Nassau, Bahamas – Bryson DeChambeau had had enough.
DeChambeau, 28, told The Post exclusively during his pro tour Wednesday before the day before this week’s World Champion Challenge at Albany Golf Club.
“I just felt, ‘I don’t need any of this. why? Why would I put myself down despite all this torture? “
DeChambeau, who had built himself into golf’s tallest player and one of the game’s most compelling and popular characters, was spinning uncontrollably in a whirl of negative attention and felt trapped.
He was in a whirlpool and there were times when he seemed to be unable to get out of his way – sometimes through external forces, sometimes of his own free will.
Sure, it looks like he’s had it all going for him as an eight-time PGA Tour winner, US Open champion, two-time Ryder Cup team member and nearly $26 million in career earnings.
But DeChambeau also finds himself the subject of controversy seemingly every time he wakes up to face a new day. He felt like everything had gone off the rails and left him wondering if it was all worth it.
There was a so-called Brooks Koepka feud, with Koepka the instigator.
There was his carrier, Tim Tucker, parting with him hours before the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, where he was the defending champion.
He was there calling out his gear after the first round of the British Open, saying his “driver is bad”, which prompted a harsh reaction from Cobra, the equipment company that pays him millions of dollars to use its clubs.
There was his accident punishing the bases official at the 2020 Memorial where he got a 10 in a 15-hole Par-5 and missed the cut.
There was the 44 he fired on the nine defenses in the final round of the 2021 US Open at Tory Pines after he was ahead, dropping to a tie for 26th.
A positive COVID-19 test prevented him from competing in the Olympics.
There was a reason not to receive the vaccination, he told reporters in early August at WGC-FedEx St. Jude Classic says it is “best given to people who need it” at a time when vaccines were widely available to everyone.
After these comments, DeChambeau came under fire on social media and it felt like the last straw. That’s when he said he was seriously considering his future.
Jude week in Memphis, DeChambeau shut down all interview requests, and other than some brief comments at the Ryder Cup where the players requested media commitments, he has not been heard in public since.
He said, “I was hurt so badly.” “That’s why I kind of walked away, because people hurt my character. It was all the stuff that was going on in social media. I was like, ‘I really don’t need this. I can just go away and be completely fine for the rest of my life, be happy and go and hit the ball. The long one and call it a day.”
But he did not resign.
“I couldn’t let down the people who were around me, the people who really believed in me,” he said. So, I said, ‘No Bryson, you can do that for a long time. “I had great people around me, and things changed for me. I came back to a place where I felt I could go on.”
One of those people in DeChambeau’s corner was Chris Pratt, the actor who starred in the TV series “Parks and Recreation” and a number of movies. Pratt is a golf junkie and he and DeChambeau met at the Genesis Invitational a few years ago on the Los Angeles Riviera.
“Chris Pratt told me, ‘Look, when I’m doing a movie and people say the movie is awful and I’m not a good actor, it doesn’t define me,'” DeChambeau said.
I respect him and his opinion. He’s gotten a lot of great life advice from the things he’s been through — some tough times (divorce from actress Anna Faris and social media bugging them for his supposed political beliefs).
“Tell me when I’m off the golf course people will identify you and associate you with playing golf. What really sets you apart is the person you’re off golfing. You have to look at it as an opportunity to really show your personality to people.”
DeChambeau comes across as a well-meaning person but gets in his own way at times.
He is a complex and fascinating character. He does many charitable things off-cycle and out of the spotlight, such as regular hospital visits for children, which are not seen by the public. However, he has become a polarizing figure in the sport, which he would not have subscribed to or had ever imagined.
“I never played golf until I became famous,” he said. “I did it because I liked it and wanted to find a unique way to beat everyone. And it worked out a little bit. It doesn’t mean I’m the most dominant player, it doesn’t mean I’ll be number 1 in the world, it doesn’t mean I’ll be the best player ever.”
He said he took a crash course on how to handle all the firestorms and the attention they paid to him.
“You’re learning to deal with it,” DeChambeau said. “You have to learn fast. There is no training manual.”
There was no training guide for anything that happened between him and Koepka, which sparked a spate of harassment in the summer and eventually led to a custom-TV charity match the day after Thanksgiving in Las Vegas.
DeChambeau, who was defeated by Koepka on the 12-hole match, called it a “definitely weird dynamic,” adding, “At the end of the day, we raised a lot of money for charity. The only way I would have played against him was if it was for charity. We raised over $3 million and put more than $100,000 of my own money into Shriners Hospital, St. Jude, APGA, and Feeding America.
“I’m more proud of that fact than if I would have beat Brooks,” Dechambeau continued. “Like, I really don’t care. It’s 12 holes and he’s ranked higher than him in the world (DeChambeau is 7 and Koepka is 16). He has more majors than me (four to one). Fantastic. I respect what he did. Full disclosure: I have Much respect to him.”
DeChambeau is still puzzled how Koepka’s entire ordeal began and spread.
“He doesn’t have to be great at golf,” he said. “We want to focus on competing and getting into a competition. It’s not a boxing match. Stimulate it. Look, I understand his play. I understand the PIP side of it (the new player influence program on the PGA Tour that pays huge money to the players and shakers between players.) I see the whole picture.” It’s okay, I’m not worried about that.
“I will continue to produce content and entertainment value for the audience, because that’s what I am now. I’m an artist. Will I always be the perfect human? No.”
Life has happened quickly for DeChambeau. Maybe too fast.
“When all is said and done,” he said, “I want to be known for game development.” “I know this life will pass very quickly and in 10 or 15 years I will be better than I am now. But then it will be gone. I hope I can give information to young children.”
What drives him more now?
He said, “I want to hit the ball at over 200mph every time I hit it.” “I’m right there, a few miles an hour, and if I’m going and feel the heat, I’m consistently getting over 200.
“I want to win Augusta, all the majors, have a Grand Slam run and keep winning events. I won the Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus event, which is so cool. I want to win the Tiger in the end. [Woods’] (Genesis Invitational), and they have all three of those. That would be great.”
Like a mad scientist, he will never stop fooling around.
“My goal with the swing is to see what produces speed in relation to working out in the gym,” DeChambeau said. “What will help me in the gym increase the speed of my golf swing?”
The adjustment DeChambeau had to make was to develop patience, because no matter how scientifically he thought everything he had figured out in the brain of a calculator, golf was the most flawed game of all, with bad breaks and bad bounces lurking with every swing.
“I’m a perfectionist, but I’m also a realist,” DeChambeau said.
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