Tag: Bryson DeChambeau

‘Any investment into the game of golf is gigantic’: LIV Golf players react to $3 billion outside investment in PGA Tour

“What I can say is that any investment into the game of golf is gigantic, especially on their side,” said DeChambeau.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — The Strategic Sports Group’s $3 billion investment to partner with the PGA Tour to create a new for-profit entity was undoubtedly the golf news of the day.

Just seven months ago the Tour announced a framework agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to create what we now know today as PGA Tour Enterprises. The Tour confirmed in a release on Wednesday that progress has been made in ongoing negotiations with the PIF on a potential future investment. That same release also stated that PGA Tour Enterprises allows for a co-investment from the PIF in the future, “subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.” In the original framework agreement, the PIF would’ve had the right of first refusal to any outside money if a deal was passed by the original deadline on Dec. 31, 2023 deadline.

A lot can change in seven months.

Given the PIF’s role as the financiers of LIV Golf, players were asked ahead of the 2024 season opener at Mayakoba’s El Camaleon Golf Course in Mexico about the new deal and their confidence level that the PIF would eventually join the PGA Tour Enterprises party, but even the always outspoken Bryson DeChambeau didn’t have much of any real substance to say.

“Look, I don’t know exactly how it’s all going to shake out, when it’s all said and done. I don’t know what it really means for the PIF’s position in it,” he said of the SSG investment. “What I can say is that any investment into the game of golf is gigantic, especially on their side.”

“You’re just going to see both entities continue to grow, and I hope at some point we’ll come back together. It needs to happen,” DeChambeau added. “I hope people can just put down their weapons and come to the table and figure it out because that’s what’s good for the game of golf and for fans in general. But like I said, any additional capital going into the game of golf is always positive. I’ve always said that.

“It may not be exactly what we all think it should be,” he continued, “but as time goes on, I think things will settle down in a positive way for both.”

“Yeah, that was really in the back of my mind, like really far back in my mind,” said LIV’s newest member Jon Rahm, who joked he was more worried about filling his roster for the 2024 season opener this week. “There’s a lot bigger people that are a lot smarter than me that are going to be worrying about that that actually have a say in it, and they should be thinking about it. I think we’re here to play golf, perform, and whatever comes, comes.”

DeChambeau is unsure whether the SSG news will push back or speed up the Tour’s discussions with the PIF, but did compliment Rory McIlroy for his recent comments on accepting the reality of Saudi Arabia’s investment in golf and that players who left for LIV shouldn’t be punished.

“I appreciate the sentiment that he is providing out to the public now. I think his words are from a much more neutral position as the likes of us over here at LIV have been since day one,” said DeChambeau, who was the last player to remove his name from the initial lawsuit against the PGA Tour. “I think it’s positive, what he’s saying now, and I appreciate that.”

“I’ve spoken to Rory a bit in the past week and back in December. That’s kind of along the lines of what he said to me. It’s not a surprise to hear him say that in the media,” added Tyrrell Hatton, who joined Rahm’s Legion XIII team. “Ultimately, I would like to still be able to play events on the other two tours. But we’ll see how all that works out.”

A three-time teammate of both McIlroy and Hatton in the Ryder Cup, Rahm echoed what Hatton had to say.

“I haven’t spoken to him a lot recently. But he might have had a change in thought process, as in maybe with some of the things he said in the past,” Rahm said. “I think he might be seeing that the landscape of golf is changing and at some point you need to evolve. So I think he might be seeing that, and everybody is entitled to their opinion, but it’s nice to have the support from a player the caliber of Rory, especially those Ryder Cup remarks he made early on. I think that’s an important statement for change to be said.”

While both sides of the professional golf aisle believe the game will be better when it’s united, they don’t seem to agree or even know how to get there. The SSG investment was a step forward for the Tour, and only time will tell if the PIF can get on equal footing.

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Updated how it started vs. how it’s going: What pro golfers said before joining LIV Golf — and after

Player opinions on the Saudi-backed league seem to have changed after they signed multi-million dollar deals.

It seems like it wasn’t so long ago that some of the world’s top golfers were denouncing the possibility of moving to a Saudi-backed circuit, especially after the comments made by Phil Mickelson that stirred controversy outside of the sports world.

But in fact, many of these conversations came as far back as 2022 (remember that year?) and while they haven’t aged well, they have certainly made for some interesting reading.

With a late 2023 defection of Jon Rahm from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, this seemed like a good time to play everyone’s favorite social media game, “How it started vs. how it’s going.”

