Tony Finau's Sunday rally comes up short as DeChambeau wins 2nd US Open title

SALT LAKE CITY — Playing a two-hole stretch at 4-over-par in the third round of a major championship proved costly for Tony Finau.

The Rose Park native fired his best round of the U.S. Open when the father of five shot 3-under-par 67 to finish tied for third and two shots back of his first major title Sunday at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina.

Bryson DeChambeau held off a masterful charge — and a late collapse — from Rory McIlroy to claim his first major championship since joining LIV Golf, finishing with a four-day total of 6-under 274 and one shot up on the six-time U.S. Open top-10 finisher.

"I want to say happy Father's Day to every father out there. Unfortunately, my dad passed a couple years ago, and this one is for him," DeChambeau told NBC's Mike Tirico after accepting the U.S. Open championship trophy for the second time in his career.

McIlroy, whose bid for a major victory now stretches back 10 years to the 2014 British Open, finished one agonizing shot back — just ahead of Finau, who finished tied with Patrick Cantlay for third (and a roughly $1.2 million purse) a day after carding triple bogey on the 13th hole.

"I knew I was going to need a special one, a really special one today, to have a chance to win. I just didn't get off to the start I needed to," Finau said after his final round. "It was one of those days where I started out flat, swing wasn't quite there, putter didn't show great. I fought my way back. I was really proud of the way I hung in there all week, especially the way I played today. I thought that back nine was awesome. To finish out my front nine, yeah, I was proud of the way I fought."

After shooting a disappointing 2-over 72 in Saturday's third round with a rare triple bogey at No. 13, Finau started slow before climbing back into contention.

The West High graduate carded a pair of bogeys in his first four holes, but came all the way back on the round when he smacked his fairway shot 276 yards hole-high that set up a 23-foot eagle putt on the par-5, 587-yard fifth hole.

Finau added a birdie on the par-5, 619-yard 10th hole that pulled him into a tie for fourth at 2-under. The Lehi resident finished with a flurry, adding birdies on Nos. 13 and 18 to finish with a final-round 67 en route to his best finish in a major championship since finishing third at the British Open in 2019.

"I knew the game was trending coming into this week," he said. "I gave myself a chance to win a major championship. I can only take positives from this. It's the best performance I've had all year, no question.

"Luckily for me, we still have one more major to go this year. I'm going to take a lot of positives and confidence moving forward."

Fellow Utah native Zac Blair opened his final round with a birdie on the par-4, 386-yard third hole, but struggled the rest of the way in carding three bogeys to finish with a four-day total of 6-over 286. The former Fremont High and BYU golf star finished tied for 28th after Sunday's final round of 72.

That's good for a $149,971 payout for the reigning Utah Open champion.

McIlroy birdied back-to-back holes at the turn to tie DeChambeau, but the LIV Golf star immediately responded with his first birdie of the day to take back a one-shot advantage with eight holes to play.

The two dueled down the stretch, with McIlroy adding a pair of birdies on Nos. 12 and 13. But the Northern Ireland international who spent a couple of summers playing on the Utah junior golf circuit in his youth bogeyed three of the final four holes.

McIlroy could only watch from the scoring room as DeChambeau clinched his first major title since winning the U.S. Open in 2020 after getting up-and-down from 55 yards out of a bunker and sinking a 4-foot par putt on the 18th green to close at 1-over 71.

"Ultimately on 13, I knew I had to make birdie there to give myself a chance because Rory was going on a heater, and he slipped up a couple on the way coming in, and I just kept staying the course, focused on trying to hit as many fairways as I could, even though I didn't. I was not great today with that," DeChambeau said. "But I got out of trouble really well, and then, man, I can't believe that up-and-down on the last. That was overall probably the best shot of my life.

"I was just trying to land it pretty much where I landed it and run it out to the right. I remember Payne (Stewart)'s putt and how it broke up there, and I knew that was obviously huge to get up-and-down to win this prestigious championship that will be the highlight of my life. I still can't believe it. It's unbelievable."

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