Gotham’s unbeaten run hits 5
DeChambeau gains major momentum despite 'disappointing' finish at PGA
Before it became a record-breaking goal, Lynn Williams shifted toward the left post — uncovered — and waited. It was open.
“So open,” she said, to the point where she didn’t want her eyes to “get too big.”
Gotham FC’s Esther González had captured the rest of the Chicago Red Stars’ attention, with a cross-field pass soaring toward her right foot. But instead of tapping the ball toward Chicago’s net, Gonzalez lifted her foot, directed it toward Williams and watched as the forward’s 79th NWSL goal transpired — passing Sam Kerr and breaking the league mark for career goals.
Gotham (3-2-3) still needed a goal from Ella Stevens in the 90th minute to extend their unbeaten streak to five matches with a 2-1 win over Chicago (5-3-1) at Red Bull Stadium. But it was fitting that Williams, a veteran and source of continuity on a roster filled with newcomers, ignited the offense in what became Gotham’s first match with multiple goals in 2024.
“I’m just really proud of myself,” Williams said. “I think that I have exceeded a lot of people’s expectations. I think that for a very long time, I have believed in myself, and a lot of moments along the way, I’ve been told, ‘No, you’re not good enough.’
“Sometimes, we see all of the glory and all of the big moments, but there’s a lot of tears behind the scenes. And so I’m just gonna hopefully enjoy this moment.”
Williams needed to navigate a “lot of ups and downs” to reach this point. The highs of the appearances with the United States women’s national team were offset by lows such as sustaining a season-ending hamstring injury in the first NWSL game of 2022. She joined Gotham last season via trade, made her injury return, helped them win the title and scored a team-high seven goals.
“She’s the best ... defensive forward on the planet,” Gotham FC manager Juan Carlos Amorós said.
And on Sunday, Williams helped Gotham control the bulk of the game’s possession early, pairing with Rose Lavelle — making her first Gotham start and logging a season-high 61 minutes — to create scoring chances. Lavelle, who missed the first four matches with a leg injury, nearly set up González for a goal in the ninth minute and again 24 minutes later.
It didn’t take long for Chicago to equalize after Williams’ tally, though. Penelope Hocking snuck between a pair of Gotham defenders and tucked the rebound into the net after Ann-Katrin Berger made the initial save in the 74th minute.
And that’s where it all stayed until nearly the end. Until Williams almost added to her record by scoring again on multiple occasions. Until Stevens, who subbed in for Lavelle, deposited a header for her second goal of the season in the 90th minute to salvage the extra points.
Gotham still has managed just two goals just once this season, still has adjusted and tweaked — and kept adjusting and kept tweaking — its lineup with all of the injuries. But again on Sunday, there were signs that everything had started to come together.
“I think it looks better every single time we go out there,” Williams said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bryson DeChambeau called his nearmiss at the PGA Championship Sunday at Valhalla, where he did everything but win, “definitely disappointing.’’
But after shooting a finalround 64 to finish 20-under par — one shot shy of winner Xander Schauffele — DeChambeau was energized by his performance.
“It’s one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the majors,” DeChambeau said. “I said today was ‘closing time,’ but it will be closing time hopefully over the next couple majors.”
DeChambeau electrified the huge crowds this week. DeChambeau, who birdied 18 Sunday to get to 20-under and tie Schauffele, forcing him to birdie the last to win, said he thought 18-under par was going to be enough to win.
“Then when I saw what Xander was doing, it’s like, ‘Man, he’s playing some unbelievable golf,’” DeChambeau said. “I gave it my all. I put as much effort as I possibly could into it. Somebody [Schauffele] played incredibly well.
“I got to learn from this. Look, I learned a lot about myself over the last year, and being able to perform at Augusta [where he finished tied for sixth] and being able to perform today shooting 7-under.’’
Had DeChambeau won the tournament, his final round would have been remembered for the huge break he got on the 16th hole, where his tee shot was pulled into the left trees and a tree spit the ball out to the fairway.
DeChambeau took advantage of the break and stuffed an 8-iron to inside 3 feet for a birdie that inched him to one shot off the lead at 19-under. He would birdie 18th to get to 20-under and tie Schauffele, setting up the Schauffele birdie to win.
“I said, ‘Thank you’ to the tree,” DeChambeau joked.
“I just wasn’t driving it my absolute best this week and was uncomfortable on the tee shot and I pulled it left, and I got super lucky. I looked at G-Bo [his caddie, Greg Bodine], ‘OK, this is what it takes to win major championships. You got to have breaks like that happen.’
