LIV Golf Adelaide: Bryson DeChambeau outlines plans to cement ...

[Photo: Getty images/YouTube]

More NFL star guests, NBA players, “Break 50” series and challenges like the viral, daily hole-in-over his house are among Bryson DeChambeau’s grand plans for his wildly popular YouTube Channel this year.

When DeChambeau was a PGA Tour member, he was a human headline. Stacking on 22 kilograms of muscle during an intense workout regime, DeChambeau won the 2020 US Open playing a brand of bomb and gouge not previously seen at Winged Foot. In 2021, he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational while attempting to drive the green over water at the 500-metre, par-5 sixth at Bay Hill in Orlando.

Now on LIV, the 31-year-old is creating his own headlines via a YouTube channel with 1.7 million subscribers. His Break 50 episode with President Donald Trump last year garnered a whopping 13 million views – more than most major championship Sunday final broadcasts. He has had guests such as NFL icons Tom Brady and Tony Romo, two-time major winner John Daly as well as prominent content creators on the video search engine.

It’s no secret the vast array of YouTube Golf creators are reshaping how average golf fans consume media, the nine-time PGA Tour winner and two-time LIV event champion DeChambeau says he wants his channel to add to the game’s entertainment offering.

“Professional golf is great; it’ll always be there, there’s a good amount of money, and that’s great,” DeChambeau told Australian Golf Digest at LIV Golf Adelaide. “But we want to give back the fans, [like] these fans out here [in the pro-am] who are watching us right now. They want to be entertained. And I think that’s what YouTube golf provides, and that’s what I care about, personally, entertaining, educating and inspiring.

“There’s been a lot [of interesting guests]. Tom Brady was exciting, the GOAT of football. It was fun to film with him. The President we were very lucky to do that. That was really cool. We did it for charity. John [Daly] was hilarious. He wanted to do it … and it was just chaos from the start. Exciting.”

DeChambeau’s network had already collected millions of views per episode before he won the 2024 US Open in June at Pinehurst. But his second major victory sent his passion project through the roof after appearing on all the major talkshows.

Golf’s most improved personality – who only five years ago was ridiculed for accusations of slow play and scientific approach to golf – has changed the game for how elite tour pros connect with fans. And he has grand plans to deepen that engagement.

“We’ve got a couple new series coming out on YouTube,” he said. “Break 50 [where DeChambeau plays a two-person ambrose with a star guest and tries to break 50] is a big, big hit. We just released the first episode yesterday [with creators Grant Horvat and Garett Clark], which was fantastic. And then we’ve got a couple of the course record series coming up.

“We’ve stockpiled a couple other videos, just fun little challenges, and they’re doing some more short form this year.”

In December, DeChambeau had the internet hooked on a daily challenge to make a hole-in-one over his house in Dallas from his driveway to a practice putting green in his backyard. With each day he added a shot. By the 16th day, he had as many shots to get it done and made the ace on his 14th shot.

“We’re really here just trying to provide as much cool entertainment as possible, if it’s part of the ecosystem and it grows the ecosystem, fantastic,” DeChambeau added while playing the pro-am at LIV Golf Adelaide with hugely popular ultramarathon runner Nedd Brockmann. “That’s all I care about. I’m not worried about if it’s bigger. That’s not the point. The point is to be a part of the ecosystem, helping the game out.”

While some content creators have eschewed the tour life to make a living through creating videos, DeChambeau is producing videos as an aside to winning majors. Apart from the recent launch of six-time major champion Phil Mickelson’s YouTube Channel, DeChambeau is alone in that space. And, according to Data Golf’s ranking of professionals (LIV Golf does not receive Official World Golf Ranking points for its tournaments), he remains the 10th best golfer in the world.

The Californian is arguably the most entertaining tour pro on the planet. Asked why launched a channel at all, DeChambeau said he was simply inspired by the highly successful YouTube personality MrBeast, who has a global following for his quirky challenges.

“I’ve always been kind of an innovator. I’ve been someone who is trying to look ahead and see what’s next,” DeChambeau said. “I saw MrBeast doing his stuff back in 2018, 2019, getting tens of millions of views, and I’m like, he’s just a guy from North Carolina. I’m a professional athlete. Why can’t I garner that type of audience? So that’s what made me question it early on, and I saw potential for it. I didn’t know how big it would get, but it’s obviously [made its way into] a really cool spot in the golf ecosystem, and I hope we can continue to grow. That’s, that’s my goal. It’s not about the money. It’s not about any of that. I mean, look, you’re always wanting to be taken care of for your services, but … if I can help the golf ecosystem out, entertain some people and have fun doing and also get better practising, that’s a win, win for everyone.”

As for his next guests, DeChambeau was tight-lipped but did hint some more high-profile guests were on the way.

“Some good ones [are coming] this year … we’re talking to a few interesting ones. I’m not gonna unveil it but there are former NBA [players], former NFL [players], and current NFL [stars] as well. There are a couple unique [guests] who want to do it too.”