Bryson DeChambeau weighs potential of playing golf on YouTube full time if LIV Golf folds
The two-time U.S. Open champion has been public about his desire to take his side hustle full-time the last few months
If LIV Golf were to fold, Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau's first exit option may not be the PGA Tour but rather one that he has already created for himself: his YouTube channel. The two-time U.S. Open champion told a small gaggle of reporters ahead of LIV Golf Virginia that his future plans center around growing his presence on the platform if the league he currently calls home were to be no more.
"I think, from my perspective, I'd love to grow my YouTube channel three times, maybe even more," DeChambeau told a small group of media members that included ESPN and Sports Illustrated. "I would love to. I'd love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube. And then I'd love to play tournaments that want me."
DeChambeau has floated the idea of moving full-time to YouTube this year as he negotiates his contract with the league, but recent comments come after the league's funding vanished. LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil was adamant the league would be funded through 2032 at the Masters before the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund pulled the plug last week, leaving the league in a mad dash to find financing to extend the league's shelf life past this season.
The Saudi PIF's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who was one of the league's architects stepped down from his position of chairman of LIV Golf's board.
"I was completely shocked," DeChambeau said. "I didn't expect it to happen. A couple months before that, it's like, 'We're here until 2032. We've got financing until 2032,' and so I told everybody, and that's what I was told. And then, you know, I haven't had any communication. And unfortunately, things are moving on in a different direction. Obviously, they wanted to move on."
LIV Golf's demise leaves the PGA Tour in a position to possibly bring some players back into the league. The tour created the Returning Member Program that targeted Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and DeChambeau at the onset of the year, although only Koepka accepted the terms.
Koepka's terms, which included no playing suspension, loss of future earnings via the PGA Tour equity program and a $5 million donation to a charity, may not be the terms DeChambeau and company will be met with if another pathway is to open up.
DeChambeau described the tour's potential punishment for him as "quite unfortunate in my opinion, considering what I could do for them." The American was among 11 players to sue the PGA Tour in 2022 before withdrawing the suit roughly a year later.
As such, he believes the PGA Tour and LIV Golf need to work together to bring the professional golf world back together.
"The egos need to get dropped," DeChambeau said. "Everybody needs to come in with a level-headed playing field, with an opportunistic mindset to grow the game of golf. That's why I came over here. That's why I do what I do on YouTube."
The Crushers headman still believes LIV Golf has an economic path forward. At last year's U.S. Open, he noted that his team was EBITDA positive, and despite the PIF pulling its funding, he noted enough LIV Golf teams are now making a profit.
"If we have a great business model and they're very interested in combining forces, that's the Kumbaya moment, right?" DeChambeau said. "So, it's our job to come up with a better business plan on the [top company] side. The team franchises, there's enough making profit now to where we could sell them for close to $200 million, and that's not talking about my team either.
"I think it requires a little bit of everybody kind of just lowering their guards and all coming together and going, 'OK, what's best for the game of golf?'"
LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil provided an update on the league Tuesday at LIV Golf Virginia in a press conference that was filled with more words than substance. The league has brought in two new advisers on the board of directors and a new investment bank to aid in securing long-term capital.
"There's a few different models," DeChambeau said. "Look, the [PGA Tour] isn't doing great either. Let's be honest about the situation. They've got the media. They've got everybody on the side that helps pump it up. But they're reducing field sizes, cutting employees and restructuring their business too."
