Bryson DeChambeau Is Bullish on LIV Golf's Future—and a Reconciliation With the PGA Tour
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With little fanfare, the LIV Golf League brought together a majority of its players for what it called "Teams Week" in Miami, where there were promotional shoots, videos and all manner of planning for the coming season, which begins in two weeks.
Along the way, there was some inevitable news to come out. For example, LIV Golf officially announced that Matt Jones would be back with the all-Australian Ripper team.
What wasn’t announced but is no longer a secret is that LIV Golf will add a 13th team for this season, captained by Jon Rahm, who has named his team Legion XIII. Rahm wore a hat with the logo while appearing on The Jim Rome Show. Phil Mickelson went on with Pat McAfee. (Rahm apparently is going to add a college player, Caleb Surratt, a sophomore at Tennessee, to his team; a source confirmed this to Sports Illustrated but LIV Golf has not made it official and we’ve seen things change quickly at LIV.)
Various other interviews and media opportunities were doled out, and two things seem clear: those associated with LIV Golf believe it is here to stay, while they are also confident that an agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—LIV’s backer—is important and potentially close.
Among those who had no issues with expressing his views on the subject: Bryson DeChambeau. The 2020 U.S. Open champion, who is captain of the Crushers team that won the team championship in October, is not only bullish on LIV's future but also the game coming back together.
Bryson DeChambeau hopes a team element can be added to the PGA Tour's elite events.
Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports
He was glad, for example, to read Rory McIlroy’s recent comments in which he suggested the sides need to achieve peace together and offered some ideas on a potential world tour.
"He realizes the game has to come back together. As do all of us," DeChambeau said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I’ve said from Day 1 I want the game to come back together. We need the game to come back together. Not just for ourselves to play against the best players. But for the fans to see us play against each other again. And for the game of golf to grow the way we know it can. I just wish people would have taken meetings in the beginning.
"It was always simple," he added. "Egos got in the way."
That aspect of the PGA Tour-LIV divide will long be discussed. The June 6 framework agreement was such a surprise and led to plenty of discontent. But the negotiations have continued and DeChambeau is among those who hopes there is a way for the best players to compete against each other again.
Asked if he could see himself playing in PGA Tour events along with LIV Golf events, DeChambeau believes that should have been allowed all along—although he admits he understands why that is not the case.
"I’d love to support any tournament that would allow me to play," he says. "You’ve got to remember, we were pushed out. We made a decision. Totally understand the whole situation and understand the PGA Tour’s position to do what they did. I made a decision to play somewhere else. Would I have loved to supported tournaments and played PGA Tour events still? Absolutely."
Getting back to that point, however, remains challenging. What does PGA Tour Enterprises—the new for-profit company that would come from this—look like? How would the best play together? How would the PGA Tour remain as it is while LIV also exists?
"My thought process for how the game comes back together is a little more in-depth," DeChambeau says. "I have a deep respect for the individuality of the sport. And what some of the heritage events mean.
"But I also think there is a way to layer on a team aspect that creates another stream of revenue not only for broadcasters, advertisers, players. But I also think it will potentially bring new fans into the sport because of the team aspect. I’m a Cowboys fan because I live in Dallas and I’m part of the community. I don’t have to be a part of the sport to be a fan. I think that’s what is unique about this opportunity. We can be a fan of a team and not necessarily play the sport.
"It’s an opportunity to grow the sport. Tiger (Woods) was his own team. Everybody followed the sport even though they might not play golf because it was Tiger Woods. I think that is a small part of what LIV is trying to create. There’s more than that. But how the game comes back together? I think there’s an opportunity to lay on these signature events or designated events a team aspect to it. They could create another line of revenue for these tournaments."
For the two sides to align, there needs to be compromise. And it probably entails some sort of system where events would count for both tours. For example, some LIV events might need to be part of the PGA Tour schedule. And you might need to lower the minimum events required on the PGA Tour as well as reduce the number of LIV events. With a 15-event PGA Tour minimum and 14 LIV events, the math doesn’t work. No top player today competes in 29 events.
That is one of the many tricky aspects to all of this. Figuring out a schedule, how it all comes together, getting approval from all sides … it’s complicated. And it points to the challenge in getting it done in a timely manner.
DeChambeau clearly understands that part. He said he's like the rest of us, waiting to see how it all plays out. But he doesn’t envision a scenario without LIV in some form.
"LIV is its own business," he says. "You have the PGA Tour creating something new and we’re on our own path. How that integrates over and how both come together, I don’t know. Numerous things we can’t necessarily foresee. What I can speak to is the stability of what LIV is doing and the agreements going past 2030. There are agreements that long.
"This isn’t going to be something that is going to get washed out. Nor is the Tour. The PGA Tour will still exist, LIV will still exist, how it works to come together is something I’m not privy to nor do I understand nor can I speak on. I have no idea. Do I have ideas about it? How integration works? Yes. How do we get reinstated? How do the players on the bottom line of the Tour not lose their job? How does it all work together? I don’t know. Do I think there’s a solution? Absolutely."