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Bryson DeChambeau is far and away the most marketable name that LIV Golf currently has at its disposal. However, he has a path back to the PGA Tour as he enters the final year of his contract, and he made it pretty clear he’s not happy with a change that blurred the line between his current organization and his former home.
LIV Golf was greeted with plenty of skepticism when it set out to take on the PGA Tour, but the upstart league did go out of its way to differentiate itself from the competition.
That included features like a shotgun start, a relaxed atmosphere where players were (initially) allowed to wear shorts on a course where music was blaring, and a 54-hole format that was seemingly integral to the plan to the point where it was referenced in the Roman numeral in the “LIV Golf” name.
Most PGA Tour players who defected were persuaded by the massive paychecks that were used to lure them away, but the promise of a reduced tournament workload, one exacerbated by three-round events as opposed to four, didn’t hurt to reduce the appeal.
However, what was positioned as a key differentiator disappeared ahead of LIV Golf’s fifth season. It will debut a 72-hole format for the first time at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia this week, and its biggest star does not seem very thrilled with that development.
Bryson DeChambeau hinted LIV Golf’s decision to switch to 72 holes could influence his plans for the future
Over the weekend, Brooks Koepka officially returned to the PGA Tour after taking advantage of the newly formed “Returning Member Program” en route to finishing in a tie for 56th at The Farmers Insurance Open.
That pathway also opened up the door for Cameron Smith, Jon Rahm, and Bryson DeChambeau to follow in his footsteps, but all three of them reaffirmed their commitment to LIV Golf while saying they’ll finish out the final year of their current contracts.
However, the last man on that list was not shy about voicing his displeasure with the change to what could logically be referred to as “LXXII Golf” now that its members will be playing 72 holes instead of 54.
According to Today’s Golfer, Rahm, Sergio Garcia, and Lee Westwood were among the proponents who voiced their support for that pivot, but DeChambeau firmly fell in the opposite camp, saying:
“It’s definitely changed away from what we had initially been told it was going to be…Because we were told it was going to be this. So that’s definitely made us have some different thoughts about it.
“I’ve got a contract for this year, and we’ll go through it there and see what happens after that. Look, it’s 72 holes, it’s changed, but we’re still excited to play professionally and play for what we’re doing and go across the world…Is it what we ultimately signed up for? No. So I think we’re supposed to be different, so I’m a little indifferent to it right now.
Hopefully it weighs positively on me over the course of time, but you never know. I’m not sure. We didn’t sign up to play for 72.”
At this point, I feel like it would be a stretch to describe any loss as “massive” for LIV Golf when you consider it doesn’t have much to show for its current lineup in the first place.
With that said, DeChambeau is easily its most valuable asset thanks to the social media empire he’s built during his time on the circuit, and this seems like it could be an unforced error if it does end up swaying his decision to stay or leave.