The $500m battle for Bryson DeChambeau
Tiger Woods has mischievously declared Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour as “a win for everybody”. Yet while golf’s figurehead will realise the stunningly quick return is hardly a victory for LIV, he will also appreciate that there is at least one person in the breakaway league who will be inwardly ecstatic.
Bryson DeChambeau is the bright man in the slighted place at the right time and is on the verge of scooping his sport’s biggest-ever jackpot.
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He wore the poker face of a player who sensed his luck was in at what can only be called an awkward press conference alongside the other LIV team captains at a preview evening in West Palm Beach on Tuesday.
DeChambeau was asked what he made of the news that after only quitting LIV last month, Koepka will play on tour again in two weeks and that, he, too, could rejoin on similar terms should he accept the same stipulations by the tour’s deadline of February 2.
“Look, I’m contracted through 2026, so I’m excited about this year,” DeChambeau said.
LIV was happy enough with that response to post his words on its X account. However, the problem was that he did not look or sound very excited. Indeed, his body language was akin to someone in a dentist’s waiting room.
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In contrast, Jon Rahm was far more upbeat. “I wish Brooks the best, but I’m not planning on going anywhere,” the Spaniard said. “And as far as I’m concerned, I’m focused on the league and my team this year and hopefully we can repeat as champions again.”
Of course, the difference is that Rahm has three years left on his LIV contract, so is losing nothing by being positive. He will not be jumping ship anytime soon.
Jon Rahm won his second LIV points list in 2025 - Reuters/Aaron Doster
DeChambeau’s contract is up when this year’s LIV season ends in August and he has been negotiating with the Saudi paymasters about a new deal.
He has every reason to keep everyone guessing and waiting, especially at this juncture. If DeChambeau’s $500m (£372m) demands appeared fanciful last week, now they may even be classed as residing on the low side. Koepka, his former enemy, has handed him leverage of which even Gordon Gekko could dream.
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Forget the deadline. DeChambeau knows that if the Saudis do not meet his number and he elects to leave then all he will have to do is pick up the mobile and phone the PGA Tour’s Sawgrass HQ. Or even Woods, for that matter. At his own press conference in Florida on Tuesday night – Woods was at the latest TGL simulator golf event – the 15-time major winner provided a fascinating timeline as to Koepka’s impression of the Prodigal Son.
Koepka sent in his plea in writing on December 23, the same day as his LIV exit was confirmed. “We took that letter,” Woods said, “and then took it to both boards and tried to implement a plan that would be fair and adequate, that justifies Brooks’ time away from our tour, the penalties served, the fines if necessary, what the integration would look like on our tour… We had lots of subsequent meetings, worked through the holidays. There were no days off. We just worked through it day after day after day and we came out with the plan.”
From his own pocket, Koepka has to donate $5m (£3.72m) to charity and, for this season, sit out the eight $20m signature events – unless he qualifies by right. The 35-year-old will receive no FedEx bonus funds, regardless of how well he plays, and will miss five years of the tour’s equity programme.
Brooks Koepka’s latest major win was the 2023 US PGA and he won five times in the LIV series - Reuters/Adam Cairns
Brian Rolapp, the tour’s CEO, claims Koepka could miss out on up to $85m but that, to put it mildly, is stretching financial credulity. Rolapp said this to make it seem as if the tour was being tough on its defector. In truth, it has been a soft landing for Koepka and Rolapp duly dangled the bait for DeChambeau, Rahm and Cam Smith, the other recent major champion who also qualifies under the “Returning Players Program”.
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Rolapp did not genuinely expect the trio to bite – Smith, for one, has absolutely no interest in rejoining – and made the offer purely to highlight LIV’s fallibility. DeChambeau will gladly use the ploy for his own ends and, in some respects, already is.
“I’m surprised. I didn’t know Brooks would be willing to give that much back,” DeChambeau said. He was talking to Today’s Golfer just before entering that interview room and the tone of his remarks was obvious. Whoever wants him most will have to bow to his terms – that will inevitably be LIV.
Not only does it want him to stay, it needs him to stay. He is its biggest star and with upwards of three million followers on his social media and YouTube accounts, he is the biggest draw on so many levels. It would make sense for Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the LIV chairman and governor of the trillion-dollar Saudi Public Investment Fund, to tie him down soon. Otherwise, the provocative DeChambeau comments will continue to fill the airwaves and timelines and present the tour with yet more impetus as the hostilities resume after the phoney peace pact.
DeCheambeau maintains a close relationship with Donald Trump - Getty Images/Mandel Ngan
“I’ve got a contract this year and that’s just going to be an ever-evolving conversation,” DeChambeau told Today’s Golfer. “Hopefully, I’m back next year. I’m excited for the potential of LIV. It just has to make sense for both sides, and we’ll move forward in a cool direction if that’s the case. I certainly don’t want to let down my Crushers GC team-mates.”
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DeChambeau is clearly enjoying himself and is evidently ready to play each and every card. What can be summarily rejected is his recent claim that he could give up on competitive golf and become a YouTube golfer. His ambition is so much bigger than that, both in terms of success and attention. In previous iterations he was nicknamed “The Mad Scientist” and “The Incredible Bulk”, but at this moment “The Game-changer” seems appropriate.
Strictly in performance, the two-time major winner does not operate in the realms of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, but otherwise this true one-off has the knack of grabbing the spotlight. It glares intensely right now and he is plainly loving every last second and dollar of it.
On his Instagram, DeChambeau has put up a picture of himself looking quizzical, alongside the words, “What would you do?”. Behind him is an exit sign.
DeChambeau demands $500m to stay after Koepka quits LIV
The PGA Tour would like to lure LIV rebels Bryson DeChambeau (right), Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith back into the fold alongside Brooks Koepka (left) - Getty Images/Kevin C. Cox
Bryson DeChambeau is expected to see his unprecedented $500m (£372m) demands to stay with LIV Golf met after the Saudi-funded league became incensed with the PGA Tour’s offer to welcome back their former players.
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The 32-year-old has been negotiating hard over a re-signing fee when his contract expires at the end of this season, but while his camp were probably resigned to settling on a lesser figure, their ambition could be even greater now.
Brooks Koepka’s impending return to the PGA Tour following his decision to quit LIV with a year of his contract remaining was expected by the league’s executives, despite him only reapplying for membership last week.
Koepka is preparing to play at the Farmers Insurance Open in two weeks’ time, his first PGA Tour event since joining the controversial LIV Golf tour in 2022.
And it is understood that the audacious move by Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour’s CEO, to try to offer the same terms to DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith has angered the sheikhs even more.
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Forget the “framework agreement” between the PGA Tour and the trillion-dollar Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) in 2023, the gloves are truly off again, as no less an authority than Paul McGinley acknowledged.
“This decision by the PGA Tour shows that the relationship between the tour and LIV is one of competition against each other again – rather than consolidation,” the 2014 Ryder Cup captain told Telegraph Sport. “Some might have been shocked by this, but I wasn’t particularly. It just comes down to business.”
PIF has already dished out more than $5bn on the pet project of its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and it is naive to think he will now simply give in without an extraordinarily expensive fight. Golf’s civil war has resumed and DeChambeau is at the heart of the battlefield.