120th US Open

The US Open Championship has taken place every year since 1895. Though there have been many changes to the tournament, it now is one of the four biggest tournaments of golf in the United States. The top players of the PGA tour and European tour must qualify to play in this tournament. The tournament is played over a four-day period and the player that scores the lowest out of the four days is crowned champion. It is usually held in the summer month of June, but due to Covid-19 this year, it was pushed back to September 17. This year it was held at one of the most challenging courses: Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York.

The Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York has only hosted the US Open six times since 1929. It is a private club with two 18-hole courses, The West and East courses. The East course measures 6,750 yards from the first tee box to the 18^th green; that equates to over 6 miles. One of the courses’ signatures is an over 5-inch ruff, along with narrow fairways. The putting greens are firm and not very forgiving, to even the best players in the world. The complexity of the course plays into each players mental and physical game over the stretch of four days.

This course has not only hosted the US Open, but has also big tournaments like the PGA Championship, US Women’s Open, US Amateur, and US Senior Open. In fact, the Winged Foot Golf Club course was named the 65^th top rated course in American’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses in 2009.

Former student at Lafayette High school Trent Sybert stated “I think Winged Foot was more than hard enough for the US Open however, players have just developed their game to compensate for these conditions. ”

The winner this year was Bryson DeChambeau. Bryson is 6 years older than the youngest winner, Jordan Speith, who was 21 years of age in 2015. He was born in Modesto, California but recently oved to Dallas, Texas to pursue his golf career at SMU. He has developed a unique style, giving him the nickname of “The Scientist.” Bryson analyzes every hole using his yardage book. He has taken the golf game to a higher level by studying and breaking down every hole to analyze the analytics of the game. To the fans, the long period of course study he displays can be quiet annoying, but it has served him very well, with his US Open win this year and the NCAA individual Championship and the US Amateur in 2015. He falls on the short list of those who won both US Open and US Amateur. The four others that have earned those honors are Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and Ryan Moore.

Here is what Junior at Lafayette high school Bryce Copeland had to say about the US Open winner “I feel that Bryson worked his butt off all offseason for this he is a well deserved winner for the US Open. Some people are saying he got lucky but I don’t think so, Bryson not only is consistent with his driver but he also hits the ball over 350 yards, the only thing I find weird about his game is his putting approach but it works well for him and that’s all that matters.”

The tough course at Winged Foot Golf Club and the analyzing play of Bryson DeChambeau were in sync this year. After his win at the US Open, Bryson stated, “So many times I relied on science, and it worked every single time.” With Bryson winning by a large margin of 6 under and the second-place finisher, Matthew Wolff breaking even, Bryson is the stand-out winner of the 2020 US Open.