Some have changed drastically on their stance. Others have remained consistent. Here’s a look at a few:

Fans, Donald Trump, the players and more winners and losers from LIV Golf’s second year

In 2023 the players and fans were both winners and losers.

Ask anyone who works for LIV Golf and they’ll tell you all eyes are on 2024 and beyond now that another season is in the books.

Following its inaugural eight-event series in 2022, this year marked the debut of the rebranded LIV Golf League, which saw the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund host 14 events around the world, from Mayakoba to Jeddah. The league didn’t quite dominate as much of the conversation in 2023 as it did last year, but still held down (and even expanded in some places) its footing in golf’s larger ecosystem.

As the league transitions into what could make for a busy offseason, let’s take a look back at the biggest winners and losers from LIV Golf’s second season.

Bryson DeChambeau drove a green (and hospitality stand?) and somehow made birdie at 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship

DeChambeau made one of the weirdest birdies you’ll see at Trump National Doral.

DORAL, Fla. — With the team title on the line, Bryson DeChambeau made a circus birdie down the stretch Sunday at the 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship.

With the tee pushed up, DeChambeau went to drive the green on the short par-4 16th and somehow hit it over the “Birdie Shack” hospitality stand and across the No. 2 green, located behind the 16th green and grandstand. After his ball presumably hit the cart path, the 30-year-old was forced to wait for the group on No. 2 to clear the green before he could play his next shot.

His approach attempt had to carry the hospitality stand and took a little math (and a lot of guessing) to lock in a yardage. DeChambeau’s caddie said 109 yards was the number and from there he hit a miraculous second within 25 feet, completely blind, to keep his struggling team’s title hopes alive.

From there, of course DeChambeau made the putt, sending a much-needed jolt of electricity through the dormant crowd.

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Storylines, what to watch for at the 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami

Everything you need to know for the weekend in Miami.

DORAL, Fla. — Who’s ready for a little match play?

The LIV Golf Team Championship is back at Trump National Doral this week, where the league’s 12 teams will contend for a $50 million purse that will see a whopping $14 million go to the winner just a week after Talor Gooch claimed the $18 million individual championship. Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC are back to defend their title – this year with Peter Uihlein instead of Gooch – and are one of four teams to earn a bye for Friday’s quarterfinal round of matches.

The format is unlike any other in golf (par for the course for LIV) and features a mix of both match and stroke play. Friday’s quarterfinal and Saturday’s semifinal matches will include three matches in each round, two singles and a foursomes (alternate shot). No ties. The first team to two points wins and advances. (You can read more about the format here).

Come Sunday, all 12 teams will compete in stroke play, where all four scores will count (in regular season events, the worst score is dropped from the team total), but only the top four teams can win the top prize. The teams to lose on Saturday will compete for places 5-8, with Friday’s losers going for places 9-12.

Here’s everything you need to know and storylines to watch for this week near Miami.

Bryson DeChambeau has a major championship exemption idea for LIV Golf players after OWGR ruling

As per usual, DeChambeau has some thoughts on the OWGR and LIV Golf.

After the Official World Golf Ranking rejected LIV Golf’s application for points, the upstart circuit now has the four major championships in its crosshairs.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley and the International Federation of PGA Tours’ Keith Waters all reportedly recused themselves from the LIV decision to avoid a conflict of interest, leaving the decision to leaders from Augusta National, the PGA of America, the United States Golf Association and the R&A.

LIV’s lengthy response failed to address the OWGR’s reason for rejecting points – its qualifying and relegation methods – but did condemn the world ranking and question its legitimacy.

“Players have historically remained subject to a single world ranking to qualify for Major Championships, the biggest events, and for corporate sponsor contract value,” the statement read. “A ranking which fails to fairly represent all participants, irrespective of where in the world they play golf, robs fans, players and all of golf’s stakeholders of the objective basis underpinning any accurate recognition of the world’s best player performances. It also robs some traditional tournaments of the best fields possible.”

Bryson DeChambeau, captain of Crushers GC, agrees.

“It’s just been par for the course, unfortunately, and I think at this point in time now that (the OWGR are) not allowing it, we would love to find another way to be integrated into the major championship system since I think we have some of the best players in the world,” said DeChambeau ahead of LIV Golf’s regular-season finale this week in Saudi Arabia. “Top 12 on the list, the Money List at the end of the year or the points list at the end of the year would be, I think, obvious for the major championships to host the best players in the world at those four events each year.”

