Rory baffled by Bryson's winning tactics: Hard to 'wrap my head around it'

When Rory McIlroy showed up at Winged Foot Golf Club earlier this week, he did not envision the winner taking a bomb-and-gouge approach like the one Bryson DeChambeau used.

"No chance. No chance," McIlroy said, describing his thoughts on the eventual winner hitting just four of his final 21 fairways. "I don't really know what to say because that's just the complete opposite of what you think a U.S. Open champion does."

In total, DeChambeau hit 21 of 56 fairways to rank 26th in the field. McIlroy was third in driving accuracy and finished in a tie for eighth. Coincidentally, McIlroy also ranked 26th when he won the U.S. Open by eight in 2011.

"Look, (Bryson has) found a way to do it. Whether that's good or bad for the game, I don't know, but it's just - it's not the way I saw this golf course being played or this tournament being played. It's kind of hard to really wrap my head around it."

McIlroy eventually said what DeChambeau is doing to the sport is "pretty impressive," as did a number of other competitors.

Xander Schauffele, who finished alone in fifth, said: "He's sort of trending in the new direction of golf, and he said he wanted to do everything he's doing, and yeah, happy for him. He's playing unbelievable."

DeChambeau began turning heads when the PGA Tour returned in June, and praise continued to pour in from players after seeing him win a major title.

"It's incredible what he can do out of the rough," Harris English said. "It's a game that we've really never seen before. I guess John Daly changed it a little bit during his time, Tiger (Woods) changed it, and I think Bryson is now changing it again. So it's impressive to see."

Schauffele didn't go quite as far as English in terms of changing the game, but does think more majors are in DeChambeau's future.

"Revolutionize? Maybe he's just exposing our game in terms of, if he keeps hitting it further and further. I don't see why he wouldn't be able to win many more U.S. Opens."