Is there hostility between PGA Tour and LIV Golf players? If Bryson DeChambeau’s relationship with Tiger Woods is anything to go by, there is more tension than some are letting on.
As reported by Golfweek at LIV Golf’s third event of the year in Orlando, DeChambeau was asked if he’d been cut off by any old friends on the PGA Tour.
The US Open champion allegedly laughed before revealing one of the game’s best-ever players no longer speaks to him after controversially joining Greg Norman’s roster.
“Yeah, I’m not going to throw anyone under the bus. He’s been a great friend,” DeChambeau said of Woods. “I texted him on his birthday.
“If anything, nobody is ever going to touch his record. That’s just it, that’s the bottom line. There’s a chance to grow the game even more and I hope one day he’ll see the vision that we all have out here.”
Woods and DeChambeau played together as a foursomes pair at the 2018 Ryder Cup, but it became a week to forget as neither player scored a point for Team USA in France.
Fellow LIV competitors Brooks Koepka and Bubba Watson ruled out animosity from their side of the fence when speaking at the same event at Orange County National.
It’s no secret that some friendships have been compromised, none more clear and arguably more regrettable than Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia.
DeChambeau was part of the original list of 11 players included in an antitrust lawsuit filed against the PGA Tour in August 2022, having been suspended from the circuit.
The 29-year-old may have lost a friend in Woods, but he expressed contentment with his decision to join LIV and his excitement for the rebel league’s potential growth.
I miss nothing,” he said about the PGA Tour. “I love the fans, I love the people who came to support me. I loved all that.
“We’re starting to get the crowds out here, slowly but surely. People are starting to get what the model is and people are starting to like the teams a bit.
“From what I can see, the general consensus is things are moving in a more positive direction and I’m pleased with that.”