Bryson DeChambeau

Early life and amateur career

DeChambeau was born on September 16, 1993, in Modesto, California, to Janet (née Druffel) and Jon Aldrich DeChambeau. His full name is Bryson James Aldrich DeChambeau, with James being his middle name and "Aldrich DeChambeau" constituting two surnames. He did not find out he had two surnames until he was 14. DeChambeau's father was an accomplished amateur golfer who had a brief career as a professional. He later became director of operations at Riverbend Golf Club (renamed Dragonfly Golf Club) in Madera, California. DeChambeau has a brother named Garrett Wolford, who is 12 years older and was once a talented baseball player.

At age seven, DeChambeau moved to Clovis, California. He attended Clovis East High School and won the California State Junior Championship at age 16 in 2010. He graduated in 2012 and accepted a scholarship to play for the SMU Mustangs at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he majored in physics. DeChambeau wore an anachronistic flat cap while on the golf course due to his admiration for Ben Hogan and fellow SMU alumnus Payne Stewart.

In June 2015, DeChambeau became the first SMU Mustang to win the NCAA individual championship, recording a score of 280 (−8) to win by one stroke. In August, he won the U.S. Amateur title, defeating Derek Bard 7 & 6 in the 36-hole final. He became the fifth player to win both the NCAA and U.S. Amateur titles in the same year, joining Jack Nicklaus (1961), Phil Mickelson (1990), Tiger Woods (1996), and Ryan Moore (2004).

DeChambeau made his PGA Tour debut as an amateur in June 2015 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic near Memphis, Tennessee, and finished in 45th place. The following week, he played in his first major championship, the 2015 U.S. Open held at Chambers Bay. He shot 74-75 to miss the cut by four strokes. DeChambeau was unable to defend his NCAA title in 2016 after the SMU athletic department was handed a postseason ban by the NCAA, due to recruiting violations under former head coach Josh Gregory.

Due to SMU's post-season suspension, DeChambeau decided to forgo his senior season to play in a number of professional events. He retained his amateur status to avoid losing entry to the Masters Tournament, which he received due to his U.S. Amateur victory. At the 2015 Australian Masters in November, he finished runner-up, two shots behind Peter Senior. He was the low amateur at the 2016 Masters Tournament, finishing in a tie for 21st place.

Professional career

Web.com Tour

Immediately after the Masters in mid-April 2016, DeChambeau turned professional and signed a long-term agreement with Cobra-Puma Golf. He made his pro debut days later at the RBC Heritage in South Carolina and tied for fourth, earning over $259,000. The decision to turn professional meant the forfeiture of his exemptions to the U.S. Open at Oakmont and Open Championship at Royal Troon, but DeChambeau qualified his way into the U.S. Open and tied for 15th place to earn over $152,000, improving his world ranking to 148. Despite the strong start, DeChambeau did not earn enough non-member FedEx Cup points that season to qualify for a 2017 PGA Tour card but did qualify for the Web.com Tour Finals. He was successful at earning his card through the Finals, due to a win at the DAP Championship.

PGA Tour

On July 16, 2017, DeChambeau earned his first PGA Tour victory by winning the John Deere Classic by a single stroke over Patrick Rodgers. He carded a round of 65 in the final round to win his maiden title in his 40th start on tour. The win gained DeChambeau a place in the 2017 Open Championship, which took place the following week. At Open, he missed the cut after rounds of 76–77 (+13).

On June 3, 2018, DeChambeau won the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, in a sudden-death playoff against Kyle Stanley and An Byeong-hun, after the three finished regulation play tied at −15. After Stanley bogeyed the first hole of sudden death, DeChambeau proceeded to win with a birdie on the second hole, giving him his second victory on the tour. On August 26, 2018, he won The Northern Trust for his first playoff victory and, in the process, established a new record for the tournament when held at the Ridgewood Country Club – with a score of 266 – besting the old Ridgewood record of 270, which was set in 2014 by Hunter Mahan.

The following week, DeChambeau won at the Dell Technologies Championship played at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts, with a final score of −16, two shots clear of Justin Rose. This put him over 2000 points ahead of second place player Dustin Johnson in the FedEx Cup rankings. This margin secured him top seeding at The Tour Championship, regardless of his finish at the BMW Championship. This also marked his fourth win on the tour, third for the year, and second in a FedEx Cup playoff event. At the Tour Championship, DeChambeau finished 19th out of 30 participants. As a result, he fell to 3rd in the FedEx Cup, winning $2,000,000. In September 2018, DeChambeau was named as a captain's pick by Jim Furyk for the United States team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. Europe defeated the U.S. team, 17½ points to 10½ points. DeChambeau went 0–3–0. He lost his singles match against Alex Norén.

On November 4, 2018, DeChambeau won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, Nevada. The win was worth $1,260,000 in prize money. The win brought him to number five in the Official World Golf Ranking. On January 27, 2019, DeChambeau won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, UAE. DeChambeau claimed his maiden European Tour title by producing a closing 64 to win the tournament by seven shots. In December 2019, DeChambeau played on the U.S. team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. DeChambeau went 0–1–1 and halved his Sunday singles match against Adam Hadwin.

