Bryson DeChambeau is different. His PGA MC was another souvenir

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — This Bryson DeChambeau, he's just different …. OK? We've known that for years now. We celebrated it, we trampled it everywhere, we came back for more, which caught us all and brought us to Friday afternoon, hitting suppertime, crawling around, and Bryson playing from 10 to the house with no chance to cut. And yet, there he was, fully Bryson.

Example: In your life, have you ever seen a golfer, pro or am, pick something out of his ear with a long tee? There was Bryson, doing just that, as a Q tip. It's unlikely that his playing partners, Rickie Fowler and Ludwig Aberg, noticed this gesture of nerve care. Golfers are in their own world. We are just like that.

On 4 15, Bryson did what we 90 shooters call a double sand. You drove it into the right trap. His second shot found a home in the left trap. His bunker shot didn't matter. He detonated a small bomb for 4. Does the two-time US Open winner with a billion (or whatever) YouTube followers know the name? You ask yourself.

Note: Ask Bryson about 15.

It's amazing how it can happen, if you're Arnold Palmer in his prime, if you're Tiger Woods in his prime, if you're Bryson DeChambeau in his prime. You show up at the big venue on a Thursday morning and the main thing on your mind is another note on your belt. Another Grand Slam victory attached to your name forever. Palmer died with seven. Woods almost died at 15, and it doesn't seem likely he'll win another. DeChambeau has those two US Opens. Will there be another big victory in his life? We don't know; we will never know. Neither knows.

Currently, he's a $500 million golf free agent (or something like that). It can't be easy, being a professional golfer with a unique swing, a reinvented personality and a big number attached to a remarkably broad back.

At the Masters, DeChambeau triple-bogeyed 7 on 18 and missed two cuts. And he still signed autographs when he went to the scorer's room. At the PGA Championship, here at Aronimink who has never looked better, he shot 76-71 in seven over. The cut was over by four. In addition to a thousand other things, Bryson DeChambeau is a stock price and his stock goes up and down all the time.

“I don't think you understand, I really have to score goals,” DeChambeau told the kids as he signed and signed and signed on the way to scoring goals. No, they probably didn't understand. But they really knew they had secured the most important autograph in golf today. They've seen Bryson try to break 50. They saw him hitting balls in his house. They saw the important things. On Friday, a few of them may have seen the drive on the 12th reach a road no one expected to reach, 330 up the hill.

The sleeves of his sweater rolled up, above the elbow. They came down. They went up. They came down. Ludwig ate a sandwich. Ludwig ate a banana. Rickie Fowler ignored a thousand requests for “RICKIE-RICKIE-RICKIE.” Bryson changed his path, green to green, green to green.

His last few wheels are his, up and down, up and down. They are north and south, the lat muscles in his upper back, in his shirt and in his sweater, bursting all the time.

THANKBAM!

No golfer hits it harder. No one makes that noise. Bryson DeChambeau is 32 years old. You can do that when you are 32 years old and built like a brick house.

He was wearing his team hat. You are a crush. He is the captain of his LIV team, the Crushers, at least until the end of the 2026 season. Then all bets are off. Brooks Koepka was in the threesome behind DeChambeau. Brooks was a Smasher, but split up LIV for more common pastures.

Yes, Bryson, do you want to play tomorrow?

Philadelphia fans are special. We are just like that.

Two of Bryson's boys were waiting for him near the 18th green. He asks if he can have Bryson for half a minute. He has one question in mind:

Yo, Bryson: do you know what double sand is?

Maybe yes – he grew up playing community golf, the son of a golf pro – but maybe not.

It won't happensaid another boy.

Not todaysaid another.

They both shook their heads no, of course you don't know that no means no.

Bryson signs for the kids, signs his scorecard, walks past a small crowd of reporters waiting for the golf man's $500 million (or whatever) crumbs.

“Thank you guys, thank you guys,” Bryson said as he walked out followed by his teammates. He made the sign of praying hands. It was like seeing a real life emoji.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at [email protected].