Memorial Tournament Recap: DeChambeau Wins in Playoff

He was a physics major in college. They call him the Mad Scientist. He wears a funny hat.

Bryson DeChambeau is one of the quirkiest players on the PGA Tour, which is a revelation in such a homogenized sport. While quirky is fun, it goes only so far. Quirky and good is so much better. DeChambeau is proving to be quite good.

The 24-year-old former star at South Methodist University continued a torrid four-month stretch by winning the Memorial Tournament in a three-way playoff on Sunday with Byeong Hun An and Kyle Stanley. The victory was the second in DeChambeau's pro career, which has spanned all of 60 tournaments. He also won the 2017 John Deere.

DeChambeau is known for being the only golfer to have all his irons and wedges the exact same length. Without getting too technical, it's a physics thing. He also wears what's known as a driver cap, or an ivy cap. Think: Ben Hogan. Or Payne Stewart. Or maybe an old-time New York City cabdriver.

But that's just style. DeChambeau has substance, too. Over the past four months, he's arguably been the best golfer on Tour, now with a win, a runner-up (Bay Hill), a third (Harbour Town), a fourth (Quail Hollow) and a fifth (Phoenix).

DeChambeau is among the best on Tour tee to green – ranked 12th in strokes gained: off the tee and 16th in approach. He's 20th in greens in regulation. Like so many golfers, his troubles begin closer to the hole, with scrambling and putting. But at Muirfield Village, DeChambeau ranked sixth in strokes gained: putting.

He now has to be taken seriously to contend at the U.S. Open two weeks down the road at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island. His odds have zoomed to 40-1. No. 12-ranked Paul Casey and No. 14 Sergio Garcia are also 40-1. DeChambeau, who is up to a career-best ranking of 22nd, tied for 15th at the Open two years ago.

DeChambeau has also moved into eighth place in the Ryder Cup standings, which is the final automatic berth. That's ahead of Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar and Webb Simpson, among many others.

And that appears to be the new norm: DeChambeau is becoming an elite golfer who will bump some pretty big names from the top of tournament leaderboards, and from spots on the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams for years to come.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Tiger Woods
Here we have perhaps the greatest putter of all time who missed short putt after short putt after short putt. Woods was 72nd in the field in strokes gained: putting. Even though his tie for 23rd was disappointing, especially since he was contending for the lead on Saturday, the good news for Woods was accuracy off the tee. Accuracy everywhere, really, except on the green. And that bodes well for him at the U.S. Open in two weeks.

Rory McIlroy
In the last couple of months, McIlroy has finished tied for fifth at the Masters, solo second at the BMW PGA Championship and now T8 at the Memorial. So on the surface, he appears primed to contend for the U.S. Open. But the Masters was a huge disappointment, and he even let Francesco Molinari overtake him at the BMW. One of these times, you figure, McIlroy will close the deal.

Dustin Johnson
As we've been saying, it's not that Johnson has been playing badly, it's just that he hasn't been great. On Sunday, though, he notched his first top-10 in three months, tying McIlroy and others for eighth. The U.S. Open has always been Johnson's best major – T4, runner-up and win from 2014-16 – so he too appears to have found his form at just the right time. Both he and McIlroy are the betting favorites right now at 12-1.

Byeong Hun An
We saw what An, one of the best tee-to-green players on the tour, can do when he putts decently. He was 43rd in strokes gained: putting on the week, as opposed to being 125th on the season. The former European Tour Rookie of the Year has been held back in the States by the more treacherous greens. The key to putting well at Muirfield Village is to land the ball in the right spot on the greens, and that certainly is An's wheelhouse. An is now up to No. 56 in the OWGR, but he still has a ways to go to reach his career high, which was inside the top-30 back in 2015 when he was based in Europe.

Kyle Stanley
Five shots behind DeChambeau with five holes to play, Stanley made a remarkable charge with four straight birdies. He's another strong iron player and has been among the best for the past two seasons. Like with An, Stanley will thrive on tracks where putting isn't critical to success or where accurate approach shots can make putting just a little easier. Stanley is now up to a career-best 38th in the world rankings. He's still only 30 years old.

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay just missed the playoff after leading for a while on Sunday. We don't mean to sound like a broken record, but he is yet another guy among the best from tee to green being held back only by his putter. Cantlay is now inside the top-30 in the OWGR for the first time. You usually can't go wrong with these types of golfers in your lineup, but rarely do so many of them contend in the same tournament.

Joaquin Niemann
The 19-year-old Chilean has played five tournaments since turning pro, and he's finished top-10 in three of them. Niemann faded a bit on Sunday, but to tie for sixth in one of the strongest fields of the year, tells us a lot about him. Niemann has now secured enough FedEx Cup points to earn special temporary membership on Tour, so we'll see a lot of him the rest of the season. Since the Masters, he's moved up more than 1,300 spots in the world rankings, to No. 223.

Gary Woodland
Woodland all but disappeared after winning at Phoenix in early February. He didn't have so much as another top-25. But he tied for 23rd at the Memorial. We never can get too excited until it happens more than once. Woodland next will tee it up at Shinnecock, but he's never had much success at U.S. Opens.

Adam Scott
After tying for 11th at The Players and for ninth at the Byron Nelson, Scott was on the verge of cracking the top-60 in the world to get exempt into the U.S. Open. But he stalled at No. 61 and, following a tie for 35th at Muirfield Village, sits 64th. He had to decide whether to play in Monday's sectional qualifier, or take his chances at Memphis this week. Scott decided to play the qualifier in Columbus, Ohio. If he does qualify on Monday, there's a good chance he'd withdraw from Memphis. Stay tuned. If Scott gets in the Open, he'd likely be a good mid-priced option. He has a string of 67 straight majors played dating to 2001. Only Sergio Garcia, with 72, has played in more consecutively.

Kevin Chappell
Chappell is one of the top-ranked golfers in the Memphis field and he has played well there, but his game is just a mess. He missed the cut at the Memorial and now he has fallen outside the top-50 in the world, after being 25th last fall during the playoffs. Chappell is bound to be high-priced this week, and he doesn't seem like a good investment.

Keith Mitchell
We don't mean to pick on Mitchell, who appears to be an up-and-comer on Tour with three top-10s already in his rookie season. One of them came when he tied for third just two weeks ago at the Byron Nelson At Muirfield, Mitchell finished dead-last in the 120-man field. We point this out only to illustrate the difficulties of fantasy golf and how, with the Tour so deep, almost any golfer can have a horrible week right after a great one. It's golf. It's fantasy golf. It happens. It's DFS. Let's see how Mitchell rebounds this week in Memphis.