Admit It—You’re Becoming A Bryson Fan

The best (and one of the only) compliments I can give LIV is the positive effect the league has on Bryson DeChambeau.

Bryson had became something of a pariah on the PGA Tour, and it was a well-earned distinction. He repeatedly proved his selfishness and lack of self-awareness, whether it was unfairly blaming manufacturers, calling Augusta National a par-67 or giving nonsensical lessons in 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 take seriously.

Well, Bryson haters among us, it’s time to admit he’s become a lot more palatable in the past year or so.

And he’s more than just palatable. I would even argue that Bryson is now all of the following:

LIV’s best golfer at the moment. The golfer who has benefited the most from switching to LIV. The best pure showman professional golf has to offer. A top-five player in terms of popularity. The first top player to embrace YouTube golf in a meaningful way.

As someone who spent ample time griping about Bryson (or just flat-out making fun of him), I think it’s undeniable that the game is significantly more interesting when he is involved.

On Sunday at the PGA Championship, the fans were firmly in his corner. On-site reports were unanimous—the crowd wanted him to win more than eventual-champion Xander Schauffele.

And why wouldn’t they? Bryson is one of the only players of this generation who genuinely seems to care about the fan experience. He offers visceral reactions after key shots, showing how badly he wants to win. He is tossing golf balls to kids and making sure that shameless adults aren’t running off with the souvenir. He is creating content online that a younger audience identifies with in a real way.

He realizes there is more to golf than playing it well and picking up a paycheck. He has invested in that.

“It’s actually funny, YouTube has helped me understand that a little bit more,” Bryson said of being a showman. “When the moment comes, knowing what to do, what to say, how to act is really important. You know, when I was younger I didn’t understand what it was. Yeah, I would have great celebrations and whatnot, but I didn’t know what it meant and what I was doing it necessarily for. Now I’m doing it a lot more for the fans and for the people around and trying to be a bit of an entertainer that plays good golf every once in a while.”

While Schauffele won—and he fully deserved it—he still doesn’t have many fans. He is viewed as a faceless, reserved and guarded professional golfer who doesn’t offer much in terms of entertainment beyond the skill of being a phenomenal player. His peers say he is a great guy, and I’m sure that is true, but I’ve yet to meet a fan who feels much of anything watching him play on a round-to-round basis. The same could be said for the majority of pro golfers.

Bryson is one of the few who offers a lot more. Even if you still hate him, he’s at least giving you a reason to hate. We want to feel something when watching athletes. Almost everyone feels something when watching Bryson compete.

The childish antics we saw from him in previous years have been dialed down significantly. Maybe that can be attributed to YouTube, getting older, grieving the passing of his father or some combination of those three things—but it’s a noticeable improvement.

And with that maturation, better golf has come his way. Bryson is up to No. 10 in Data Golf after sinking as low as 151st in April of last year. He has four top-10 finishes in his last seven majors after having none in the seven majors prior to that. Some wild equipment changes have been a part of the resurgence, too.

When asked why he has been able to play better golf, Bryson credited LIV for allowing him more time and freedom.

“As funny as it sounds, as weird as it sounds, having a lot more time back at home to work on my game, to work on content creation with my team that I have back at home allows me to plan and strategize a little bit better than what I have,” Bryson said. “I empty the tank when I’m at tournaments. So sometimes when I’m on a two-, three-week stretch I get pretty drained, and having that time to rest and recover is super important for me and it’s given me a lot of time to reflect on what’s most important outside of golf as well.”

Reading between the lines, I don’t think he was meant to exclusively play serious tournament golf. The Tour schedule wasn’t an ideal setup for someone like him. LIV offers him a chance to play exhibition golf while having more time for other parts of life.

Some players took the LIV money as a form of early retirement. Only one LIV player other than Bryson finished in the top 25 last week, and it wasn’t Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka or one of the other heavy hitters (it was Dean Burmester, if you are wondering). If not for their current top player, LIV would have struggled mightily in back-to-back majors.

It seems like Bryson has used LIV to better himself and his golf game at the same time.

It makes me sad we only get to watch him in a real tournament four times per year. The game would be a lot better off if he was involved on a weekly basis.

But then again, Bryson himself would probably be worse off doing that. I’m glad he’s found a balance that works for him.

There will always be a section of people who don’t like him, and of course there are still some justifiable reasons for feeling that way.

Count me in as a fan, though. Golf needs a lot more characters like him.

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