a similar approach this week. In his YouTube video, he hit Driver on twelve holes — and that’s only because he was able to drive the green on one of the par 4s with a 3-wood. Given the weather and course conditions, this is not a golf course I expect to neutralize his biggest weapon, but rather one that gives him a massive leg up on the field because of it.

Bryson DeChambeau will have a new driver in the bag as he heads to Oakmont this week looking to repeat as US Open champ, "I've used it for over three months now and its time to put a freshie in." pic.twitter.com/8dvz1UMYto

— Chris McKee (@mrmckee) June 8, 2025

Figuring It All Out

He figured out how to gain the muscle required to swing harder, then reined it in to become manageable. He figured out a putting setup that unlocked consistency, and he’s used mathematics and probability to better himself on the greens. Last week at LIV Virginia, he debuted a brand-new set of LA Golf irons that he custom-designed with Oakmont in mind.

It may seem like a lot of tinkering, but no player is more calculated with the mechanics of golf and equipment than DeChambeau. Everything he does is for a reason. We’re in a world where Scottie Scheffler is playing at a truly unprecedented level, unbothered in the pole position of professional golf.

Competition seems scarce, but there’s one object in the mirror that I believe is much closer than it appears — particularly according to oddsmakers, who have given him roughly 3X the betting odds. He’s here to compete. He’s relentlessly studied every question on the exam. And he’s ready to win another U.S. Open.

He's Bryson DeChambeau.

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