Bryson DeChambeau is playing both sides as he seeks to secure his future for 2027.
The two-time US Open winner’s LIV Golf contract expires at the end of 2026, and as the Saudi Public Investment Fund withdraw their funding of the tour, DeChambeau’s future has been thrown into doubt.
He reportedly spoke to PGA Tour officials at The Masters as he weighs his options for next year. DeChambeau could return to the tour as Brooks Koepka did, but he would need to negotiate a deal to lift his suspension.
DeChambeau has also made clear to both LIV Golf and the PGA Tour that he is willing to move into full-time content creation and to play only the major championships competitively. He has a YouTube channel with over 2 million subscribers, so he could easily do that full-time.
But he won’t, and the PGA Tour should call his bluff.
DeChambeau is negotiating with the PGA Tour with very little leverage. He’s so invested in LIV Golf that the only way he’d return to the PGA Tour would be if LIV is no longer an option for him. And CEO Brian Rolapp knows it.
To create some leverage for himself, DeChambeau is using his YouTube channel. It’s clearly a viable option for him.
He could, in theory, take his content to a new level, document his qualification for the US Open and The Open Championship, and earn enough points there to make the field at The Masters and the PGA Championship.
But LIV Golf seem to leave its players unprepared for major championship competition. Tyrrell Hatton was the only LIV player in the top 30 of The Masters, as DeChambeau missed the cut and Rahm was uncompetitive.
So if LIV didn’t prepare DeChambeau for The Masters, how could he expect YouTube to? There’s nothing like the heat of competition, and he can get as many talented players on his channel as he likes. A “Break 50” video isn’t going to get him in the form he needs to play four rounds at a major.
He might be the content king, but DeChambeau clearly lives for the biggest events of the year. You can see how much The Masters means to him. He wants that Green Jacket badly.
Doing YouTube full-time simply won’t scratch the itch for DeChambeau, so the PGA Tour should take this threat for what it is: a negotiating tactic.
Rolapp, who allowed Brooks Koepka to return to the PGA Tour earlier this year, is open to the possibility of Rahm and DeChambeau coming back. But he recently told Pat McAfee that he’s not yet certain how that looks.
He said on the Pat McAfee show, “I’ve always said on this subject I’m interested in doing whatever makes the PGA Tour better. Fans want the best players playing together. I’ve always said that from day one when I took the job.
“Having said that, I don’t know what the circumstances are. Once there’s clarity we’ll cross that bridge, but we’re clearly not there yet.”
If either Rahm or DeChambeau leaves LIV, it would surely be the nail in the coffin for the tour, so of course, Rolapp would jump at the chance.
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