BRYSON DECHAMBEAU has won in Illinois twice, they were both big wins in his career, but none as big as winning the U.S. Open this past Sunday at Winged Foot.        ______________________________________________________________________

Bryson DeChambeau with the U.S. Open trophy.

BY: RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. You can follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy, or friend him on Facebook, and connect with Rory on LinkedIn.

I didn’t know much about Bryson DeChambeau when he arrived at Olympia Fields in 2015 for the U.S. Amateur.

DeChambeau had already won the NCAA Championship that year while playing with his SMU team. As a result he was one of the top choices to win at Olympia Fields. But instead of attracting attention for his NCAA win, Dechambeau started getting noticed for the fact all his irons were the same length. Seriously kid-why.

But he had answers, and explanations, he majored in engineering, and was known to study about anything that could make him a better golfer. Even more interesting than the length of his clubs, was that he was putting new golf balls in the boiling pot, to see which ones floated the right way. The ones that didn’t were taken out of play, because they were not perfectly round.

DeChambeau explained how 4-5 new golf balls in every dozen, weren’t perfectly round. Yes even in a $50.00 dozen of Pro V1’s. I don’t know if he still does that, but I’m sure he made the R&D departments at places like Titleist and Callaway do some thinking.

DeChambeau was such a neat story, people started rooting for him to win his matches at Olympia Fields just to keep him around. The media liked him too, because you never knew what he was going to say. He attended SMU in Texas because his hero Payne Stewart did. Once that was known, his apparel was the next question because in some ways he resembled how Stewart dressed, Hogan cap and all.

DeChambeau always walked faster than his opponents all week long, he wanted them to feel like they had to catch up to him through the entire match. Nobody did, and he took home the Havemeyer Trophy, and was a USGA Champion.

Being an NCAA and USGA champion earned DeChambeau an exemption into the John Deere Classic courtesy of Clair Peterson and the JDC Championship committee. He made the most of it, and then he turned professional early when SMU’s teams got put on NCAA probation, and could not play in the the post season.

DeChambeau rolled in a big putt on 18 at TPC Deere Run, and then he waited to watch the groups behind him finish. When it was over Dechambeau had finished first. At the trophy celebration John Deere CEO Sam Allen told DeChambeau his hero Payne Stewart’s first win on the PGA Tour was in the Quad Cities too, it almost brought DeChambeau to tears when the emotion caught up with him.

What makes Dechambeau such a unique player is his scientific approach to the game, if you have a question he has an answer. His actions are well thought out.

Which brings us to his recent plan to put on 40 pounds and bulk up to Hulk size. His drives are longer and he hits them straight for the most part. The question now is how many golfers might try to follow his path to bigger and stronger.

If you have spent any time around DeChambeau as I have, you’ll find he is a good guy at heart. I know he said and done a few things that have upset the weak-minded ones on Twitter. Guess what-who cares. I really like his genuine approach to the game, his thoughtful answers in media sessions, and his down-to-earth personality. His work ethic is non-stop, he puts the time in to get better and he will do just that.

Whether you like his plan to hulk-up or not. Give Bryson a chance, he is a champion worth rooting for. He might not win 18 majors in his career, but I’m sure he will win more than one. Who else has won the NCAA Championship, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open besides DeChambeau, it’s a very short list-Jack & Tiger.

I can’t wait to see his approach in Augusta-it should be a fun Masters at Augusta National come this November. RS