Paul Casey has discussed just how much belief Bryson DeChambeau really has in the concept of team golf as it remains to be seen whether the two-time US Open champion will decide to extend his stay with LIV Golf.
There are real doubts over the future of LIV Golf. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia are set to withdraw their financial support for the league at the end of the season.
Big changes are surely on the cards. But what will help LIV is as many of their biggest names deciding to stick around as possible.
And there are arguably no bigger names on LIV than Bryson DeChambeau.
What Bryson DeChambeau really thinks of team golf
DeChambeau has thrived on the LIV stage. The brash style of the league appears to be a perfect match for the mad scientist. Meanwhile, he seemed to find a way to make sure that he peaked at each of the majors.
But with the eye-watering sums likely to be a thing of the past, it is going to be fascinating to see what DeChambeau does when his contract expires at the end of the year.
The good news for LIV is that those around him have absolutely no doubt about what team golf means to the 32-year-old, as journalist Sean Zak told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast.
“I’ll take it back to South Africa where I am in the press centre as Bryson’s team has just come down off the podium and I chatted with Paul Casey very briefly,” he said.
“He goes ‘the team stuff, some of it I get, some of it, I am not as into so I don’t know if team golf is as much of the future.’ But he looks up and points to Bryson and says ‘Bryson believes in it so much, it’s all he believes in’. It is genuine.
“But you could always pull it back to have the golf-watching populous engaged with it? Because that would be a very genuine thing. If golf fans got it, that would be more genuine than Bryson’s feeling about the product. And golf fans have voted with their eyeballs, I don’t think there is any more important ratings than the ratings on LIV Golf. It doesn’t matter what channel it’s been on or if it’s been streamed for free on YouTube. People were really interested day one in Centurion and it went crazy on YouTube, because that is golf fans voting with their eyeballs, and we have seen over time it’s gone down and down and down.”
Bryson DeChambeau has a chance to prove how much belief he has in team golf
DeChambeau has a golden chance to prove just how much team golf means to him over the coming months.
DeChambeau reportedly wanted $500 million to sign a new deal with LIV. Obviously, there looks to be next to no chance of that happening now.
So if he truly believes that team golf is the way forward, he can make a real statement by extending his contract with LIV Golf for a fraction of his previous demands.
Clearly, DeChambeau is not going to be happy to re-sign for nothing when so many of his peers are not going to make the same sacrifice.
But LIV has been very good to DeChambeau since he decided to join in 2022. They have provided the stage that has allowed him to become a superstar of the game.
So perhaps he should be prepared to accept a much less lucrative deal to help ensure that team golf continues.
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