Golf Community Accuses LIV of Exploiting Bryson DeChambeau’s Rising Popularity: ‘Just Begging’

Bryson DeChambeau has once again won the golf world! When the 2020 U.S. Open winner shifted to LIV Golf, the popularity he held was greatly affected. People were criticizing his decision and the way he played golf. However, now, two years later, at the PGA Championship, the scene was quite the opposite!

Even though it was Xander Schauffele who won the 106th edition of the PGA Championship, it was DeChambeau’s fist pumps that followed his birdies and eagles that received the loudest cheers. The fans from both sides—the PGA Tour and LIV Golf—loved the Scientist’s play, and showered him with love, making it clear that he was once again a joy-bringer in the golf world. One example of how widespread his popularity has become once more could be seen through views on the press conference posted on YouTube.

Greg Norman’s son, Norman Jr., posted on YouTube comparing the views that were on Schauffele, DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler, and Justin Thomas’s press conference video. Comparatively, the 1-time major winner had more views (167K) than all the other three’s combined, which meant only one thing. Golf fans arguably had a lot more interest in listening to Bryson DeChambeau, even over the PGA Championship winner himself!

The post was perhaps aimed at highlighting the resurgence of Bryson DeChambeau in the golf world. However, the golf world did not see it as just that. While the fans in unison agreed that the LIV star was becoming a popular figure lately, they also thrashed the low ratings the Saudi-backed league always suffered with and accused them of now using him for attention.

Fans jab at LIV Golf’s low viewership at the expense of Bryson DeChambeau

Since the inauguration of LIV Golf in 2022, the rebel league has been losing the rating battle against the PGA Tour. Even though many veteran players, such as Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, joined the disruptive league, it failed to capture the fans. In 2023 too, LIV had issues and could only garner over 100K average views on the CW Network. This fan took a jibe by comparing LIV and DeChambeau’s fame, saying, “If only that transferred over to LIV broadcasts lmao.” 

DeChambeau’s performance and sudden rise to be a fan favorite would not help LIV, according to one user. They pointed out, “And yet LIV ratings go back to zero again. Just begging here.” Notably, in 2024, LIV Golf’s low ratings were under the spotlight when LIV Golf Mayakoba and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am were on the same weekend. The weather-affected Pro-Am was cut short to three days, and the Saturday round acquired 1.1951 million viewers, while LIV Golf Mayakoba had only 168K watching on CW.

Bryson DeChambeau has over 600K subscribers on YouTube, and his video averages over 300K for many videos. They made a comparison between these viewers and those of LIV Golf events, suggesting that the pro’s YouTube channel could potentially attract a larger audience than Greg Norman’s league. They tauntingly said, “Kinda embarassing that his person YouTube is dunking on LIV tournament views aye Gregor?”

The 167K views on DeChambeau’s interview were indeed large, but one fan chose to ignore that completely and instead focus on the viewership of LIV Golf events during the current season. Since 2023, LIV’s views have increased, like the 291,000 viewers for LIV Golf Mayakoba in 2023, which spiked up to 432k in 2024. However, compared to the millions of views the PGA Tour receives, it still has a long way to go to compete with them. And the fan dissed at exactly that when saying, “More views than all LIV exhibition events combined! Nice work.”

One golf fan wondered why, when Bryson DeChambeau plays on LIV, he cannot attract as many fans. Perhaps after his stunning performance last week, that will change at LIV’s next event, which will be played in Houston next month from June 7th to 9th. Regardless of the possibilities, however, the fan posed a question to Norman Jr. about why he was using DeChambeau’s popularity in defense of LIV Golf, frustratingly saying, “Is this how LIV attempts to justify shit*y viewership? Promoting golfers that nobody watches, unless they play majors? LOL”

LIV Golf is in its second full season and third edition, and they are slowly rising in the viewership battle. But reaching millions of views like the PGA Tour may take years!