“Sometimes I just go look myself in the face and just say, ‘You got to get it done.’ No matter what’s going on, no matter what you feel right now, you got to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of shots. Be better. I got to do better. And I did, I just was one shot short.’’
Asked what he learned this week, DeChambeau, who’s notorious for being obsessed with equipment, said, “Equipment matters. I’ve learned I can play golf with my golf swing even when I’m not hitting it well. When I’m hitting it well, I got to take advantage. I wasn’t able to do that at Augusta [where] my putting failed me.
“But then clearly I putted well this week. I figured some good stuff out. Just got to remember those things and use that for the U.S. Open. I’m excited for Pinehurst.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — X marks the spot.
Never again will Xander Schauffele have to answer questions about whether he has it in him to win a major championship.
He’s done it now. Schauffele had been so close so many times. He’d done everything in the game — even winning an Olympic gold medal. The only thing missing was winning a major championship.
Until Sunday.
The right player won the PGA Championship this week at Valhalla, and that player was Schauffele. From start to finish, he was the class of the 156-man field that began the week.
No one in the game has been playing better than he has other than world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. The difference is Scheffler has the trophies to show for it.
No one played better from start to finish this week, not even Scheffler. That’s why it was no accident that Schauffele went wireto-wire and was the man hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy in the end.
Schauffele came into the week still salty about losing to Rory McIlroy at the Wells Fargo Championship last Sunday after he held the lead for the first three rounds and got boat-raced by McIlroy in the final round.
That loss, coupled with his 2 of 8 career record converting 54hole leads into wins, had become an annoying narrative for him.
Schauffele admitted that the questions about his ability to close out wins left “definitely a chip on the shoulder’’ for him.
“You guys [reporters] are asking the questions, probing, and I have to sit here and answer it,’’ he said. “It’s a lot easier to answer it with this thing [the Wanamaker Trophy] sitting next to me now.’’
The tournament was in doubt until the 72nd hole as a scintillating three-horse race broke out among Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland.
Schauffele came to the 18th tee tied at 20-under par with DeChambeau, who had just finished his round with a birdie on 18 and was on the practice range preparing for a playoff.
But there would be no playoff, because Schauffele birdied 18, shaking off a terrible stance after his tee shot came to rest near the lip of a fairway bunker, hit a marvelous second shot to the front of the green.
“If you want to be a major champion, this is the kind of stuff you have to deal with,’’ Schauffele told himself of the bad break. “So, I dealt with it.’’
That shot was followed by a world-class bump-and-run to 6 feet and, from there, he rolled in the birdie putt for the win.
“This is my opportunity; just capture it,’’ Schauffele said to himself as he stood over the putt.
He conceded that he “was pretty nervous’’ as he surveyed the putt.
“I walked up, I saw a little left to right,’’ he said. “I kept reading it, kept kind of panning, started to look right-to-left to me and I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is not what I want for a winning putt.’
“I ended up playing it straight. It did go left, caught the left side. I don’t really remember it lipping in. … I just heard everyone roaring and I just looked up to the sky in relief. It’s been a while since I’ve won [nearly two years].
“I kept saying this week that I need to stay in my own lane and, man, it was hard to stay in my lane. I really didn’t want to go into a playoff against Bryson.’’
DeChambeau was brilliant on Sunday. As good as Schauffele was, shooting a 6-under-par 65 in the final round to set the PGA Championship scoring record of 21-under, DeChambeau shot a final-round 7-under-par 64.
“I seriously thought 18 [under] was going to do it,’’ DeChambeau said. “Then when I saw what Xander was doing, it’s like, ‘Man, he’s playing some unbelievable golf.’ ’’
After he signed his scorecard, Schauffele called his father, Stefan, who was his original swing coach and was in Hawaii, and the two shared some tears over the phone.
He had made a difficult decision to switch from his father to Chris Como with hopes it might elevate him to the place he arrived at Sunday.
“I don’t think I’d ever looked at it as lacking,’’ Schauffele said of what had been his major-less career. “I looked at it as someone that is trying really hard and needs more experience. All those close calls for me, even last week, that sort of feeling, it gets to you at some point. It just makes this even sweeter.
“All of us are climbing this massive mountain. At the top of the mountain is Scottie Scheffler. I won this today, but I’m still not that close to Scottie Scheffler in the big scheme of things. I got one good hook up there in the mountain up on that cliff, and I’m still climbing.
“I might have a beer up there on that side of the hill there and enjoy this.’’
Drink up, Xander. No one deserves it more. The right player won on Sunday.