PINEHURST, N.C. — The hardest shot in golf stood between Bryson DeChambeau and his second major championship.
The ball was perched on Pinehurst’s pillowy sand. It was 55 yards out — the distance pro golfers almost universally disdain — after advancing his approach shot from behind a tree root. The hole location was tucked just six paces off the green’s back-right edge, bordering another bunker. The groans that ensued after Rory McIlroy missed his par putt at the last hole still hung in the air around the 18th grandstand.
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DeChambeau set up to his ball with a 55-degree wedge.