DeChambeau Eyes Major Sunday Move after Difficult Moving Day Finish

Bryson DeChambeau, like last year at Valhalla, had the crowds on his side on the weekend at the PGA Championship. He rode their energy and took the solo lead at 8-under through his 15th hole following back-to-back birdies, looking confident and in complete control at Quail Hollow. But a disastrous finish on the Green Mile that included a 9-iron into the water short on the par 3 17th put a halt on DeChambeau’s Saturday momentum.

He finished with a 2-under 69 to get to 5-under for the 107th PGA Championship, trailing Scottie Scheffler’s lead by six heading into Sunday.

“You can always ask for more. You can always try to be a little greedier out there. No. 16 didn't feel like I played that hole terrible,” DeChambeau said of the difficult par 4. “Hit it exactly where I wanted to on the second shot. Hit a great third shot, good fourth shot. It just broke left.”

The two-time major champ arrived at the par-3 17th with a gettable 9-iron in hand, and looked to attack. The stellar strike off the tee turned into a late double-bogey.

“I hit a great 9-iron exactly the way I wanted to. The wind just pumped it. Nothing I can do. Wind flipped from being neutral off the right like it was on 4, I believe, and it just was almost straight in and we misjudged that, considering on 16 we thought it was playing almost a little downwind,” DeChambeau said. “I hit a great shot on 17 and just made a dumb double.”

DeChambeau has won recently at LIV Golf Korea earlier this month, and his two U.S. Open titles carry a lot of weight in terms of dealing with major championship pressure on a Sunday. He only has to look back to 2022 where Justin Thomas overcame a seven-shot deficit to win the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

So what does DeChambeau feel it will take to make a run at the World No. 1’s lead and have a chance to win on Sunday?

“All I can do is control what I can control and if I go out and shoot 6-, 7-under, that's what I'm focused on doing,” DeChambeau said. “Not that that's what's going to do it, but you never know. But I'm going to shoot as low as I possibly can.

“[I] just got to clean up a couple things, hit my driver better and give myself more chances.”