LIV Golf

In February 2022, amid speculation that he was joining the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, DeChambeau released a statement committing to the PGA Tour. In April 2022, DeChambeau announced that he had surgery on his left wrist and would be taking the appropriate time to rest and recover. After missing the cut in the Memorial Tournament at the start of June, DeChambeau was again asked about LIV Golf, in which his answer suggested he would continue with the PGA Tour. However, a few days later on June 8, The Daily Telegraph reported that DeChambeau would be joining LIV Golf. DeChambeau’s announcement came just one day after Dustin Johnson made his PGA Tour resignation. On June 10, LIV Golf confirmed that DeChambeau had joined the tour.

As a result of joining LIV Golf, Rocket Mortgage ended its sponsorship deal with DeChambeau. 911familiesunited.org, a coalition of families and survivors of the September 11 attacks, sent a scathing letter to representatives of DeChambeau as well as other LIV Golf members, expressing their outrage toward the golfers for participating in LIV Golf and accusing them of sportswashing and betraying the United States. In June 2023, DeChambeau stated in an interview with CNN that families of the victims of the September 11 attacks should move forward "in forgiveness". He continued, stating "We'll never be able to repay the families back for what exactly happened just over 20 years ago, and what happened is definitely horrible... We're in a place now where it's time to start trying to work together to make things better together as a whole."

In August 2023 at The Greenbrier, DeChambeau won his first tournament on LIV Golf. He followed up a 61 in the second round, with a new tour record of 58 in the third and final round, which also tied the record for lowest round in an elite-level men's professional golf tournament.

In September, he won his second tournament on the LIV tour, at LIV Golf Chicago. He shot a final-round 63, including a 28 on the back nine, to win by one stroke.

At the 2024 PGA Championship, DeChambeau shot a final round 7-under par 64, which included a birdie on the 72nd hole, to tie leader Xander Schauffele. Schauffele then went on to birdie the 72nd hole himself to win by one stroke.

At the 2024 U.S. Open, DeChambeau got up and down from 55 yards away in the bunker on the 72nd hole to win his second major title, shooting 6-under for the tournament, one stroke ahead of Rory McIlroy. The broadcast of the tournament featuring DeChambeau's battle against McIlroy drew a peak viewership of 11.4 million, the highest since the 2015 U.S. Open.

Unique clubs

DeChambeau was influenced by Homer Kelley's The Golfing Machine, a physics-based golf book which he was introduced to at age 15 by his golf instructor Mike Schy. While in high school, DeChambeau talked to Schy about developing a single-plane swing, a concept inspired by reading Kelley. He soon encountered the problem that his posture had to change as different clubs were of different lengths, so he then asked Schy if he could have a set with all irons and wedges being the same length to facilitate the single-plane swing. The aim for DeChambeau was to reduce the variables in his swing and attempt to make golf easier. DeChambeau recalled in 2016: "I took a set and messed it up, made all the clubs the same length, and saw if it worked. It did." He does not turn his wrists during his swing.

As of 2020, all of DeChambeau's irons and wedges are cut to exactly the same length: 37.5 inches (95.3 cm). Their lie and bounce angles are also the same; only the lofts are different. In addition to the single-length concept, his clubs are unusual for their extremely upright lie angle. He also uses custom-made carbon graphite shafts on all of his clubs, including his putter. He was the first to do so among PGA Tour players. In 2011, at the suggestion of his instructor Mike Schy, DeChambeau switched to JumboMax Grips, the largest grips commercially available, which allow him to hold the club in his palms rather than his fingers.

DeChambeau is known for his driving distance, and has experimented with a longer-than-usual 48-inch driver. Partly in response to DeChambeau, the R&A and USGA, which jointly determine the rules of golf, instituted a local rule from 2022 to allow competition organizers to limit the permitted length of a non-putter golf club to 46 inches, to avoid issues with the effect of club length on increased driving distances. DeChambeau said in 2021 that the rule change was "a little flattering in a sense," and said the 48-inch driver had not worked for him.

On August 6, 2023, DeChambeau won his first event on the LIV tour using a unique driver which is not usually played by professional golfers – a Krank Formula Fire LD which is designed for and primarily used by elite long-drive competitors. After the event, he was quoted as saying "It's probably performed the best I've ever had in the past five years in professional golf for me".

Public image

DeChambeau has been described by Golf Digest as "one of golf's most newsworthy characters".

In January 2019, Brooks Koepka commented on slow pace of play at the Dubai Desert Classic. Although he did not mention DeChambeau's name, it was inferred as criticism of DeChambeau. At The Northern Trust in August 2019, footage of DeChambeau taking more than two minutes over a short putt prompted public criticism from multiple golfers. DeChambeau said he exceeded the 40-second limit to hit a shot only about five percent of the time and stated that he had been unfairly singled out. On the practice area at The Northern Trust, DeChambeau approached Koepka's caddie and told him that Koepka should criticize his pace of play face-to-face. The pair later had a meeting and agreed to not publicly criticize each other; DeChambeau stated that it "creates a bad image for the PGA Tour". DeChambeau also admitted to slow play on the greens. At the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, DeChambeau unsuccessfully sought relief by claiming that a fire ant hill near his ball constituted a dangerous animal condition. Koepka found himself in a similar position on the course the following day and jokingly pointed out an ant near his ball.

