As a golf analyst, Johnny Miller was always known to be unafraid of speaking his mind. And it seems as if not all that much has changed in the seven years that he has been away from the NBC booth, speaking unapologetically about Bryson DeChambeau’s play at the 2025 U.S. Open.
DeChambeau came into this year’s U.S. Open as the defending champion of the event after triumphing over Rory McIlroy at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club. So naturally, DeChambeau trailed just Scottie Scheffler as the second favorite on sportsbooks to come away with the victory at this year’s U.S. Open.
Unfortunately for DeChambeau, he was unable to overcome the incredibly difficult conditions at Oakmont Country Club, missing the cut after finishing at +10 after 36 rounds of play.
What has typically been perhaps DeChambeau’s biggest edge over the field, his incredible ability off the tee driving the ball, quickly turned into the part of his game that held him back, hitting just 13 of 28 fairways, which was just 99th best in the 156-person field of golfers in the event.
Speaking to the media alongside Jack Nicklaus on Saturday at the U.S. Open, Miller made light of DeChambeau’s struggles when he was asked about the most important skills for the golfers in the field, citing hitting the fairway on tee shot, a skill that DeChambeau didn’t have this week, as the most crucial thing for the players that made it to the weekend.
“Still all about hitting that ball in the fairway,” said Miller. “You see the guys that don’t, like Bryson DeChambeau. I mean, he was living in the rough there this last couple of days. Of course, he gets to watch it on TV today. But, yeah, you have got to hit it in the fairway.”
There is likely no golfer who has more insight into Oakmont Country Club than Miller, who shot a final round of 63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open at the course. And based on everything we have seen through three rounds at Oakmont, driving accuracy has indeed been the most key skill due to the long rough at the course.
But it is interesting that DeChambeau was the name that came to Miller’s mind on how not to play Oakmont. There were plenty of other big names, including Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, both major champions in their own right, who also missed the cut and played even worse than DeChambeau.
Regardless, Bryson likely wouldn’t argue with Miller’s assessment of his play, as it is just the third time in his career and first since 2017 that he has missed the cut at the U.S. Open.