Bryson DeChambeau Remains Focused on LIV Golf Despite Uncertain Future

Addressing the media for the first time since missing the cut at the PGA Championship, the two-time major winner said he still believes in the team golf model.

LIV’s shaky footing has placed additional pressure on DeChambeau to perform well at major championships. | James Lang-Imagn Images

Bryson DeChambeau said he is approaching this week and beyond in the only manner he can: by being positive about his game and his approach to LIV Golf’s future.

While admitting again that he was surprised by the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s decision to drop its funding of the LIV Golf League at the end of this year, the two-time major champion pledged his support going forward, including his assertion that the team golf model is viable.

In his first comments since missing the 36-hole cut at the PGA Championship on May 15, DeChambeau said he is “giving all he can” to assure that LIV Golf survives beyond this year.

“We were surprised that they pulled out as quickly as they did,” DeChambeau said Tuesday at Asiad Country Club in Busan, South Korea, site of this week’s LIV Golf Korea event. “We didn’t really see that coming. But that’s O.K. One door closes, another opens. I think that’s the way a lot of us are looking at it.

“We all have optimism that there is a business plan that makes sense for team golf. I’d quite honestly actually—how do I say it? I’m very optimistic with the business plan of team golf compared to other models, in my opinion.”

It has been approximately a month since the PIF, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, announced that it would no longer support LIV Golf beyond this year.

Now in its fifth season, the controversial league has reportedly spent some $5 billion as it signed several big-name players to lucrative contracts while offering $30 million tournament purses with a team component.

Most involved with LIV Golf were caught off guard by the PIF decision, and LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil has added two board members and an investment entity in an attempt to shore up funds.

“Other models have worked, as well, so I’m not going to say that one is better than the other,” DeChambeau said. “But I do see value in what team golf can provide not only worldwide but also in grass-rooting the game of golf.

“National support, team national support, city local support, we grass-root ourselves there. There are a couple ideas that we have—quite a few ideas that we have that could be interesting.

“We’ll see if investors like it or not. I’m giving all I can to make it happen, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t happen.”

DeChambeau said he went on investor visits with O’Neil a few weeks ago when LIV Golf was playing in Virginia.

LIV is playing this week in South Korea, followed by a trip next week to Spain. There is then a week off before the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in New York.

This is LIV’s eighth event of the year, and DeChambeau has more or less becoming the face of the league. His contract with LIV is up at the end of this year, and he has floated the idea of leaning further into his YouTube endeavors if LIV folds.

As the 2024 U.S. Open champion, he is exempt in that tournament through 2034. He is exempt at the Masters and PGA Championship through ’29 and the British Open through ’28.

A reporter DeChambeau about the constant interest in his comments.

“Oh, literally,” he replied. “It’s the funniest thing ever. I respect everybody that says that I’m the worst thing for golf or I’m the best thing for golf. It’s okay.

“The reality is I’m so focused on what I can do for the game that somebody saying something online or to me personally in my face is not going to distract me from the mission that I have.

“When people are saying these things about me, I know my mission. I know what I’m here to do. Sometimes it’s tough to see, but sometimes it’s an inspiration for me. Fuels positive fire in my stomach.

“I think people love to say something and you have to respect that. I think everybody’s opinion is valid. All I can do is continue to be the best every single day that I can, whether I win tournaments out here, I win majors, or don’t win majors or finish dead last out here. It doesn’t matter to me, as long as I’m working as hard as I can and giving as much as I can, that’s all that really matters.”

As for his own game, DeChambeau is coming off missed cuts in both major championships this year after a strong run of success the last few years.

“I'm playing some solid golf,” he said. “I'm working on my golf swing quite hard, trying to get back to that 58 level [the score he shot in 2023] at Greenbrier when I just had this golf swing that was so easy.

“The weeks that I've been playing in major championships, I've been playing okay, just having nothing happen for me, and that's kind of the game of golf. The weeks before that I played really well going into them. I won two events going into the Masters and then finished third in Virginia. So it's not like I'm playing bad golf. I think I'm putting some pressure on myself to play well in those tournaments, and that's the reality. Nobody is perfect, and I'm still working hard to play as good as I possibly can, and the year before I played really well in the majors, missed one cut there, and it just happens.

“That's golf, and ultimately excited for the opportunities I have moving forward. There isn't any quit in me, as you can see, even at Aronimink [for the PGA] I birdied my first last three holes trying to make the cut there, and it is what it is.

“I'll tell you this: I played worse golf and shot better scores at majors. It's one of those scenarios of ebbs and flows in golf. I'm really excited for the future over at Shinnecock and overseas, as well, for the Open Championship.

“Head down, keep moving forward.”