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SOUTHPORT, England — There’s a Truman Show quality to Bryson DeChambeau’s professional life, a wholly curated existence in which he is both willing performer and unwitting prisoner. Much of his public persona is crafted on YouTube, a hermetically sealed environment in which only his narrative gains traction, only his reality can be manufactured and presented, only his mood accommodated, and where the clapperboard never wears out because he can have as many takes as required to get the image desired.
His competitive habitat is scarcely less contrived. Independent media is sparse on LIV Golf, and the league’s paid media are, like all in-house operations, minded toward sycophancy, or at the very least non-combativeness. But four times a year, Truman steps out into the real world. Sometimes the results are positive, like at the 2024 U.S. Open, which he won in dramatic fashion. But sometimes not, like on Thursday at the 154th Open.
To be fair, it was actually a good day for DeChambeau. Most of it anyway. He was 3-under par through 13 holes at Royal Birkdale and, it seemed, delivering a pointed rebuke to Nick Faldo. The three-time Open winner acidly remarked earlier this week that DeChambeau has “zero clue of strategy” when it comes to links golf. Thirteen holes, or even a win here, is not dispositive that Faldo is wrong, and there’s some evidence that DeChambeau’s approach of trying to bludgeon courses into submission is ill-suited to the ground game on ancient links. But at least he was silencing the snipers who'd gleefully noted how he’s 0-for-3 in major cuts made in 2026, assuming he doesn’t pull a Rod Pampling, who went from leading the Open on day one in ’99 to being headed home on day two.
More: Our hub for The Open: Vidoe, stats, stories
A short miss to bogey the 14th was offset by birdies at Nos. 16 and 17, but a bogey on the last dropped our hero out of the lead and apparently into a snit. He refused to face the press, instead choosing to only bless the R&A’s in-house content team with a moment of his time. Truman again sought safe harbor, and found it.
The questions were actually statements:
"You must be super proud of your efforts today."
"The wind seems to be picking up for you boys."
"It must feel really satisfying to finish in the red (presumably meaning under par, and not the red mist of temper)."
He was, he thought so too, and it was.
Asked about the course, he offered what felt like a Foxtrot Oscar to Faldo: “I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic … my strategy was nice today.”
Golfers don’t owe the media their time. It’s a grace and favor arrangement and DeChambeau is entitled to withhold his. But what should have been a decisively good day turned into another stumble because he’s prone to petulance, and seems to have no one in his world, and certainly not on his payroll, with the gumption or standing to steer him away from his worst instincts.
It’s oddly admirable that DeChambeau resolutely plows his own furrow. It’s what has made him so compelling for more than a decade. As an approach to life and work, it’s fine, if one can brush off the criticism that comes with being iconoclastic. But DeChambeau can’t. It burns him, which is why he prefers controlled environments, like YouTube and the R&A’s safe space.
The closing question of his private scrum at Royal Birkdale was this: How much do you love the Open?
One can almost sense the unseen, bared teeth of the attack dog media.
“I'm having a lot of fun. If I can keep it going and give the crowd something to cheer for on Sunday, that's all I can ask for,” he replied.
Boilerplate, sure, but revealing in its way. Asked what golf’s oldest championship means to him personally, he frames his response as a matter of consumer reaction. DeChambeau talks about himself not as a person with hopes and dreams and fears, but as a product. Yet products need to be marketed, and today he opted out of one of the few opportunities available to him. Perhaps he sees little value in whatever exposure golf media provides, but when the Open closes for business on Sunday he will be without a platform of scale until the opening round of the Masters, 263 days later. Still, he’ll remain the only sun in his own solar system, surrounded by people worshipping him for a percentage.
Moving to LIV Golf in 2022 was probably a good move for DeChambeau since it airlifted him from a fan environment on the PGA Tour that was increasingly hostile thanks to trolls who knew he’d take the bait. He may still believe that LIV is the best place for him even when his contract expires later this year. But at some point, he’s going to have to learn how to handle real engagement with real people at real golf events. Even Truman eventually stepped into a world that didn’t revolve around him.
