If Bryson DeChambeau is seriously considering a return to the PGA Tour with the future of LIV Golf uncertain, he has an odd way of showing any sort of enthusiasm about the move.
DeChambeau’s future is murky after the Saudi Arabia PIF recently decided to pull funding from LIV Golf. That almost certainly means the league as it’s been known to this point won’t last. The PIF invested $5 billion into the league, luring top-class players like DeChambeau with massive signing bonuses and otherworldly purses.
At one point, DeChambeau likely thought a new deal worth hundreds of millions was on the table. His current deal expires after this season. Now it seems as if he might not have a permanent golf home. A return to the PGA Tour should be an option, but he’d likely have to go through some sort of pathway process for return after abandoning the Tour.
Bryson DeChambeau Skeptical of PGA Tour Amid Potential Return
Then again, it sounds like he’s not very high on his old stomping grounds at the moment.
“There’s a few different models. Look, the (PGA Tour) isn’t doing great, either,” DeChambeau told ESPN ahead of LIV Golf Virginia. “Let’s be honest about the situation. They’ve got the media. They’ve got everybody on the side that helps pump it up. But they’re reducing field sizes, cutting employees and restructuring their business too.”
The Tour has reduced field sizes, undergone recent layoffs and has restructured its business. There’s no denying that. Of course, the Tour is unquestionably on far steadier ground than LIV at this point, with no guarantee the renegade golf tour even fields a season beyond 2026.
There’s also a political dynamic at play. Players who left the Tour for LIV likely burned bridges in the eyes of at least some on the PGA Tour. Publicly taking shots at the Tour like this aren’t likely to help repair those bridges in the near future.
Bryson DeChambeau’s Non-PGA Tour Plan: YouTube Golf?
There’s another big problem if DeChambeau doesn’t want to return to the PGA Tour: How does that affect his ability to perform in majors? While DeChambeau isn’t in immediate risk of falling out of major championship fields, if he’s not earning world ranking points, it’s going to get tougher to make those fields.
And even if he is in those fields, not playing a full-time schedule — or at least the equivalent to a LIV full-time schedule — could really hurt his ability to stay sharp for those four tournaments.
As to what his options might be, DeChambeau also floated the idea of leaning even more into YouTube and playing a lot of his golf there … whatever that actually means. There’s no denying the success of the sport on the platform, a revolution largely led by DeChambeau himself. He has millions of subscribers, and devoting even more time to the project would likely grow his audience even more.
The question he’ll have to answer, though, is whether that’s worth the sacrifice. Given his comments about the Tour, it sure sounds like he might be willing to take the chance.
Bryson DeChambeau Takes Shot at PGA Tour Amid Uncertain Future