Fans are subscribing to Bryson DeChambeau as he takes on the U.S. Open - ESPN

PINEHURST, N.C. — Bryson DeChambeau is trying to do it all.

As he walks down the sand-framed fairways at Pinehurst No. 2 on a warm Monday afternoon ahead of the U.S. Open, a casual practice round of nine holes is showing glimpses of how much the 30-year-old is trying to hold on to some parts of who he has been while embracing who he is now — and thinking about who he wants to be.

On this particular day, the balancing act looks like this: DeChambeau is hitting his custom-made 3D-printed 6-iron off the tee on a 410-yard par-4 just as well as he is hitting it on a 243-yard par-3. What appears to be a display of restraint on one hole is a showcase of aggression on another. On the short par-4 third hole, he hits 3-wood near the green and a driver hit from the forward tee launches over the green.

Lesson learned. But it doesn't mean he has to like it.

«Yeah, it stinks hitting a 6-iron off the tee compared to a driver,» DeChambeau said. «But sometimes you've got to do it and you've got to make the right decision for shooting the lowest score out here.»

It also looks like this: DeChambeau is waxing on about the importance of spin into Pinehurst's greens as well as how he calculates rollouts on his drives, some of which traveled more than 340 yards that day. The launch monitor he carries around like a lunch pail has a sticker that simply says «golf is dope.»

While other players try everything from fairway woods to 4-irons to putter around the course's domed greens, DeChambeau is hell-bent on using his lob and sand wedge to hit bump-and-runs. He knows, however, that this week, he will have to inject some creativity into his typically pragmatic approach.

«My brain just won't let me hit it that hard,» he said, upon trying to putt it