Greg Norman has suggested that LIV Golf should take a lot of the credit for Bryson DeChambeau’s success on YouTube, with the league giving the American the freedom to produce content for his channel.
DeChambeau has undoubtedly become one of the most influential players in the game over the last five years. Of course, his popularity was already enjoying a rapid rise when he decided to make the move to LIV Golf with DeChambeau becoming one of the biggest hitters in the game.
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He is arguably one of the only players who has seen his stock rise since moving to LIV Golf in 2022. He won a second major championship at the 2024 US Open, while he definitely received one of the strongest reactions from the crowd at the Ryder Cup last September.
Greg Norman says LIV Golf played an important role in Bryson DeChambeau’s YouTube success
His YouTube channel has almost certainly had a significant impact on his reputation. DeChambeau has appeared alongside some of the most famous figures in the world to take on various golfing challenges. It has allowed him to reach an audience that is not particularly interested in watching LIV Golf events.
But Greg Norman believes that joining LIV was the turning point for DeChambeau. Speaking on The Real Deal podcast for Golf Digest, the former LIV CEO suggested that the 33-year-old could not have made the same impact on the PGA Tour.
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“I would say Bryson’s in the right place at the right time with the right personality and the right vision, but he can only have that because of LIV because we gave him his IP rights. When you’re not playing a LIV tournament, you can go do whatever you want, you can monetise your IP. If you want to wear blue jeans and a white t-shirt and make money, go for it. So he saw this incredible moment of time for himself, and I’m so happy and so pleased for him that he has maximised on that,” he said.
“If he stayed with the PGA Tour, he would have no chance, because the PGA Tour would own his IP, unless that’s changed in the last couple of years. That gave him the opportunity, and I bet you there’s a lot of players on the PGA Tour saying, ‘why am I not doing that?’ So kudos to him, I think he’s done a phenomenal job with how he’s balancing himself with this. And again, LIV allowed him to do that because he only had 14 events and then the major championships of course, so he had the time to be able to go and focus on other things that could move on in perpetuity for him beyond LIV and beyond the PGA Tour.”
LIV Golf now needs Bryson DeChambeau a lot more than he needs them
It does appear that DeChambeau is going to lead LIV Golf into a new era. Obviously, everyone is waiting to see whether the prospective investors will be able to get the league up and running in time for the 2027 season.
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LIV certainly appears to now need DeChambeau a lot more than he needs them. Should he leave, you would imagine that he would eventually be able to find his way back to the PGA Tour. However, with LIV reportedly expecting Jon Rahm to leave in the coming months, losing DeChambeau also would surely be fatal for the league.
DeChambeau sticking around would show that there is a belief among some of the top names that LIV 2.0 can be a success, and not just an exhibition league for those who are worried about not having somewhere to play.
With that, DeChambeau looks to be in an extremely strong position in negotiations.
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