PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Jackson Koivun grabbed his U.S. Walker Cup Captain Nathan Smith and told him to hop into their cart. He grabbed the wheel and off they sped back to the 17th hole in hopes of seeing the clinching point of the biennial competition between the U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland.
“We’re following that cart,” Koivun said. “Bryson’s right there ahead of us.”
That would be Bryson DeChambeau, the two-time U.S. Open champion, who seemingly was everywhere at the Walker Cup, 10 years gone from his lone appearance on the U.S. team.
DeChambeau, 31, first showed up late on Saturday afternoon during the singles portion of play and his appearance didn’t go unnoticed by Captain Smith.
“That was pretty special. I'd say my first thought is I hadn't seen him in years and he's gotten a lot bigger,” Smith said.
On Sunday, Smith emphasized the significance of having one of the top-ranked players and one of the most popular players in the game in their corner. “I think just him showing up in general means so much to us,” Smith said. “He gave us a pump-up speech last night, which they loved, and got them going.”
“Yeah, I didn't see him until we were sitting on the couch in the team room, and he just walked in,” Preston Stout of the U.S. team said, “Definitely wasn't expecting that. That was kind of cool.”
DeChambeau didn’t just rally the troops and depart. He stuck around and walked much of the morning foursomes and afternoon singles matches from inside the ropes. He signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans. DeChambeau, a native of Clovis, California, said this was the first part of a business trip back to NorCal. Next up? A stop in Napa. As a member of LIV Golf who is still banned from PGA Tour events, DeChambeau isn’t eligible to play in the Tour’s Procore Championship this week with 10 of his Ryder Cup teammates at Silverado Resort but he told Golfweek he’s going to attend a team dinner on Tuesday night. Let the bonding begin for the next U.S. team trying to win one of golf’s iconic trophies.
“Hopefully this gives him a little motivation and fires him up for the Ryder Cup in a few weeks,” Stout said.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 2025-walker-cup-bryson-dechambeau-motivational-speech
Read the full article here