Bryson DeChambeau opens up on harsh criticism: ‘It’s tough to see’

Bryson DeChambeau is back in action for the first time since his ugly missed cut at the 2026 PGA Championship. Ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Korea event, and amid continued speculation on LIV Golf’s future, the two-time major winner offered wide-ranging comments on where his game and LIV’s push for new investors stand.

In addition to revealing the simplest and “best” way he can contribute to LIV Golf’s survival, DeChambeau opened up on the “tough” criticism he’s received recently, and how that criticism has impacted him personally as well as his future plans.

DeChambeau reveals how he can help LIV survive: ‘Giving all I can’

DeChambeau has spoken often since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund chose to pull future funding from LIV Golf.

At times, DeChambeau has flirted with the idea of a PGA Tour return. Often in the same response, he’s lofted the idea of giving up pro golf and becoming a full-time YouTube creator.

But on Monday at the 2026 LIV Golf Korea event in Busan, South Korea, DeChambeau sounded like he was fully on board with helping LIV Golf secure its future existence.

He revealed he was “surprised” by the PIF’s decision to abandon LIV Golf so suddenly, but he also expressed “optimism” in LIV’s business model.

“We were surprised that [the PIF] pulled out as quickly as they did. We didn’t really see that coming,” DeChambeau said on Monday. “But that’s okay. One door closes, another opens. I think that’s the way a lot of us are looking at it. I think we all have optimism that there is a business plan that makes sense for team golf. I’d quite honestly actually — how do I say it? I’m very optimistic with the business plan of team golf compared to other models, in my opinion.”

“But again, other models have worked as well, so I’m not going to say that one is better than the other, but I do see value in what team golf can provide not only worldwide but also in grass rooting the game of golf,” he continued. “National support, team national support, city local support, we grass root ourselves there. There’s a couple ideas that we have — quite a few ideas that we have that could be interesting.”

While DeChambeau was speaking to LIV Golf’s team format, and how that could be attractive to fans and successful financially, LIV Golf’s current business plan is simple: find big-money investors fast or go out of business. Bryson spoke to that as well.

“We’ll see if investors like it or not,” he said. “I’m giving all I can to make it happen, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t happen.”

When asked specifically how Bryson can help LIV Golf in its mission to find new funding, DeChambeau said “ultimately it’s up to the executives,” while his most important roles are to play his best this week, sign autographs and “have a good time.”

“I go out there on the first tee on Thursday and hit a beautiful drive down the middle of the fairway, hopefully. That’s what we’re focused on. In the background, yeah, we’re trying to help where we can, but ultimately it’s up to executives and everybody banding together. If we all band together, there’s an opportunity here. If not, it’s going to be a different day for all of us,” DeChambeau said. “But for me, how I support, go out and hit a great drive on the first tee, play a great round of golf, sign autographs after and have a good time.”

Bryson DeChambeau thanks ‘tough’ critics for fueling ‘positive fire’

DeChambeau was a divisive figure in pro golf long before LIV Golf arrived. When he gave the upstart league its biggest boost by joining up in 2022, criticism increased.

LIV Golf’s recent funding issues and his own sometimes bizarre and contradictory comments about his own future plans have resulted in more criticism for DeChambeau. Missed cuts at the first two majors of the year haven’t helped Bryson’s case.

When asked how he deals with such an onslaught of negativity in his LIV Golf Korea press conference, DeChambeau spoke at length, declaring his “respect” for everyone’s opinion, even if those opinions conclude that he’s “the worst thing for golf.”

“I respect everybody’s opinion on me. I respect everybody that says that I’m the worst thing for golf or I’m the best thing for golf. It’s okay,” DeChambeau said.

He went on to explain that criticism doesn’t “distract” him from his greater “mission” to help the game, and that he cares about golf so much because he’s seen “what it can do for people’s lives.”

“The reality is I’m so focused on what I can do for the game that somebody saying something online or to me personally in my face is not going to distract me from the mission that I have,” DeChambeau explained. “I hope can understand that, that my goal is bigger than just winning every tournament every single week. Do I want to win every week? 100 percent. Do I care about the game sometimes more than my own life? Yeah. Because I see what it can do for people’s lives. That’s ultimately why I care so much and I’m so passionate and I want the best for everybody.”

DeChambeau also thanked his critics, because while he admitted the criticism is “tough to see,” it also provides him with “inspiration” and helps him make decisions in his life.

“So when people are saying these things about me, I know my mission. I know what I’m here to do. Sometimes it’s tough to see, but sometimes it’s an inspiration for me. Fuels positive fire in my stomach. I have to honestly thank everybody because it’s what helps me make the next decision in my life, in a positive way. It’s never a negative,” he said. “I never try to do things in spite or out of non-caring about things or people or anybody else. The other side, this side, doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, we’re just playing golf. We’re just hitting a ball into a hole 450 yards away, sometimes longer.”

He continued: “I think people love to say something, and you have to respect that. I think everybody’s opinion is valid. All I can do is continue to be the best every single day that I can, whether I win tournaments out here, I win majors or don’t win majors or finish dead last out here. It doesn’t matter to me, as long as I’m working as hard as I can and giving as much as I can, that’s all that really matters.

“I hope that I can look over and see a kid looking up smiling at me so I can go sign an autograph because that is what makes me come back every day.”

The 2026 LIV Golf Korea event kicks off this Thursday. DeChambeau gets his next opportunity to break his major missed-cut streak in a few weeks’ time at the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where he’ll be hunting for his third title.

“I’m really excited for the future over at Shinnecock and overseas, as well, for the Open Championship,” DeChambeau said to close out his press conference. “Head down, keep moving forward.”