After footage of Koepka reacting with irritation as DeChambeau passed him during an interview at the 2021 PGA Championship circulated widely, the feud reignited. Spectators heckled DeChambeau with Koepka's name and around ten were ejected from the 2021 Memorial Tournament for doing so. DeChambeau said he had not asked for their removal and described the taunts as flattering. DeChambeau faced Koepka in an edition of The Match in November 2021, which Koepka won. Both DeChambeau and Koepka joined LIV Golf in 2022, and they conducted a joint press conference in October of that year to advocate for LIV Golf events receiving world ranking points. Koepka said in 2023 that the dispute with DeChambeau had been resolved: "Believe it or not, we squashed it. ... We've got a good open line of communication, we've figured it all out and we're good." In 2024, DeChambeau and Koepka played as a team in an edition of The Match against Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. McIlroy and Scheffler won the exhibition.

During the third round of the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic, DeChambeau confronted a cameraman who had continued filming him after he struck the sand in frustration following a bunker shot. He said in a post-round interview: "I mean, I understand that it's his job to video me, but at the same point, I think we need to start protecting our players out here compared to showing a potential vulnerability and hurting someone's image." He was criticized for these comments; Eamon Lynch of Golfweek stated that DeChambeau's reaction had damaged his brand more than the cameraman's footage. After winning the tournament, DeChambeau said in a press conference that he had "talked it out and it was all great and no issues, no issues whatsoever. So, appreciate what they do, appreciate everybody that works hard out here to provide great entertainment." DeChambeau began a pattern of turning down media requests in 2021. After an opening-round 67 at the 2026 Open Championship, he declined to speak to print or television media, which was the fifth consecutive time he had done so following a major championship round.

Personal life

DeChambeau's father Jon was diagnosed with diabetes in the early 1990s, and suffered kidney failure due to the disease in 2014. Through Bryson's victory at the U.S. Amateur in 2015, Jon reconnected with a high school friend, Ron Bankofier, who donated a kidney to him in 2017. Jon was able to witness Bryson's first win on the PGA Tour a few months later, and his victory at the U.S. Open in 2020. Jon continued to struggle with diabetes after the kidney transplant, and died November 2022, aged 63.

DeChambeau withdrew from the 2020 Summer Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19. When asked about it before the start of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, DeChambeau said he was not vaccinated and "the vaccine doesn't necessarily prevent it from happening. I'm young enough, I'd rather give [the vaccine] to people who need it. I don't need it. I'm a healthy, young individual that will continue to work on my health. I don't think taking the vaccine away from someone who needs it is a good thing. My dad is a perfect example. He got [the vaccine] early on because he's a diabetic. People like that need to get it".

In December 2017, DeChambeau played a round of golf alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, senator David Perdue, and former professional golfer Dana Quigley. DeChambeau had also gifted Trump a set of golf clubs that year valued at $750. DeChambeau said in a 2020 interview, "I am extremely honored to represent Trump Golf and have the relationship with the Trump Organization that I have. From Larry Glick, to Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the entire team is always behind me 100%, and I am grateful for their support".

After winning the 2020 U.S. Open, DeChambeau celebrated his victory at Trump National Golf Club Westchester with Eric Trump. Following the January 6 United States Capitol attack and the PGA of America's decision to remove the 2022 PGA Championship from Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, DeChambeau had the Trump logo removed from his bag. He said, "It's unfortunate and it is what it is and I understand it. At the end of the day, whatever [the PGA of America’s] moves are, they are. I really don't have a comment". DeChambeau played a round of golf with Donald Trump two months later. He also played with Donald Trump, alongside Eric Trump and Dustin Johnson, in a pro-am round at the 2022 LIV Golf Bedminster event. He said afterwards, "It was an honor." After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, DeChambeau was invited on stage during Trump's victory speech at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

Amateur wins

2010 California State Junior Championship

2013 Trans-Mississippi Amateur

2014 The American Championship, Erin Hills Intercollegiate

2015 NCAA Division I Championship, U.S. Amateur

Source:

Professional wins (16)

PGA Tour wins (9)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

LIV Golf League wins (5)

1Co-sanctioned by the MENA Tour

LIV Golf League playoff record (2–0)

Web.com Tour wins (1)

Web.com Tour playoff record (1–0)

Major championships

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

LA = low amateur

CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" = tied

NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2020 PGA – 2021 Open Championship)

Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (2024 Masters – 2024 U.S. Open)

Results in The Players Championship

"T" indicates a tie for a place

C = Canceled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

NT = No tournament

"T" = Tied

Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Palmer Cup: 2014

Eisenhower Trophy: 2014 (winners)

Walker Cup: 2015

Professional

Ryder Cup: 2018, 2021 (winners), 2025

Presidents Cup: 2019 (winners)