Last week, when Bryson DeChambeau took to Katie Miller’s podcast to talk about a wide range of topics, some of his quotes went viral.
There was one that he didn’t believe the footage of the moon landing (frankly, I’m surprised he even thinks we went to the moon in the first place).
But what struck even more was how he is struggling with his future in golf.
“I’m in that weird space right now, I don’t know what to do, whether it’s content creation or professional golf. I don’t know what to do right now.”
Imagine trying to explain that to Ben Hogan. Hell, imagine trying to explain that to Ben Griffin…
We’ve seen this evolution of Bryson as a golf figure. He started out as a nerdy mad scientist with single-length canes, side saddles and a weird hat. He braced himself and followed the distance. He went to LIV and launched a buzzing YouTube channel, carefully curating his image and getting a PR shine.
Golf fans started out as curious because he was doing things differently; then they thought he was obnoxious/unaware of doing things like berating sponsors, seeking second opinions on weird rules questions, and filming 15-minute videos of him shirtless frying ham during the pandemic; then they thought he was a man of the people to make such a concerted effort in creating content.
From cold to not cold to cold. From popular to despised to popular.
Polarizing, fascinating, or both… depending on who you ask.
But based on the temperature reading I’m talking to friends and reading the reactions online, the overwhelming emotion right now is that people are just tired of Bryson’s wand.
And the quote I mentioned at the top of this story sums it all up. The guy has won two championships, is a top-10 player in the world and still doesn’t know if he wants to play professional golf again. an opportunity he’s been teasing all year like he’s doing a promo for a reality show.
Two things can be true at the same time:
- Bryson is a fascinating and wonderful character in the game of golf because he offers a wildly different perspective and is willing to let fans in on content creation. He’s a great player and is always making headlines, a positive thing considering how soft-spoken the golf pro can be. He’s one of the few guys that really moves the needle in our game.
- Bryson is also exhausting. He feels so inclined to click the “About you” section of Twitter, which could be Dante’s ninth circle of hell. There’s always an angle, a scheme, a dumb quote, a new TikTok or a hole-in-one challenge over his house. He is Nickelodeon’s Golfer.
I want to take you back to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla, in the heat of the aforementioned glow for Bryson’s image.
Back on the PGA Tour, DeChambeau was getting “Brooksy” tweets, taking three minutes to hit shots and blaming his equipment at every turn. His reputation in and out of the public eye was pretty sour.
Then he went to LIV. Golf fans began to see him only in the majors – and on YouTube, where he invested more resources than any professional golfer. This investment provided a ton of goodwill. Even some of his haters turned fans.
From that PGA Championship, I wrote a column titled “Admit It – You’re Becoming a Bryson Fan.” Here is an excerpt from that story.
“Bryson had somehow become the first on the PGA Tour, and it was a well-earned distinction. He repeatedly proved his egotism and lack of self-awareness, whether it was unfairly blaming the producers, calling Augusta National a par-67 or lecturing nonsensical pseudo-physics.
“Fans may have respected his willingness to think about golf in a unique way, but the respect didn’t go much further than that. He came across as an immature know-it-all who was a serious golfer but not a person to be taken seriously.
“Well, Bryson haters among us, it’s time to admit that he’s gotten a lot nicer over the past year or so...
“As someone who spent a fair amount of time rooting for Bryson (or just making fun of him), I think it’s undeniable that the game is significantly more interesting when he’s involved.
“On Sunday at the PGA Championship, fans were firmly in his corner. The reports in the country were unanimous – the crowd wanted him to win more than the eventual champion Xander Schauffele.
“And why wouldn’t they? Bryson is one of the only players of this generation who truly seems to care about the fan experience. He provides visceral feedback after key shots, showing how badly he wants to win. He is throwing golf balls at the kids and making sure the shameless adults don’t make off with the souvenir. It’s creating online content that a younger audience can identify with in a real way.
“He understands that there is more to golf than playing well and getting a paycheck. He’s invested in this.”
I don’t regret saying anything because that’s how I felt at the time. I still appreciate Bryson’s showmanship and emphasis on fans, though we’ve seen less of that given his recent exclusions from the majors.
What I will say is that, at the end of the day, there is a shelf life for a guy like Bryson.
He is someone who comes off as calculated, not genuine. Bryson feels like a know-it-all algorithm trying to twist and turn himself into being lovable. He thinks about what other people want to see him do in order to be popular (which, to be fair, could be extremely effective in the year of our Lord, 2026).
You can’t run that trick forever. Eventually you will wear a lot of people.
When fans see you hit a shot for a long time and then complain about the lack of hard hitting after your terrible shot, it’s another reminder that the edited version of Bryson is very different from the raw one.
Those memories have surfaced recently (that he continues to enter politics—he refused to do media at the PGA Championship but poured his heart out on a right-wing podcast—adds to his divisiveness).
If he goes it alone with YouTube and doesn’t commit to playing competitive golf, many people will rightfully criticize him for putting his brand before his legacy.
He has always been a polarizing figure, but it seems that public sentiment is turning more negative than it has been in a long time.
Maybe not so much from love to hate … but from intrigue to exhaustion.
What do you think of Bryson? Let me know below in the comments.
Main photo caption: Bryson DeChambeau gets frustrated during the PGA Championship. (GETTY IMAGES/Emilee Chinn)