Eamon Lynch is a columnist for Golfweek and a frequent contributor to Golf Channel.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Bryson DeChambeau owes media nothing, but the Open isn’t YouTube on his terms only
Continue reading...
His competitive habitat is scarcely less contrived. Independent media is sparse on LIV Golf, and the league’s paid media are, like all in-house operations, minded toward sycophancy, or at the very least non-combativeness. But four times a year, Truman steps out into the real world. Sometimes the results are positive, like at the 2024 U.S. Open, which he won in dramatic fashion. But sometimes not, like on Thursday at the 154th Open.
To be fair, it was actually a good day for DeChambeau. Most of it anyway. He was 3-under par through 13 holes at Royal Birkdale and, it seemed, delivering a pointed rebuke to Nick Faldo. The three-time Open winner acidly remarked earlier this week that DeChambeau has “zero clue of strategy” when it comes to links golf. Thirteen holes, or even a win here, is not dispositive that Faldo is wrong, and there’s some evidence that DeChambeau’s approach of trying to bludgeon courses into submission is ill-suited to the ground game on ancient links. But at least he was silencing the snipers who'd gleefully noted how he’s 0-for-3 in major cuts made in 2026, assuming he doesn’t pull a Rod Pampling, who went from leading the Open on day one in ’99 to being headed home on day two.
More: Our hub for The Open: Vidoe, stats, stories
A short miss to bogey the 14th was offset by birdies at Nos. 16 and 17, but a bogey on the last dropped our hero out of the lead and apparently into a snit. He refused to face the press, instead choosing to only bless the R&A’s in-house content team with a moment of his time. Truman again sought safe harbor, and found it.
The questions were actually statements:
"You must be super proud of your efforts today."
"The wind seems to be picking up for you boys."
"It must feel really satisfying to finish in the red (presumably meaning under par, and not the red mist of temper)."
He was, he thought so too, and it was.
You must be registered for see images
Asked about the course, he offered what felt like a Foxtrot Oscar to Faldo: “I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic … my strategy was nice today.”
Golfers don’t owe the media their time. It’s a grace and favor arrangement and DeChambeau is entitled to withhold his. But what should have been a decisively good day turned into another stumble because he’s prone to petulance, and seems to have no one in his world, and certainly not on his payroll, with the gumption or standing to steer him away from his worst instincts.
It’s oddly admirable that DeChambeau resolutely plows his own furrow. It’s what has made him so compelling for more than a decade. As an approach to life and work, it’s fine, if one can brush off the criticism that comes with being iconoclastic. But DeChambeau can’t. It burns him, which is why he prefers controlled environments, like YouTube and the R&A’s safe space.
You must be registered for see images
The closing question of his private scrum at Royal Birkdale was this: How much do you love the Open?
One can almost sense the unseen, bared teeth of the attack dog media.
“I'm having a lot of fun. If I can keep it going and give the crowd something to cheer for on Sunday, that's all I can ask for,” he replied.
Boilerplate, sure, but revealing in its way. Asked what golf’s oldest championship means to him personally, he frames his response as a matter of consumer reaction. DeChambeau talks about himself not as a person with hopes and dreams and fears, but as a product. Yet products need to be marketed, and today he opted out of one of the few opportunities available to him. Perhaps he sees little value in whatever exposure golf media provides, but when the Open closes for business on Sunday he will be without a platform of scale until the opening round of the Masters, 263 days later. Still, he’ll remain the only sun in his own solar system, surrounded by people worshipping him for a percentage.
Moving to LIV Golf in 2022 was probably a good move for DeChambeau since it airlifted him from a fan environment on the PGA Tour that was increasingly hostile thanks to trolls who knew he’d take the bait. He may still believe that LIV is the best place for him even when his contract expires later this year. But at some point, he’s going to have to learn how to handle real engagement with real people at real golf events. Even Truman eventually stepped into a world that didn’t revolve around him.
Eamon Lynch is a columnist for Golfweek and a frequent contributor to Golf Channel.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Bryson DeChambeau owes media nothing, but the Open isn’t YouTube on his terms only
Continue reading...
