After defecting from the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf, Bryson DeChambeau has reflected on the reasoning behind his surprise decision, while speaking with nostalgia about the American circuit
Bryson DeChambeau has explained the reasoning behind his dramatic exit from the PGA Tour after his move to LIV Golf as he revealed his mum was one of the motivations behind the divisive switch.
The 2020 US Open winner was one of the most high profile names to defect to the Saudi Arabian circuit in 2022, with this coming after he had committed to the PGA Tour only months before. Ultimately, a lucrative offer to the tune of £98million over four years was enough to snare the American.
Since his move to the Gulf State, the one-time major championships victor has been a vocal advocate of the Greg Norman-led organization, while championing a merger between LIV and the PGA Tour. With talks having stalled over a binding agreement over the prospective for-profit entity which was teased by both sides, along with the DP World Tour, last summer.
Speaking about his thought process behind departing the PGA Tour for the PIF-backed circuit two years ago, DeChambeau said to Golf Monthly: “People can say I moved to one side, but I did it for my family and what I had in front of me at that point in time. I think my mom would have probably smacked me for not taking the deal.”
As for an eventual breakthrough in terms of the pooling of the assets of the golfing world’s leading tours, he encouraged chiefs to ‘continue to talk to players on both sides’. He said: “There is a mutually beneficial ground, a peace that I hope a lot of people can start to see. I’ve had visions of this for quite a long time.
“You can’t publicly say them, unfortunately, because you get scrutinized and criticized and everybody throws things in certain ways to give you curve balls. I want to be very careful and cautious because I don’t know what the future of golf fully looks like, and I’m just a bystander trying to play some golf and trying to help advocate for the fans to win again. They need to win.”
