The Instagram DM asked for my phone number. Less than a minute after I sent it, my phone rang. On the other end was Bryson DeChambeau, one of the best golfers in the world.
The next 20 minutes would be the cherry on top of a very bizarre day.
A few hours earlier, DeChambeau had one of his people ask me to leave the range area, despite me not saying a word to anyone and standing exactly where I was supposed to.
As ball after ball started left and drew even further left, Bryson became more and more frustrated. His team stood around mostly silent, occasionally offering suggestions about swing adjustments or equipment.
“.9 degrees closed,” he said at one point before switching the head on what looked like a Krank driver for the third time in about 10 minutes.
I stood behind the metal fence and rope in the area reserved for fans and media and took it all in. “What am I missing? What the fuck am I missing?” he kept saying as he worked through possible adjustments to his swing.
He was clearly frustrated, and although his team wasn’t the target, they were the ones receiving it. And it was fascinating to watch. Sometimes, reporting on golf takes a backseat to nerding out on a golf experience. This was one of those times.
Watching one of the best golfers in the world, and biggest personalities in golf, try to work through his struggles in real time was amazingly interesting. Yes, he was animated. Yes, he would occasionally drop an F-bomb. But I didn’t think anything he said or did was out of line while he was hitting balls.
There are a lot of things you can say about Bryson DeChambeau, but you can’t say he doesn’t care. In what could be the final LIV Golf event, with a purse greatly reduced from what it was originally supposed to be, he was on the range grinding his ass off trying to figure it out.
I respected it.
And then he had me removed.
I was taking pictures when Bryson said something to his caddie and he immediately walked over to me. “Can you give us some space?” the caddie said.
He was cordial and non-confrontational. I decided to leave. In hindsight, maybe I should have asked to speak with Bryson or asked why. But at that moment, I didn’t want to cause a bigger scene.
And that was it. Or so I thought.
A few hours later, I found myself on the phone with Bryson and we spoke for more than 20 minutes.
He asked me to keep the details of that conversation private, which I will. But I appreciate him taking the time to call. It gave me a better understanding of his frustration and his feelings.
I didn’t agree with everything we discussed, but the conversation was cordial, and I’m glad we had it.
I discussed everything that happened throughout the day in detail on our Any Given Monday podcast. The links are below.
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