Well Played
U.S. Open 2024: The cool piece of Pinehurst history that Bryson DeChambeau took with him
Andrew Redington
To the victor goes the spoils, and never has that been more true for a major championship than at the 2024 U.S. Open. Not only did Bryson DeChambeau win that shiny silver trophy, but he left Pinehurst with a record-breaking first-place check for $4.3 million. That is, if he's actually left Pinehurst yet. He was there pretty late Sunday night!
But Bryson is also taking a small piece of Pinehurst with him. Or, rather, a lot of small pieces. Really small pieces.
As DeChambeau noted during his post-round interviews, he scooped up some sand from the 18th hole bunker where he hit one of the greatest clutch shots in golf history and put it in the trophy. But as he also noted, he planned on using that trophy for something else.
"Oh, yeah, look, I'm not going to get into what could happen tonight," DeChambeau said when asked about drinking from his prize. "Chocolate milk will be one thing. There will be a lot of other stuff, too. There's some sand in here, so we got to clean it out first, though."
Good call, Bryson. And as Golf Channel's Todd Lewis reported, DeChambeau transferred the sand to a cup before getting the trophy engraved.
Talk about a cool keepsake, huh?
It should be noted that a man was once arrested and banned for life from the Masters for taking some sand, but he was a fan. And that was Augusta National.
We're fairly certain the people at Pinehurst were totally fine with this. Hopefully, Bryson will share a photo when he's got the sand on display in his house. Again, if he ever actually leaves Pinehurst.