Bryson DeChambeau Is Considering One Surprise Option for His Next Move

The two-time U.S. Open champion said he has talked to the PGA Tour about broader solutions and that he only will play where he is wanted.

Bryson DeChambeau hopes LIV can last beyond this year but, if circumstances change, is not ruling out a YouTube golf career. | Grace Smith-Imagn Images

STERLING, Va. — Bryson DeChambeau wants to do all he can to help the LIV Golf League last beyond this year, and he’s hoping in time that the PGA Tour and other golf organizations can work together rather than apart to reach their various goals.

But if the LIV Golf League fails to last beyond this year into the future, DeChambeau said he’s content to grow his popular YouTube channel and find other ways to keep his game sharp, hinting that PGA Tour penalties might be too severe, and that he’d play where he is wanted.

Speaking at Trump National D.C. in advance of this week’s LIV Golf Virginia event, DeChambeau told a few reporters late Tuesday that he is hopeful that CEO Scott O’Neil and LIV Golf’s leadership can “come up with a good business plan and there's some PE [private equity] that wants to get in and they see the value in it.

“And they see the asset accretion value. What I mean by that is just value in the team, franchises, and then cleaning up the top company. Then I think there's a pathway forward.”

And if not? DeChambeau said he and his representatives have talked to the PGA Tour on a broader level of cooperation between all of the golf bodies and that he was concerned for other players and their path back.

As a major champion, DeChambeau would have status on the PGA Tour but suggested without detail that the penalties he faces would be severe.

“If Scott doesn't find the funding ... O.K., so if I can’t help, if we can’t help and the players can’t help find the funding and we don’t find a solution, for me I think it’s really enticing, depending on what everybody says on the [PGA] Tour and what they're going to strike me with as a penalty, which is quite unfortunate in my opinion, considering what I could do for them,” he said.

“I think, from my perspective, I’d love to grow my YouTube channel three times. Maybe even more. I would love to. I’d love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube. And then I'd love to play tournaments that want me.”

Bryson DeChambeau has options but wonders about stipulations

Earlier this year, DeChambeau was offered the opportunity to return to the PGA Tour under a one-time “Returning Member Program” that Brooks Koepka used after leaving LIV Golf. It was also offered to Jon Rahm and Cam Smith because they had won major championships since 2022. The Tour said it was not a precedent-setting move and was only available until Feb. 2.

DeChambeau could join the DP World Tour at the end of this year and be fully exempt as a winner of the 2024 U.S. Open but said he wondered if there would be stipulations.

“I don’t have any control over the policies they make,” said DeChambeau, who was told he’d be exempt next year. “I don’t know. I mean, they make up rules every day. ... I would love to entertain the world globally and play professional golf globally and give everyone around the globe a show.

“And I’d also like to do YouTube videos around it too. How great would that be? I’d love to promote the events and grow the events and collab with people and really create an amazing experience for juniors. Our demographic for golf is what? You know what the age is? It’s 60-plus, right? My demographic is 24 to 34 and it’s over 10 million of them.

“And I want to continue to inspire them and give them as much entertainment as possible because I’m just being myself. I’m trying to be myself as much as I can. I think there’s value to that and I want to give the world of golf as much as I can.”

DeChambeau said he recalled a conversation with Yasir Al-Rumayyan in 2022 before the launch of LIV Golf and how the franchise model and building academies and golf courses was part of the vision going forward. Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF and who until last week was the chairman of LIV Golf, often communicated directly with DeChambeau.

LIV Golf Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Bryson DeChambeau often spoke about the league's model. | Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images

But the golfer said he heard nothing in advance of the news that the PIF was pulling out of LIV Golf.

“I was completely shocked,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to happen. A couple months before that, it’s like, we’re here until 2032. We’ve got financing until 2032. And so I told everybody, and that’s what I was told.

“And then I haven’t had any communication. And unfortunately, things are moving on in a different direction. Obviously, they wanted to move on.”

He added: “I have nothing bad to say. They’ve provided me with an incredible opportunity to play golf around the globe and win a bunch of tournaments and influence the world in hopefully a good way.”

‘I think Scott’s doing a great job at helping the sustainability live for this year. Getting all the economics lined up for this year. Letting them finish out this and kind of winding it down on their own terms, whatever way they want to wind it down. And then we’re coming in with a new business plan that hopefully is enticing to everybody in the golf world.”

DeChambeau says PGA Tour "isn't doing great either"

Asked if he was concerned that the PIF might not pay his remaining contract—he signed on for five years in 2022 and it is up at the end of this year—DeChambeau said:

“Your guess is as good as mine. But guess what? I’m going to show up every day and do the right thing for just doing the right thing. Not even the contract, just doing the right thing.”

Going forward, DeChambeau didn’t discount the idea of LIV Golf contracting, with fewer events and smaller purses. He used the opportunity to suggest that PGA Tour should then work with LIV for the betterment of the game.

“Look, the Tour isn’t doing great either. Let’s be honest about the situation,” he said. “They’ve got the media. They’ve got everybody on the side that helps pump it up. But they’re reducing field sizes, cutting employees, and restructuring their business too.

“And I think as long as the professional game, and this is really important ... as long as the professional game doesn’t go to zero. And there was positive competition, meaning it created value towards the players and towards the ecosystem. And if we can come up with a good business plan for the game of golf, not just on our side, but on their side. And everybody together for the 2030 media rights negotiation [when the PGA Tour’s current media rights deals end]. We can all come up with something. We can really do something special for the game. And I hope everybody sees that potential.

“That would require cooperation from both sides. On both sides. And the egos need to get dropped. Everybody needs to come in with a level-headed playing field, with an opportunistic mindset to grow the game of golf. That’s why I came over here.”