“It’s honestly sad that they’ve done that,” he added.

LIV Golf is using the OWGR for its 72-hole promotion event, where players ranked within the top 200 will be eligible to play their way in to the league. While there is a small pathway in place for some outside players to gain access to LIV, it’s apparently not yet up to the OWGR’s standards.

The OWGR is the main way for players to qualify for major championships, but it’s certainly not the only route. Major championships can change their exemption criteria at their discretion, as seen last year with the U.S. Open, and DeChambeau’s idea seems to be the easiest way for LIV players to return to major competition. It’s also important to note that two of the four majors are Open championships, where LIV players have the ability to contend through open qualifying.

With less than 200 days until the first men’s major of the year at the 2024 Masters, the green jackets at Augusta National are now on the clock.

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Big money, byes and 2024 eligibility all on the line as LIV Golf returns to Saudi Arabia

A lot is on the line at LIV Golf’s regular-season finale in the Kingdom.

The LIV Golf League returns to action this week with the final event of its regular season in Saudi Arabia, where tens of millions of dollars, first-round byes and future eligibility are all on the line.

At the end of LIV Golf Jeddah, once again held at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, the season-long individual champion will be decided and the winner will take home the lucrative $18 million top prize. Dustin Johnson won the individual title a week before last year’s season finale, but this year’s race is much closer with three players in the mix: Cam Smith, Talor Gooch and Bryson DeChambeau.

Here’s a rundown of what’s on the line this week at LIV Golf Jeddah.

Brooks Koepka had this to say about LIV golfers upset at Ryder Cup snub

“I had the same opportunity as every other LIV player, and I’m here.”

Brooks Koepka is the lone LIV golfer of 24 playing in this week’s Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome, Italy. The five-time major winner captured the 2023 PGA Championship, his third Wanamaker trophy, to essentially clinch his spot in the field.

And Koepka, never one to mince words, said this when asked whether LIV golfers were snubbed in the selection process for the biennial competition between the United States and Europe.

“Play better,” he said. “That’s always the answer.”

Bryson DeChambeau, who last week won the LIV Golf event at Rich Harvest Farms in Chicago, has said numerous times he felt snubbed by U.S. captain Zach Johnson, even saying he never received a call in the weeks leading up to the captain’s selections. Not even after he shot 58 to win the LIV Golf Greenbrier event in August.

“If you look at it, it would have been nice to at least just have a call,” DeChambeau said. “There’s numerous people that I think Zach should have called out here, and we didn’t get that.

“I understand, I get it, but we’re nothing different. We’re still competing. We’re still working super hard to be the best we possibly can be.”

2023 Ryder Cup
Team USA’s Brooks Koepka tees off on eight during a practice day for the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)

In addition to DeChambeau, who represented the Americans at Whistling Straits in 2021, Dustin Johnson also commented recently he probably would’ve made the team if he was playing on the PGA Tour.

Meanwhile, Koepka, who also finished T-2 at the 2023 Masters, said the Ryder Cup came into focus after that week in Augusta, Georgia. He admitted he had a lot of other things going on in his mind when he made the jump to LIV last summer, and the Ryder Cup wasn’t one of them.

But a T-2 and a win in the first two majors of the year vaulted him up the board, and he earned one of six captain’s picks to head to Rome. Yet Koepka doesn’t think anyone was snubbed.

“I don’t make the decisions,” Koepka said. “It doesn’t — everybody had an opportunity to get there. I mean, I had the same opportunity as every other LIV player, and I’m here.”

This is Koepka’s fourth consecutive Ryder Cup, where he has a 6-5-1 record and is 2-0-1 in singles.

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2023 LIV Golf Chicago prize money payouts for each player and team

It pays to play well on the Saudi-backed circuit.

Another win, another $4 million for Bryson DeChambeau on the LIV Golf League.

DeChambeau won seven weeks ago at the LIV Golf Greenbrier event. On Sunday near Chicago, he did it again, posting a final-round 63 at Rich Harvest Farms. He’s now at $13 million for the season on LIV.

DeChambeau  has 12 professional wins: PGA Tour (8), DP World Tour (2), LIV Golf (2) and Korn Ferry Tour (1).

In the team competition, DeChambeau’s Crushers team, which also has Anirban Lahiri, Charles Howell III and Paul Casey, split $3 million. The Fireballs (Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer, Eugenio Chacarra, Carlos Ortiz) shared in the $1.5 million second-place team prize. The 4 Aces (Dustin Johnson, Peter Uihlein, Pat Perez, Patrick Reed) will divvy up $500,000.

