Bryson DeChambeau withdrew from LIV Golf Virginia with a wrist injury this week, but his Tuesday looked nothing like a rest day. While his fellow LIV players were getting range work in ahead of the Virginia event, DeChambeau was in Washington, D.C., standing alongside President Donald Trump at the White House for an occasion that had been months in the making.

Trump signed a presidential memorandum to restore the Presidential Fitness Test, and DeChambeau was right there beside him as he did it. Inside the Oval Office, DeChambeau then addressed a room full of kids. “The most important thing you can do is always get one percent better a day,” he told them. “Try to be a better version of yourself every day because one day you could be up here as well.” He also acknowledged legendary golfer Gary Player, who was present at the event, saying, “He’s always been an inspiration to me and albeit I’ll never get to your record, I thank you for giving me aspirations to hopefully get one-eighth of what you have.”

Those words mean something more when you know how DeChambeau actually lives them. At the 2025 Masters, he hit 925 balls on the practice range in six days, more than anyone else in the field. The obsession started early. As a teenager, he would hit over 1,000 balls on a single Saturday until his hands bled. It was a habit sparked by a line from a Ben Hogan book: “A day that you aren’t practicing is another day that somebody else is getting better than you.”

The White House appearance was not a one-off moment either. Trump appointed DeChambeau as Chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition back in August 2025. It is a council focused on youth fitness, healthy eating, and promoting athletic participation across the country. Trump praised DeChambeau at the signing event, calling him “a scientist with his body” and referencing his well-documented physical transformation ahead of the 2020 season.

Well, the President and the golfer have known each other for a long time now. DeChambeau gave Trump a set of golf clubs in 2017, one of only two gifts Trump accepted while in office that year. The two made a “Break 50” YouTube video at Trump’s Bedminster course in 2024 that has garnered over 11 million views. DeChambeau was also invited to appear on stage at Trump’s election victory celebration at the Palm Beach Convention Center in November 2024.

DeChambeau was not the only one with a message for the kids.

Also present at Tuesday’s event was Gary Player, who added his message: “We’ve got to make these kids realize that freedom, exercise, and education start with reading some books. What you put in your body is so important.”

After the formal proceedings wrapped up, DeChambeau and Player moved the event outside, where the two got into a push-up contest on the White House lawn. Although DeChambeau withdrew from his last LIV start in Mexico City due to a wrist injury, people filmed him doing pull-ups, looking fully healthy. It was a fitting show for a man who once built himself into what Trump describes as looking “like a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers” and how seriously he takes the role he has now officially stepped into.

Back on the golf front, though, the 2x major winner has a much tougher fight to come.

Bryson DeChambeau pushes back on PGA Tour return reports

Reports surfaced last week suggesting DeChambeau’s representatives had opened talks with the PGA Tour about a return. However, he shut that down quickly, telling Flushing It Golf, “It’s completely untrue. I’m working as hard as I can to find a solution.”

His $125 million contract, signed when he joined LIV in June 2022, expires at the end of this season. Before the funding crisis broke, he was reportedly seeking $500 million to stay. Now, contract talks continue under very different circumstances. “I haven’t given up on that and I think there will be a solution,” he said.

Beyond his own deal, the 32-year-old says LIV is already building for the future. The league is developing junior golf events and team-based academies, with DeChambeau revealing plans for a junior event within the next couple of months. That’s a big promise for a league fighting to survive.

But the financial realities are impossible to ignore. Over five years, LIV has added revenue streams, but not nearly enough to replace Saudi backing at the level it once operated. DeChambeau framed it plainly, “It’s a startup. There’s going to be times where we’re squeezed and punched. This is one of those moments.” Looks like he has no plans of going back to the PGA, for now.