Bryson DeChambeau’s future is once again a key talking point amid doubts over what LIV Golf will look like beyond the 2026 season.
DeChambeau is LIV’s biggest star. His contract is currently set to expire at the end of the year.
And with the Financial Times reporting that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will withdraw funding for the league after this season, it is not yet clear where he will be playing in 2027.
DeChambeau has suggested that he is optimistic about signing a new LIV contract. But reports have also suggested that his management have held talks with the PGA Tour to learn about what a return would look like.
Interestingly, the report noted that DeChambeau could be prepared to only play in the four majors and instead spend the rest of the year making contact for his successful YouTube channel.
If there is anyone in the current game who could make that work, it is surely DeChambeau.
However, speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast before the 32-year-old commented on his future, Rex Hoggard suggested that he cannot see any way that DeChambeau only plays competitively in the four majors.
“I would be surprised if Bryson DeChambeau’s team was not talking with not only the other entities, the other organisations within golf, but specifically, the PGA Tour, seeing if they can circle back around and get a second bite of the apple that they offered earlier this year with the Returning Member Program, simply because of the writing on the wall,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s the end of LIV Golf. I think there’s possibilities out there, and certainly Scott O’Neil’s angling in that direction of getting a new investor beyond the Public Investment Fund when Saudi Arabia is done funding the tour at the end of the year.
“No one is going to have the deep pockets that the Saudis have. We know that. And so, whatever it is that Bryson was going to ask for isn’t going to be available. No one’s going to be able to pay that.
“So now Bryson turns his attention to what’s next. And he’s made it clear, and maybe he just walks away from all the tours and maybe he just becomes a YouTube golfer who plays the major championships. I don’t think that’s going to be fulfilling for him. I don’t see how that sustains him over the long-term because I don’t think any professional golfer is wired that way.
“Maybe Bobby Jones was way back in the day. But I don’t think it’s realistic to think that I’m only going to play four events a year, and they’re going to be the four biggest events on the hardest golf courses against the deepest fields and have any expectation of being able to compete.
“So I would be surprised if his management company wasn’t trying to reach out to the PGA Tour and start this conversation.”
DeChambeau has been one of LIV’s biggest success stories so far. Despite his nightmare performance at The Masters earlier this month, his record in the majors has been extremely impressive since leaving the PGA Tour.
He seemed to find a way to work on his game during LIV events and then make sure that he was at his best when the majors came around.
He won the US Open in 2024, while he has been in contention on several other occasions. DeChambeau looked to have become golf’s ultimate prizefighter.
That does not perhaps reflect particularly well on LIV’s events. His performance at Augusta National certainly does not considering he won the previous two tournaments on LIV.
But it does show that if anyone will be able to make a truly unique schedule work for them, DeChambeau is probably the man.