There are a great many ways to describe Bryson DeChambeau, and Rory McIlroy, for one, has tended towards the incendiary of late. The American’s team-mates appear to be kinder, however, with Xander Schauffele going as far as to call him a ‘golfing gladiator’ on Tuesday.
It will come as no surprise to learn Keegan Bradley’s side view the LIV rebel as their rabble-rouser-in-chief and expect to leverage a significant advantage from his propensity to inspire bedlam.
That would be a legacy of his vast popularity on social media, which allied with a quirky personality and cavalier playing style has made him the pied piper of US golf. Where he goes, the galleries follow, his friend Donald Trump included.
Schauffele, in particular, has noted that this week’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black will place DeChambeau in his element and believes the histrionics will be worth their weight in points.
‘I was telling Keegan, I feel like Bryson could be like the difference for us in a strange way from the standpoint of feeding into these fans, the style of golf he plays,’ said Schauffele.
‘I’ll make a putt, and you won’t see too much of a reaction. That’s just who I am. That’s kind of how I operate. Maybe it might change this week, who knows – these Ryder Cups bring out the best in you at times.
Bryson DeChambeau has been hailed as a ‘gladiator golfer’ by his USA team-mate Xander Schauffele ahead of the Ryder Cup
‘This is his arena,’ says Schauffele. Keegan Bradley’s team see him as their chief rabble-rouser who can excite the fans and his allies
Rory McIlroy has characterised him as attention-seeking and he is not the only one to do so
‘But Bryson, this is his arena. If he views himself as a gladiator golfer, this is as good as it gets.
‘He’s been awesome here. He’s been awesome in the team room. I’m excited to sort of see what he can do, and hopefully get a lot of points up on the board because his points might hit harder than maybe my points, for example, just because of how he might celebrate and get these fans into this tournament quickly.’
If that was a way of tapping into the point that DeChambeau is an attention-seeker, then it was a more subtle and flattering route than the one chosen by McIlroy recently.
Owing to their history, which included McIlroy’s choke to DeChambeau’s benefit at the US Open last year and then the world No 2 blanking the American in the final round of the Masters, McIlroy was withering in his depiction of the 32-year-old, saying: ‘I think the only way he gets attention is by mentioning other people. That is basically what I think of that. To get attention he will mention me or Scottie [Scheffler] or others.’
Former US golfer-turned-pundit Brandel Chamblee, a fierce critic of LIV, went further this week in painting DeChambeau as a ‘circus barker’ whose social media popularity has been enhanced by bot accounts. He also called him an ‘odd duck’ and ‘captain’s nightmare’ in a team environment.
Certainly, the American’s presence will be divisive and box office. It will also be fascinating to see if he can handle the hoopla he brings his own way – the emotion he whipped up in the Masters final round appeared counter-productive as he was soundly beaten in his head-to-head with McIlroy. Scottie Scheffler is among those who see only an upside, saying the US look forward to ‘unleashing him’, as if this corner of New York needed any further invitation to get rowdy.
