There are a few current threads talking about Pinehurst. I returned to make a couple of last comments on this one thread that I commented on.
All that was needed was for Rory to make the putt on 18. Yes, he was faced with one of the bad lies that can happen when a player is in the Pinehurst native; either in the wire grass, or left with a swing that will be impacted by the big bunch of grass. In my opinion, Rory correctly assessed his options and hit the exact right shot. His club closed shut as it hit the bunch grass, and his smothered shot bounded up to the front of the green.
He then followed with a very good chip to 3 feet, 9 inches. After watching the chip replay, it appears that Rory hit it exactly where he wanted, but it did not break left to right as he expected.
I watched a replay of his putt a few times. It's a 4-foot putt, and Rory is aiming at a spot about 2 inches left of the left edge of the hole. It looks like the putter head went in the proper direction. Whether he opened the blade a bit is debatable. What is clear is that it started heading right almost immediately and then turned hard right about halfway there. A 4 foot downhiller that starts left and breaks so hard that more than half of the ball is outside the right edge is some wicked putt.
Finally, one might look to DeChambeau's unusually upright swing as a clear advantage in the Pinehurst native. He takes the club back so steeply and vertically, it minimizes the chances of a nearby bunch grass affecting the swing.
I played golf early yesterday and then watched the whole thing a few hours late. I enjoyed the final day of the tournament very much, and thought the leaderboard reflected a fine cross section of the best players. I thought the course required a limited assortment of shot types, and I think I'd prefer to play golf at a number of the best new modern designs.