It has not been the best stretch of golf lately for Bryson DeChambeau as he prepares for LIV Golf Korea beginning Thursday.
DeChambeau has competed in each of the last two PGA majors and failed to make the cut at both the Masters Tournament and the PGA Championship.
While he remains one of the biggest names in the sport, he is also viewed by many as one of golf’s most polarizing figures. However, that does not seem to bother him much, as he addressed critics while speaking to the media on Tuesday.
“I respect everybody that says that I’m the worst thing for golf or I’m the best thing for golf,” DeChambeau said. “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 became one of the faces of LIV Golf, but with ongoing uncertainty surrounding the league’s future, questions continue to arise about what players could do if LIV were to eventually shut down.
Many golfers would likely attempt to return to the PGA Tour, though that transition would not necessarily be easy. DeChambeau, meanwhile, has left the door open to several possibilities, including placing a greater focus on content creation through his YouTube channel while still maintaining eligibility to compete in major championships.
As of now, however, he remains undecided on what his long-term path could look like.
That being said, LIV Golf seemingly has a new business plan in place, and DeChambeau appears fully committed to helping regrow the brand and keep the league afloat after it reportedly lost major funding over the past month.
“We were surprised that they pulled out as quickly as they did. We didn’t really see that coming. But that’s ok. One door closes, another opens,” DeChambeau said. “There’s a couple ideas that we have — quite a few ideas that we have — that could be interesting. We’ll see if investors like it or not. I’m giving all I can to make it happen, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t happen.”