Faith Opened U.S. Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau’s Eyes
By Movieguide® Contributor
U.S. Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau puts more importance on his faith than his sport.
“There’s more to life than golf. It’s been definitely eye-opening for me to have a close relationship with the Lord and just more importantly being happy with myself, too, and more importantly getting closer to Him,” he said, per Christhlete.
“Thank you for sharing your faith. A great testimony to start the day,” one fan wrote.
Another person commented, “Very proud of you Bryson!!”
Movieguide® previously reported on the athlete’s faith:
After his historic win, DeChambeau described his thoughts of winning, “Thankful. Just thankful. Thankful that I was a part of it. Thankful that I accomplished something I’ve always wanted to accomplish as a kid. Gratitude and thanks.”
In 2022, DeChambeau took a hiatus from the game of golf to get himself healthy from a lingering wrist injury which later required surgery.
During that time, DeChambeau was able to focus on himself and his relationship with the Lord.
“I’ve learned so much about me as a person and my faith and whatnot through golf having been stripped away from me,” DeChambeau told USA Today. “It’s been a difficult time for me the past seven months not being able to play golf the way I really want to. It still is a little tough every once in a while in the hand to hit golf balls, but for the most part I can’t tell you how excited I am to be back out here.”
In 2016, DeChambeau opened up about a book that changed his life and approach to sports.
“What it talked about all the way through was how to play sports like Jesus would play sports,” DeChambeau said of “ “It captured the dynamic between being ultra-competitive and being as gracious and kind as possible, and it resonated with me.”
He continued: “When I got to the tournament, I said to myself, ‘OK, I’m going to give my life to Christ and try to act like him in every single situation and do my best for him in every single situation, whatever comes about. If it’s a bad situation, I’ll look at it as an opportunity for me to show my patience, my resilience, my grace. Or if I do something great, I’m still going to be patient and graceful and kind and respectful to others.'”
When he did that, he experienced “three amazing miracles.”
First, DeChambeau was able to eat breakfast the morning of a tournament, something he is usually never able to do.
He also experienced a sense of overwhelming peace.
“I had never been good with my emotions on the course, and this came out in the way I talked. I would get angry and cuss. But now my emotions were held in check,” he said of the third miracle. “They were the correct emotions, the emotions that Christ would employ. Sure, I hit bad shots, but now I was gracious and kind and never said anything. I stopped cussing.”
