On the tenth tee of the final round of the PGA Championship, Bryson DeChambeau captured the hearts of the golf world. An older man approached a boy and snatched the ball that DeChambeau had thrown to him. DeChambeau immediately stopped, backed away and confronted the man.
In the middle of the tournament, he wouldn’t have been blamed for missing out, but it became a move that earned him praise as a “man of the people.”
He was a far cry from the burly disruptor of recent years, but somehow, in Valhalla, DeChambeau completed his transformation from LIV Golf villain to PGA Championship hero.
DeChambeau burst onto the scene in 2016 like a freight train in a flat cap. With single-length sticks, a fixation on speed and strength, an obsession with numbers and relentless bulking, DeChambeau did little to endear himself to fans and a lot to earn the nickname Mad Scientist.
He certainly wasn’t the players’ man either, considering Brooks Koepka’s infamous eye roll in 2021.
Bryson DeChambeau praised as ‘man of the people’ during PGA Championship
However, 12 months after a frosty reception at Oak Hill, DeChambeau became Valhalla’s favorite.
Valhalla has always been a theater for the PGA. Mark Brooks won in a playoff with 18 in 1996. Tiger Woods finished a three-hole playoff with 18, holding off Cinderella man Bob May in 2000. Rory McIlroy took the 2014 PGA in 18th place in a race against darkness and storms. This year, it was DeChambeau who stole the show.
He had electrified gallery 18, contributing the eagle to finish his third round with a flourish. He unleashed a roar as he launched into a fist pump with the fans gathered in front of the sunlit clubhouse, matching his passion.
“It’s exciting,” DeChambeau said of the moment after the round. “I haven’t felt this way in a long time.”
24 hours later, he performed an encore. As he and Viktor Hovland traded birdie shots to pile up the pressure on Xander Schauffele, DeChambeau strutted through Valhalla with a showman’s panache, as the masses chanted, “Bryson, Bryson, Bryson.”
On the 18th green stage, he took his final bow. While he couldn’t replicate his chip-in eagle from the third round, DeChambeau’s birdie putt hung over the lip of the cup before finally trickling in to tie Schauffele’s lead.
He threw his arms in the air as if he were a swan diving after his ball before yelling, ‘Let’s go’ to the raucous crowd with one last pump of his fist.
A major championship stage demands a spectacle, and DeChambeau is a performer, something the PGA Tour and its $20 million flagship events are severely lacking.
The 30-year-old will join controversial Saudi-backed LIV golf circuit in 2022
DeChambeau headed to the range where, as he took practice shots, at the periphery of his line of vision the big screen showed Schauffele standing over a birdie putt on the 18th.
For 20 minutes, DeChambeau enjoyed a piece of history with the lowest score in a major championship. For 20 minutes, the Wanamaker trophy was halfway out of his hands. Until Schauffele took it all away with a putt to take the victory.
DeChambeau, who had paused his practice shots to watch the winning putt fall, put away his club and immediately headed to the 18th green, where he was one of the first to congratulate his rival on a big victory that was almost his.
“I’m proud of Xander for finally getting the job done,” DeChambeau said later. “I mean, he’s an incredible golfer now and a well-deserved major champion.”
Long after Schauffele had hoisted the Wanamaker, instead of hiding in the shadows, DeChambeau was still signing autographs in the clubhouse parking lot.
It was an agonizing defeat, but he accepted it with poise and grace. He was also one who endeared him to the masses. He may not have walked away with a second big win, but he did walk away with a new level of popularity. Crushers Captain, Fan Favorite – Who Saw That Coming?
Somehow, DeChambeau took $100 million from the Saudis, only to become infinitely more popular with PGA Tour fans. Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship last year, but neither he nor fellow Rebels Cam Smith and Phil Mickelson moved the needle like DeChambeau did last week.
However, those fans whose heads haven’t been turned by the ‘golf but louder’ agenda of the LIV Golf broadcast will not be familiar with the new DeChambeau.
Somehow, DeChambeau took $100 million from the Saudis, just to become more popular
DeChambeau 2.0 is a part-time LIV golfer and part-time YouTuber, a brand he is aware of and channels into his off-course projects.
“When push comes to shove, knowing what to do, what to say and how to act is really important,” DeChambeau said.
‘When I was younger, I didn’t understand what it was. Yes, he would have big celebrations and all that, but he didn’t know what it meant or why he was doing it necessarily. Now I do it much more for the fans and the people around me and I try to be an entertainer who plays good golf from time to time.”
He has 613,000 subscribers on YouTube, which through his Break 50 series featuring characters like glamorous golfer Paige Spiranac and challenge videos like tricks and rounds with Walmart clubs, offers a platform to see a lighthearted side of DeChambeau.
And along with a million followers on Instagram, he has also attracted a new demographic of golf fans.
Distance makes affection grow. It’s an old cliché, but one that rang true in Valhalla. His former high-profile appeal is no doubt the reason LIV Golf wanted him, but while DeChambeau received a payday, he and his Mad Scientist character have been locked behind a paywall.
Since his defection to LIV Golf, fans have only gotten a glimpse of DeChambeau, four times a year, but those who tuned in or watched from outside the ropes in Louisville saw a mature, entertaining, freer and more self-aware DeChambeau.
In his exile at LIV amid golf’s civil war, DeChambeau has not only become a fan favorite but also grown closer to his peers.
The American has begun creating content for YouTube with characters like Paige Spiranac.
For the socially awkward DeChambeau, LIV marked a new beginning. No one has embraced the team spirit more than the Crushers captain, who gifted his team Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri matching Rolex watches. Alan Shipnuck pointed out.
“He thrives in the social environment around him, which may not come naturally to him,” Lahiri said in Shipnuck’s book, LIV and Let Die.
‘But in this case, it is not a question of choice. The social element is very good for him. He likes company, he likes hanging out.
DeChambeau no longer lives on his Golf Machine island. He’s really assimilated and ingratiated himself into the game.
When he left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in June 2022, he was still following his 3,500-calorie diet of meat, potatoes and protein shakes in an attempt to gain muscle mass and improve his game.
The efforts were successful and the American ranked 17th and had the highest average driving distance in the 2019-20 season with 322.1 yards.
DeChambeau with his Crushers teammates Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey
But they were also making him sick. Doctors warned that his regimen was taking years off his life. It was a wake-up call that resulted in an 18-pound weight loss in 24 days.
Even without the added muscle, DeChambeau’s game last week still resembled the exquisite long drives and putting of his only major victory at Winged Foot. DeChambeau has also demonstrated maturity with a newfound respect that hallowed fields like Augusta and Valhalla deserve.
With his constant experimentation, obsessive fixation on numbers, one-length clubs and bold statements, the blank stares at DeChambeau’s antics are often justified, but still, he’s a character golf needs.
A happier, healthier DeChambeau has entered the second act of his career and his box office. When he is competing in a major, it is something to see on television.
