Is vintage Bryson worth tour wooing?

PGA Tour Enterprises could find value in recruiting LIV's most dynamic promotor

Bryson DeChambeau, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri (Instagram via brysondechambeau)

Bryson DeChambeau and the LIV Golf League are in Big D this week.

Dallas is where the two-time U.S. Open winner went to college at SMU and makes his home, and he’s going all out while in his adopted hometown. DeChambeau — who has been the most active and popular golfer on social media and YouTube — continues to take it to the next level giving tickets away to help promote the LIV Golf Dallas event at Maridoe Golf Club.

In an Instagram post which he calls “aura farming,” DeChambeau sits behind the steering wheel of a vintage black convertible Chevy Impala SS while wearing a San Diego Padres jersey as the Crushers captain is driving two of his teammates — Charles Howell III (wearing a Dodgers top) and Anirban Lahiri (wearing a Yankees uniform).

The photos and videos raise many questions (not least of which is how did DeChambeau stall out the Chevy trying to pull in a driveway). Isn’t DeChambeau is from northern California where the San Francisco Giants preside? So what’s up with the Padres gear?

Howell is from Augusta, Georgia, went to college in Oklahoma and resides in Florida — none of which are particularly close to Los Angeles.

For Lahiri, who was born and raised in India, the New York gear makes some sense, since the Yankees are a big brand worldwide.

But getting past the uniforms, the production of the video is interesting, and it continues to support the notion that not only does DeChambeau get it, but he sees the benefit of barnstorming the streets of Dallas to promote the product and his team.

“It’s my hometown in a sense, I’m in Dallas, I live in Grapevine, but it’s still pretty much my hometown and my home tournament, I would say,” DeChambeau said of his active participation in promoting the event. “That’s quite honestly why I think I was given the responsibility — even though I didn’t have to — to promote the event because I want to showcase this great golf course and what LIV product is all about. The team competition about it, how diabolical it can be and how difficult it can be to win not only an individual title out here but a team championship title out here.”

Somewhere in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., sits the new CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises, Brian Rolapp. On a fact-finding mission about professional golf and the PGA Tour, Rolapp is also spending time meeting and greeting players to get some face time in front of his owners.

Somehow, the PGA Tour needs to establish a pathway back for the long-hitting DeChambeau, who made it clear recently that he is working on renewing his LIV contract that expires after the 2026 season.

If DeChambeau re-signs with LIV, it will be a blow to the PGA Tour and its efforts to grow the brand by continuing to exclude one of the top attractions in golf.

If Rolapp can convince the DeChambeau to return to the PGA Tour, the new CEO will have gone a long way toward breaking up the idea that LIV players can’t return. It would be a significant shot across LIV’s bow. The alternative is either continued exclusion of one of golf’s more intriguing characters or negotiating some kind of deal that creates future access for LIV defectors.

Time will tell, but the coming years are sure to be interesting.

---

Xander Schauffele has not been his 2024 self since returning from injury (Jeff Haynes/USGA)

Stray Shots: Value of X equals why?

By Peter Kaufman

1. Underwhelming Xander: Xander Schauffele has played 11 tournaments in 2025. He has one top-10 finish. His last four results: T25 (PGA Championship), T28 (Memorial), T12 (U.S. Open) and a dismal T61 (Travelers).

His strokes gained stats are: total (72nd); putting (124th); off the tee (11th); and scrambling (154th). Pretty mediocre.

In a spectacular 2024 with two major wins, Schauffele was a great player. Hopefully he will be great again. But he is not great right now. Not particularly close. He’s simply not on form since an early-season rib injury. His ranking in both the OWGR (third) and U.S. Ryder Cup standings (second) are weighted heavily on a two-year scale. That’s how the system works.

Is Schauffele the second best American right now? His recent stats wouldn’t support that. But it would be hard to argue that there are 12 better Americans than the man who carries a streak of 67 consecutive made cuts and is one late bogey at Quail Hollow in May away from 14 consecutive top-20 major finishes.

Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay — who hasn’t been his best and currently ranks 14th in U.S. Ryder Cup points and would need a captain’s pick to play on his sixth consecutive American international team — have formed a pretty formidable partnership in international team events, which is something the Americans have been less successful at fostering long-term than the Europeans.

It’s unlikely Schauffele would recuse himself from competing for Team USA and more unlikely his American teammates would want him to. But captain Keegan Bradley could use Schauffele finding his 2024 gear come September.

2. Whinging Clark: Wyndham Clark has been working with a mental coach for a couple of years, now. It would appear he needs a new one, because his behavior is deplorable and should not be acceptable — to him or to the PGA Tour.