The news that Saudi Arabia’s PIF would be cutting their funding from LIV Golf came as a real shock to Bryson DeChambeau.
DeChambeau joined LIV Golf way back in June 2022 after leaving the PGA Tour, and he has since gone on to become one of the biggest draws in the professional game.
The 32-year-old had plenty of leverage not too long ago, considering the amount of fans he draws into the game and the enormous following he has garnered on his YouTube channel.
Bryson DeChambeau was definitely in a strong position to negotiate with the PGA Tour, after Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed left LIV Golf earlier this year.
However, everything changed in April when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced their decision to stop funding LIV Golf at the end of the current season.
Suddenly, all of DeChambeau’s power was taken away from him.
If LIV were to fold, he would undoubtedly be desperate to return to the PGA Tour, and his position of strength immediately became one of weakness.
Bryson DeChambeau’s dream would see the PGA Tour and LIV Golf unite
DeChambeau has been linked with a move back to the PGA Tour, with LIV Golf’s future completely uncertain right now.
Even if LIV Golf carries on next season, purses will be considerably lower because, let’s face it, nobody has an endless pot of money like the Saudis do.
Sean Zak, a writer for Golf.com, has been speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast about what the future may hold for DeChambeau.
“I will tell you exactly what his real dream is,“ Zak said.
“Basically, in South Africa he explained to me that he thought he could reunify the sport around team golf, meaning there would be 13 LIV teams and 13 PGA Tour teams.
“You pull in the teams from the TGL and your schedule would include 104 player tournaments. It’s 13×26 and basically it would be this joint team golf entity that has 36 hole cuts, which appeases Tiger Woods, it has a bunch of LIV teams and a bunch of PGA Tour teams and then the players have bought in and own equity in it all.
“That is his dream. He told me that he came up with it via Google Gemini and Chat GPT. He believed in it until mid March, before the Saudis pulled their funding.
“That is what his actual dream was centred around. The last two months have now changed everything and I don’t think that reality is even plausible any more.“
Bryson DeChambeau’s YouTube exploits said to be a negotiation tactic
Sean Zak has suggested that the bottom line is that DeChambeau is far more interested in playing professional golf than he is in purely creating content on YouTube.
“I do think he wants to be a professional golfer playing a lot of professional golf tournaments,“ Zak claimed.
“I do think some of the YouTube stuff is a very convenient negotiating tactic that he has used for more than a year now.
“He has been saying that for over a year, it has not been just a recent thing when the Saudis decided to pull their funding that Bryson decides suddenly he will play YouTube.
“No, he told me that in July last year, so I think it’s been a negotiating tactic most of the way.“
There is no way to be sure of what Bryson DeChambeau actually wants to do. However, the proof will be in the pudding.
If DeChambeau is offered a return to the PGA Tour again, it will be very interesting to see how he responds.
