Bryson DeChambeau’s complicated contract situation is Greg Norman’s creation

Three and a half years before Brooks Koepka cut ties with LIV Golf, he was aware of what was happening in an office park in suburb of London.

Greg Norman was on stage at RD Studios, awkwardly moving through a pre-written speech. He glanced left and right around the room – which was packed with anxious supporters of the new league – mainly because the teleprompters were there. He went along well, but stopped every time he missed a word, leading up to the fifth paragraph of the speech, where he uttered a very important phrase:

We’re bringing free agency to golf, and that has always been the driving force behind what we set out to do.

In some ways, he was right. Norman and the Saudi PIF had produced a new corner of the pro golf market, and many important Tour professionals took them (and their money) seriously. Norman loved those two words: free agency. They were a big part of his campaign. But now, nearly four years later, he watches from the sidelines, unable to make an impact in the league as those two words are suddenly working in reverse.

The Koepka news shocked the golf space for several reasons. He landed around 5:00 PM on December 23, just as the world settled down around their hearths. It was also the first time a major leaguer refused his initial 4-year contract, ending it a season early. Days later, Bryson DeChambeau reminded the world that he has one year left on his deal, and that Koepka’s decision changes things.

DeChambeau shared his thoughts with the social media account @FlushingItand as abnormal as it may sound to traditionalists, they are very real ideas that he has shared privately throughout 2025. He believes in team golf and wants to strike a deal with LIV, but a lot needs to change.

DeChambeau noted that he doesn’t have as much say in LIV as he’d like, but he can worry about that later. What he has to say is where he sells his services, as Norman argued years ago. Sitting across the table from DeChambeau is a golf league with owner of a trillion dollars and nothing that constitutes a salary cap. This combo is one of a kind, just as DeChambeau himself is one of a kind. And considering that PIF created an irrational market with mega-million dollar “free agent” signings in 2022 and 2023, it may not be appreciated, but it wouldn’t be surprising if DeChambeau’s money request started with a B.

A player’s individual value, from a marketing and commercialization perspective, is at the heart of any LIV negotiation, as is the threat to provide that value elsewhere. What makes DeChambeau different is that he has a third theoretical path, which he made clear in Flushing It: there is always to YouTube. He loves creating content so much that you can see it featured exclusively on Golfer Streaming if he wants to. (Remember that he spent most of the Covid lockdown playing himself playing Fortnite or speed training on Twitch.) DeChambeau has qualified for every major tournament through the 2029 US Open. Could a place like Amazon — not allergic to paying massive fees for sports content — offer him a creative deal for the weeks in between?

Norman would enjoy hearing DeChambeau work through the hypothetical. In 1994, Norman petitioned the PGA Tour to let him compete in a series of unsanctioned international matches, alongside Nick Price and against other two-man teams. The concept of the two-person rotating match has become quite popular in these years of streaming golf content, especially and surprisingly by LIV players who take their marketing very seriously. This mindset is what Norman believed in. He liked the idea of ​​golfers texting each other, not unlike NBA players, to consider joining forces. He relished the offseason discourse, fueling the belief that a “big name” could be dropped from the PGA Tour at any moment, even if that rarely came to pass. He had to love it when Koepka’s then-coach Claude Harmon took a victory lap in 2023, comparing his stud hitter who just won the PGA Championship to Justin Verlander who signed a 2-year, $90 million deal with the New York Mets. What’s important now is that it seems to work both ways.

Last weekend we saw Rory McIlroy admits itif it were up to him, LIV players would be accepted back into the PGA Tour. They have already paid the consequences, he said. He then joined Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter and said the same thing, not-so-subtly referencing Koepka’s possible move to the PGA Tour and out-calling DeChambeau’s name.