PGA Championship: DeChambeau, the Golf Influencer

ABryson DeChambeau always wanted to be different, you just have to think back to his headgear. In 2016, when he made his first appearances on the big stage at the age of 22, DeChambeau wore a flat cap. The Californian looked like a golfer from the past because his unorthodox headgear was visually based on the 1920s and the legendary Ben Hogan, whose trademark the hat was once. At the same time, DeChambeau was also a golfer from the future, with his curious approach that all his clubs were the same length, which he based on mathematical and physical findings.

DeChambeau, who was always calculating on the greens with his flat cap, was called “The Scientist” at the beginning of his career. Then, in Covid times, as he discovered another new approach in gyms and gained muscle mass, he was no longer compared to Ben, but to the wrestler Hulk Hogan. But that didn’t change anything in one respect: DeChambeau never received too much love for his existence in his peculiarly traditional sport. The audience saw him as a somewhat strange loner; spectators often made fun of him at tournaments.

But finally, in the summer of 2022, DeChambeau finally found the partner at his side that he needed in order to be successfully different: When the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF presented the LIV tour four years ago, DeChambeau was one of the first major signings. The Saudis wanted to break with tradition just as much as he did. And they also made billions of US dollars available for this purpose.

This dream couple was made for each other, at least at first glance. LIV Golf thrived on the DeChambeau character. And he, in turn, was the one LIV player who was hardly forgotten in the USA. He was too interesting and controversial as a character for that: the mixture of muscles and MAGA movement worked, and in addition to the sport, DeChambeau gained a profile as a major public supporter of US President Donald Trump. And last but not least as a so-called content creator who marketed his life on social media.

Bryson DeChambeau was unwaveringly different on his path and was damn successful with it. Until a few weeks ago his partner abandoned him in the desert – and now the question suddenly arises as to whether he had made a spectacular mistake.

“I didn’t expect it,” DeChambeau said last week of the decision that changed his life. The fact that the PIF wants to completely stop the billion-dollar financing of the LIV Tour in the fall was surprising news for the entire sport. But especially for DeChambeau: “Just a few months before it was said, ‘We’re staying until 2032. We have funding until 2032,’ and I passed that on to everyone because that’s exactly what I was told. And then, well, I didn’t hear anything else.”

This time the disappointment could even be heard publicly; there had been speculation about internal tensions for some time. The Golf Digest reported a few days ago that DeChambeau had long known that the Saudi Arabian promise to reinvent golf with him at the helm had turned out to be a failure. Negotiations about a contract extension with LIV Golf took place last fall; according to consistent media reports, they were said to have failed due to DeChambeau’s demand for an alleged half-billion-dollar handout. And finally, there will now be no financiers who can pay him anywhere near as much money.

“I would like to triple my YouTube channel, maybe even more. And then I would play the tournaments that want me.”

The new reality in which the LIV players around DeChambeau find themselves is that of an empty buffet. The billions from Saudi Arabia satisfied the initial hunger, but just when everyone had gotten used to the fine food, the supply ended: whether and how things will continue with LIV Golf without Saudi Arabian participation is currently unclear. If so, it will be a scaled-down, financially less lucrative version of the tour that takes place in 2027.

For most, this means being friendly to the Old World from now on. The European DP World Tour and the US PGA Tour are finally back in focus: “If you want to be the best possible golfer, this is the course,” said Rory McIlroy before the second major tournament of the year, the PGA Championship, which takes place in Philadelphia from Thursday.

Therefore, both tours have received numerous inquiries from LIV players in recent weeks as to whether a return might not be possible. Under certain conditions, such as those that applied to Brooks Koepka, who has been playing in the USA again since January. Suddenly forgotten are the court cases that were financed with Saudi Arabian money for the LIV players and in which they sued their former tours: DeChambeau was one of eleven players who accused the PGA Tour 2023 in court of not giving them clearance for LIV tournaments. The lawsuit was dismissed, but the hostility remained and was continued publicly by both sides.

It hardly seems realistic that DeChambeau will return to the PGA Tour in the fall, to what he sees as the old world of the flat cap. “Egos would have to be put aside,” DeChambeau said in an interview with ESPN a few days ago, only to stick with his ego: A possible punishment if he returns, for example, “is pretty unfortunate in my opinion, considering what I could do for them,” said the 32-year-old, who, however, still has another option. One that – how appropriate in this case – something anders is considered normal in sport.

2.7 million people follow DeChambeau’s channel on YouTube, 4.5 million on Instagram, 2.3 million on Tiktok. This is the new reality that he might now like to completely surrender to: “I would like to triple my YouTube channel, maybe even more,” said DeChambeau: “And then I would play the tournaments that want me.” This would make DeChambeau the first professional athlete to forego regular exercise in the midst of the best time of his career to become a content creator. However, no one knows whether a career that only consists of the four annual major tournaments, a few invitation tournaments and rounds of golf for YouTube is possible.

For all the uniqueness that Bryson DeChambeau has distinguished in his career in fighting the doubters, this bet on himself would probably be the biggest he has ever made.