Gary Player stunned the golf world by declaring Bryson DeChambeau “the True Global Champion of Golf”, a claim that clashes with golf’s fractured reality. The Nedbank Golf Challenge returns in December at the Gary Player Country Club, with DeChambeau making his debut. Player’s bold proclamation raises the question: is Bryson really golf’s global face?

Five years ago, the idea would have been laughable.

DeChambeau was known more for eccentric charm and non-conformism than for global dominance. His analytical approach split the golf world—purists saw cold calculation where DeChambeau saw precision.

Golf pro Brendon Todd, as per Bleacher Report, described him as a “nut” once. Tiger Woods, meanwhile, embraced his curiosity and said in 2018, “I’m very much a feel-oriented guy, and he’s very much a numbers guy, but for some reason we get along great and we work.”

Over the years, DeChambeau gained notoriety for his game and came to be known as “The Scientist.” But the conversations never died, especially given, well, everything.

Aside from the technical changes he has insisted on, and ones we will talk about, DeChambeau has been as global as any big PGA Tour star. Plus, he is one of the few big names playing at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, alongside World No. 12 Justin Rose. Not only that, this is his second event in South Africa this season.

But one of the reasons we talk about him now is because he makes us talk.

He Makes Everyone Talk, and That’s Why He Works

It is true when they say any attention is good attention.

For Bryson DeChambeau, though, half of it was planned and half… not so much. For instance, he has always been a scientific “nut,” to borrow Todd’s comment.

DeChambeau’s idea of dissecting everything began at a pretty early age. He was in High School, for example, when he borrowed a book from the library and copied its 180 pages because it cost $200. Why?

He didn’t want his parents to spend that much on a book and, besides, “By doing so, I was able to understand things much better,” he said, as per a report by Andalucia Golf. He went on to major in physics.

Nicknamed ‘the Nutty Scientist,’ DeChambeau experimented multiple times with his clubs in his early years. Each of his irons measured 37.5 inches. The grip was strikingly thick, and he held it in the palms of his hands instead of his fingers. He worked on the requirements with his coach, but got the idea from Homer Kelly’s book, ‘The Golfing Machine.’

That wasn’t all.

DeChambeau realized he needed strength for speed and distance, so he worked on his weight. Three years after turning pro, he had people talking when he gained bulk, weighing easily around 225 pounds. When asked why he did that, he replied, “More distance.” But he started noticing the negative impact of gaining so much bulk as well.

By 2022, he decided to go the other way. As per Sports Illustrated, he stated, “I ate improperly for almost a year and a half, and I was starting to feel weird.” By 2024, he was joking about it, reportedly telling a journalist, “You can say I was fat. It’s okay,” when asked about his weight gain. His physical transformation mirrored his polarizing image of being ambitious, experimental, but not always sustainable.

Around this time, too, he gained notoriety for his beef with Brooks Koepka, which started in 2019 when Koepka called out slow play without naming anyone. He did, however, drop hints with two specific words he used: “long hitter” and “calculations.” That went on for many years, including stretching to 2021 when Koepka’s fans trailed after DeChambeau and teased him with “Brooksy.” In the next two years, that, too, toned down.

Fans, however, were noticing.

The Rising Fan Engagement, YouTube, and LIV Golf

Bryson DeChambeau has built his community, to borrow the popular lingo, brick by brick. During his PGA Tour days, DeChambeau became something of a Tour outcast. Frankly, he had done plenty to earn the reputation.

He was unfairly pointing fingers at equipment manufacturers, declaring Augusta National a par-67, to name a few. He seemed like a know-it-all pro who was serious about golf but hard to take seriously. He had also joined LIV Golf and stated that the then-Saudi-backed league had given him the freedom he lacked on the PGA Tour. This, in turn, is said to have impacted the Tour’s policies.

In 2024, he stated, “As funny as it sounds, as weird as it sounds, having a lot more time back at home to work on my game, to work on content creation with my team that I have back at home allows me to plan and strategize a little bit better than what I have.” Many didn’t like this.

But it was undeniable that the game was more interesting with him.

And things were shifting. DeChambeau had largely toned down his antics. Yet, at the 2024 PGA Championship, the crowd was on his side more than the eventual winner, Xander Schauffele. During the U.S. Open, he spent more time around the ropes, conversing with fans and signing autographs. As per ESPN, DeChambeau claimed he was “trying to do the right thing.”

He was changing as a person, too, and he made sure everyone knew.

It coincided with his father’s death, and he stated, “I have changed, definitely, in different ways. I still feel like I’m that same kid that came out here right at the start, but I feel like as a person I’m just different to interact with. My dad passing gave me a great perspective on life. Just everything in general has changed.”

The showmanship worked in DeChambeau’s favor as well. Unlike most players on the PGA Tour or LIV, he was animated. He showed emotions when the putt didn’t drop; he laughed and cheered when it did, showing how much he wanted to win something. It was relatable, and fans liked it.

What was helping? Yes, YouTube was one thing: the turf where he could interact with fans despite LIV struggling to draw an audience.

In 2024, DeChambeau had fewer than 700,000 subscribers, but his YouTube channel was the talk of the course. In a reported interaction by ESPN, when DeChambeau caught up with a group of friends, one of the kids pointed at his friend and said, “He’s not even subbed to you, Bryson!”

Despite the criticism of his YouTube engagement, he has nearly 3 million subscribers.

It helps that he has collabed with Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, John Daly, and several well-known YouTube golfers. He also regularly turns up on other creators’ channels and has absurd ideas to get everyone talking. For example, hitting golf balls over his house. Or inviting fans to do the same and win $100,000.

It’s exciting. He is exciting. Yet, our readers don’t buy the hype.

Essentially Golf Readers Still Don’t Buy It

When we asked our readers about their thoughts on Gary Player’s big declaration on Bryson DeChambeau, 77.47% said they did not agree with it. One reader commented, “All about himself not the game,” while another stated, “Gary Player must be getting for his comments by a sponsor or someone at LIV.” A third wrote, “Bryson is the true champion of himself.”

Well, though much of the criticism comes because of his association with LIV Golf and YouTube, DeChambeau has stated multiple times that he is doing it all to promote the game on a global scale. His move to LIV Golf initially damaged his image. For many fans, it felt like choosing money over tradition.

However, LIV’s schedule helps him travel all over the world, including Australia, where the league has found success, and YouTube helps him connect with fans who cannot, for example, travel much.

“As crazy as it sounds, it’s been really awesome to see how I can affect a lot of people’s lives, junior golfers’ lives, middle-aged men, even; they are coming out shouting: ‘Thanks for the content. Appreciate what you do online,” DeChambeau stated at the U.S. Open in 2024.

Professional golf remains fractured between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, meaning the best players rarely compete against one another outside the four majors. Ironically, Gary Player himself has repeatedly criticized this division, arguing that victories outside the majors carry an asterisk because the strongest fields aren’t together every week.

Some of our readers seemed more open to his rise, however. One commented, “It’s hard to take your eyes off him when he’s around, which speaks for itself.” A fifth wrote, “He is terrific with the young people.”

It is, however, true that DeChambeau has given the media to talk outside that, too, especially regarding his performances. And the concerns are genuine. Though he won twice on LIV this season, he has been unsuccessful outside it, including missing the cut in the first three majors of the year.

But really, it depends on what your definition of “global” is. If global means reaching the most people, Bryson has a compelling argument. But if global means being the undisputed face of professional golf, the answer is not as easy.

And perhaps that’s the most Bryson DeChambeau outcome imaginable: he’s still one of the most divisive figures golf has ever produced.