Bryson DeChambeau has dubiously claimed he will prioritise growing his YouTube fanbase over a return to the PGA Tour if the LIV circuit ceases to exist beyond this season.
The two-time major winner risks being stranded in a golfing no-man’s land after the Saudis announced they would end their backing of LIV at the end of the season.
DeChambeau admitted this week that he is among the many rebels to have made contact with the PGA Tour to explore whether there might be a pathway back in the event that LIV fail to find alternative funding. Given his contract is up at the end of this year, the situation is urgent.
But the American was plainly left unsatisfied by what he heard from those soundings, with any route proposed by the PGA Tour likely to be less favourable than the terms he rejected earlier this year.
Speaking at LIV’s latest event, staged at Trump National in Washington DC, DeChambeau described the suggested sanctions attached to a return as ‘quite unfortunate in my opinion, considering what I could do for them’.
Even if that smacks of entitlement, it will be lost on no one that DeChambeau possesses huge pulling power in golf.
Bryson DeChambeau (centre) is pictured with Gary Player (left) and Donald Trump (right) on the White House South Lawn on Tuesday
DeChambeau says he wants to prioritise growing his YouTube fanbase if LIV ceases to exist
His presence at the White House alongside Donald Trump on Tuesday was one indicator of his political capital, as is the reality that LIV will surely fade into a complete irrelevance if he departs.
As the struggling league seeks fresh investment, they will be well aware of the imperative to retain him, and indeed the extreme cost, with DeChambeau’s renewal demands estimated as high as $500million.
But DeChambeau, characteristically, is open to left-field options and he has made the somewhat questionable claim that he might even use his blossoming YouTube business as his primary outlet between majors. He currently has more than 2.5m subscribers on the platform.
‘I think, from my perspective, I’d love to grow my YouTube channel three times, maybe even more,” DeChambeau told ESPN.
‘I’d love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube.
‘And then I’d love to play tournaments that want me.’
The 32-year-old has been particularly stung by the Saudi exodus, for which he had no forewarning despite the closeness of his relationship to the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
DeChambeau said: ‘I haven’t had any communication. And unfortunately, things are moving on in a different direction. Obviously, they wanted to move on.’
He added: ‘I was completely shocked. I didn’t expect it to happen. A couple months before that, it’s like, “We’re here until 2032 – we’ve got financing until 2032”, I haven’t had any communication and obviously, they wanted to move on.’
For the time being, DeChambeau remains committed to LIV, despite conversations with the PGA Tour, and has been involved in conversations about their post-Saudi rebuild.
There is also an assumption among golf insiders that his preference for YouTube over the PGA Tour is a negotiating position geared towards securing a deal that involves fewer sanctions than those written into Brooks Koepka’s January return.
The five-time major winner was required to pay $5m to charity and would have to earn access to the PGA Tour’s signature events. His five-year ineligibility to Tour equity grants has seen the overall sanctions estimated, somewhat questionably, at $50m.
