Bryson DeChambeau shows off his US Open-winning bunker shot

After the drama and excitement of the US Open over the weekend, you might think Bryson DeChambeau would need to take a few days off to decompress. Instead, he is busier than ever. After a whirlwind press tour in New York City, DeChambeau was back to his day job on Wednesday, preparing for this week's LIV Golf Nashville.

“I've been running almost the full amount the last three days, maybe 12 hours of sleep, maybe,” DeChambeau said in a pre-tournament press conference. “You guys are the reason I keep going. It was fun.”

DeChambeau covered a lot in his interview, including questions about how he balances content creation and practice, his thoughts on missing out on a second Olympics and what it's like to be a role model for younger players. But for fans hoping to pick up something from the two-time major champion's strategy at Pinehurst, he also went deep with his US Open-winning bunker shot.

“Since I am a person who likes to do things in a strange way, there is a work of art in me that many people don't know about but I hope they are starting to see it,” continued DeChambeau. “And that 60-yard shot, whatever it was, when I got there, the one thing that gave me a lot of comfort was G-Bo telling me, Bryson, I've seen you hit a lot harder than this. . You have this. I went in there and accomplished it.

“I was looking for a faucet, but it got up to four feet, and I was ready to eat nuts, and you could see me go after it as G-Bo said, 'let's go.' That was too big. But I knew I had four legs to do. It wasn't just tapping water.”

As for what makes a bunker shot so hard? DeChambeau said the precision required affects him.

“From a technical point of view, you can't miss a millimeter behind the ball or a millimeter too close to the ball,” he said. “From 60 yards with an open face, a blast shot, and if you hold it a little thin, I hit it in that spot. There is no room for error. Very, very little room for error. To go that far in the bunker requires a lot of power.

“If I rub it, it's also short, it hits the front edge and goes back down. Now I'm trying to get into the playoffs. The difficulty was through the roof, and it's something I never wish anyone to have, to have that experience. But at the US Open, the toughest test in golf, you're presented with that, you just have to go all in and just embrace it and say, look, this is what the game of golf has given me,' you've done this before. You just have to do it.

“But the difficulty level was through the roof,” he continued. “I knew how precise I had to be. I remember looking down in the basement and seeing a piece of shiny sand about an inch and a half behind the ball, and I was like, I'm just passing that spot, and that's all I could think about. I knew how much power to give it based on my swing, and I hit it flawlessly. When it came out, my eyes opened up, and I was like it was perfect, it stayed perfect, and I said, 'let's go.' That was great. It gives me chills to think about that.

“The difficulty was through the roof. I can't explain, unless someone feels it for themselves, I can't explain how hard it really was.”

Another trait that DeChambeau said benefited him at Pinehurst? Dialing the details of his wedge.

“I learned what bounce works well for me,” he said. “I probably don't have a jump shot, but it has a wide one, and that was a big thing for me. I literally built it, I think, less than a month ago, so my wedge game just got a lot better because of that grind. “

DeChambeau will hope to continue his great momentum in Nashville. He goes with Carlos Ortiz and Jon Rahm at 12:15 pm on Friday.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia's first varsity golf class, Jessica knows how to outrun everyone on the golf course. He can pass them through the office, too, where he is primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF's first Style Issue, which began in February 2018. His first interview series, “A Round With,” released in November 2015, and appeared in both magazine and video form on GOLF.com.