Bryson DeChambeau has become the darling of the PGA Championship – is he the only man to join LIV and become MORE popular?
On the 10th tee of the final round of the PGA Championship, Bryson DeChambeau captured the hearts of the golf world. An older man leaned in front of a young child and grabbed the ball DeChambeau had thrown to him. DeChambeau immediately stopped, reversed and confronted the man.
In the thick of the tournament, he wouldn’t have been blamed for missing, but rather it became a gesture that earned him praise as a “man of the people.”
It was a far cry from the powerful disruptor of recent years, but somehow, in Valhalla, DeChambeau completed his transformation from LIV Golf villain to PGA Championship hero.
DeChambeau burst onto the scene in 2016 like a freight train in a flat cap. With single-length clubs, a fixation on speed and strength, an obsession with number crunching and relentless pumping, DeChambeau did little to endear himself to fans and much to win the nickname Mad Scientist.
He certainly wasn’t the players’ man either, if Brooks Koepka’s famous 2021 eye roll is anything to go by.
Bryson DeChambeau hailed as ‘man of the people’ at PGA Championship
Yet 12 months removed from a frosty reception at Oak Hill, DeChambeau found himself the darling of Valhalla.
Valhalla has always been a theater for the PGA. Mark Brooks won in a playoff on 18 in 1996. Tiger Woods completed a three-hole playoff on 18, fending off Cinderella man Bob May in 2000. Rory McIlroy clinched the 2014 PGA at 18th in a race against darkness and storms. This year, it was DeChambeau who stole the show.
He had electrified the 18th gallery, allowing Eagle to finish his third round in style. Letting out a roar as he lunged into a fist pump with the fans gathered outside the sunny clubhouse befitting his passion.
“Exhilarating,” DeChambeau said of the moment after the round. “I haven’t felt like this in a long time.”
24 hours later he issued a recall. As he and Viktor Hovland traded birdie shots to put pressure on Xander Schauffele, DeChambeau strutted into Valhalla with the panache of a showman, while the masses chanted “Bryson, Bryson, Bryson.”
On the stage of the 18th green, he bows out. Although he failed to replicate his third-round eagle chip-in, DeChambeau’s birdie putt hung over the edge of the cup before finally sinking in to tie the game. advance from Schauffele.
He threw his arms in the air as if to dive after his ball before yelling “Let’s go” to the noisy crowd with a final fist shake.
The stage of a major championship demands a spectacle and DeChambeau is an entertainer – something sorely lacking on the PGA Tour and its $20 million flagship events.
The 30-year-old joined the controversial Saudi-backed LIV golf tour in 2022.
DeChambeau went to the range where, as he took practice shots, out of the periphery of his eyes the big screen showed Schauffele standing over his own birdie putt on the 18th.
For 20 minutes, DeChambeau had lived a slice of history with the lowest score in a major championship. For 20 minutes, the Wanamaker Trophy was half in his hands. Until Schauffele pulled it all away with a putt to claim victory.
DeChambeau, who had interrupted practice to watch the winning putt arrive, put away his club and immediately headed to the 18th green where he was one of the first to congratulate his rival on a major victory that was almost his .
“Proud of Alex for finally getting the job done,” DeChambeau said later. “I mean, he’s an incredible golfer and a well-deserved major champion now.”
Long after Schauffele hoisted the Wanamaker, instead of slipping into the shadows, DeChambeau was still signing autographs in the clubhouse parking lot.
It was an agonizing defeat, but he accepted it with composure and grace. It’s also the one that endeared him to the masses. He may not have come away with a second major victory, but he did come away with a new level of popularity. Captain of the Crushers, fan favorite – who saw this coming?
Somehow, DeChambeau took $100 million from the Saudis, only to become infinitely more popular with PGA Tour fans. Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship last year, but neither he nor fellow rebels Cam Smith and Phil Mickelson moved the needle like DeChambeau did last week.
Yet fans whose heads haven’t been turned by the “golf but stronger” agenda of the LIV Golf show won’t know the new DeChambeau.
Somehow DeChambeau took $100 million from the Saudis, only to become more popular
DeChambeau 2.0 is a part-time LIV golfer, part-time YouTuber – a brand he is aware of and channels into his off-course activities.
“When the time comes, knowing what to do, what to say, how to act is really important,” DeChambeau said.
“When I was younger, I didn’t understand what it was. Yes, I would have big celebrations and such, but I didn’t know what that meant and why I was necessarily doing it. Now I do it a lot more for the fans and for the people around and I try to be a bit of an entertainer who plays good golf from time to time.
He has 613,000 subscribers on YouTube, which, through his Break 50 series with glamorous golfer Paige Spiranac and challenge videos such as trick shots and rounds with Walmart clubs, provides a platform to see a lighter side by DeChambeau.
And with a million followers on Instagram, he’s also attracted a new group of golf fans.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder. It’s an old cliché but one that rang true in Valhalla. His former high-profile call-up is undoubtedly why LIV Golf wanted him, but even though DeChambeau received a salary, he and his Mad Scientist persona were locked behind a paywall.
Since his defection to LIV Golf, fans have only gotten glimpses of DeChambeau – four times a year – but those who watched or watched from outside the ropes in Louisville saw a matured, entertaining, freer and more aware of himself.
In his exile at LIV amid golf’s civil war, DeChambeau not only became a fan favorite, but he also grew closer to his peers.
The American began creating YouTube content featuring Paige Spiranac
For the socially awkward DeChambeau, LIV offered a fresh start. No one embraced team spirit more than the Crushers captain who gave his team Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri matching Rolex watches, Alan Shipnuck noted.
“He thrives in this social environment around him, which maybe doesn’t come naturally to him,” Lahiri said in Shipnuck’s book, LIV and Let Die.
“But in this case, it’s not a matter of choice. The social element is very good for him. He enjoys company, he enjoys company.
DeChambeau no longer lives on his Golf Machine Island. He really assimilated and integrated himself into the game.
When he left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in June 2022, he was still following his 3,500-calorie diet of meat, potatoes and protein shakes in an effort to bulk up and improve his game.
The efforts were successful, with the American reaching 17th place and having the longest average driving distance of the 2019-20 season with 322.1 yards.
DeChambeau with Crushers teammates Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey
But they also made him sick. Doctors warned his diet was taking years off his life. It was a wake-up call that resulted in a weight loss of 18 pounds in 24 days.
Even without the added muscle, DeChambeau’s match last week still resembled the long drives and exquisite putting of his only major victory at Winged Foot. DeChambeau also demonstrated maturity with a newfound respect that hallowed courts, like Augusta and Valhalla, deserve.
With his constant experimentation, obsessive fixation on number crunching, single-length clubs, and bold claims, looks at DeChambeau’s antics are often justified, but he’s still a character whose golf has need.
A happier, healthier DeChambeau has entered the second act of his career and it’s at the box office. When he’s competing in a major championship, it’s the television you absolutely have to watch.