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Finish Golfer Score Money
1 Bryson DeChambeau -13 $4,000,000
T2 Marc Leishman -12 $1,812,500
T2 Anirban Lahiri -12 $1,812,500
4 Sebastian Munoz -11 $1,050,000
T5 Peter Uihlein -10 $768,750
T5 Henrik Stenson -10 $768,750
T5 Talor Gooch -10 $768,750
T5 Abraham Ancer -10 $768,750
T9 Richard Bland -9 $570,000
T9 Dustin Johnson -9 $570,000
T11 Brendan Steele -8 $450,000
T11 Carlos Ortiz -8 $450,000
T11 Thomas Pieters -8 $450,000
T14 Sergio Garcia -7 $248,000
T14 Sam Horsfield -7 $248,000
T14 Eugenio Chacarra -7 $248,000
T14 Scott Vincent -7 $248,000
T18 Charles Howell III -6 $194,667
T18 Joaquin Niemann -6 $194,667
T18 Charl Schwartzel -6 $194,667
T18 Patrick Reed -6 $194,667
T18 Dean Burmester -6 $194,667
T18 Louis Oosthuizen -6 $194,667
T24 Bubba Watson -5 $165,000
T24 Jason Kokrak -5 $165,000
T24 Brooks Koepka -5 $165,000
T24 Ian Poulter -5 $165,000
28 Matt Jones -4 $160,000
T29 Harold Vaner III -3 $156,000
T29 Pat Perez -3 $156,000
T29 Branden Grace -3 $156,000
T32 Paul Casey -2 $148,000
T32 Kevin Na -2 $148,000
T32 Mito Pereira -2 $148,000
T32 Graeme McDowell -2 $148,000
T32 David Puig -2 $148,000
T37 Bernd Wiesberger E $139,000
T37 Jediah Morgan E $139,000
T37 Cameron Smith E $139,000
T37 Cameron Tringale E $139,000
T41 James Piot 1 $132,000
T41 Martin Kaymer 1 $132,000
T41 Lee Westwood 1 $132,000
44 Matthew Wolff 2 $128,000
45 Phil Mickelson 5 $126,000
46 Sihwan Kim 6 $124,000
47 Chase Koepka 7 $122,000
48 Danny Lee 8 $120,000

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Bryson DeChambeau shoots a Sunday 63, rallies to capture LIV Golf Chicago event

DeChambeau has two LIV wins in 2023, tied with Cam Smith, one one back of Talor Gooch.

Sebastian Munoz led by three shots after 36 holes at Rich Harvest Farms but couldn’t hold on to the lead, shooting 2 over in Sunday’s final round.

Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau went on a charge, posting nine birdies and just a single bogey to shoot an 8-under 63 to win for the second time on the LIV Golf League this season. DeChambeau finished 13 under and won by a shot over Marc Leishman and Anirban Lahiri.

Lahiri had a chance to force a playoff but missed a putt on the 18th hole.

“To be honest with you, I was actually sad,” said DeChambeau. “I really wanted him to make that so we could go battle it off in a playoff and finish it off the right way. That was the first emotion that I had.”

In August, DeChambeau won the LIV Golf Greenbrier event after he closed with a final-round 58. He joins Cam Smith with two wins in 2023. Talor Gooch leads the circuit with three wins.

In the season-long race for the Individual Champion, there’s only three golfers now who can claim that title: Gooch, Smith and DeChambeau. Smith currently leads that race with Gooch second and DeChambeau third. Smith and Gooch have mathematically clinched a spot in the top three. DeChambeau still has a shot at winning that title but could also get bumped out of the top three. Five golfers have a chance to finish in third (but they’re too far back to win the season title): Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Brendan Grace, Dustin Johnson and Mito Pereira.

Koepka finished 24th in the 48-man field. He’s the lone LIV golfer headed to Rome for the Ryder Cup next week. In fact, he’s the only one of the 24 golfers on either Ryder Cup team to compete this week (Euro vice captain Edoardo Molinari did tie for 28th at the DP World Tour’s French Open).

LIV Golf Chicago was the 12th of 14 events on the 2023 schedule. LIV Golf Jeddah in Saudi Arabia is up next, Oct. 13-15. The season finale is the LIV Golf Team Championship at Doral, Oct. 20-22.