Was DeChambeau’s behaviour in Detroit out of line?
Bryson DeChambeau won his sixth PGA Tour title at the Rocket Mortgage Classic with some incredible numbers.
But it wasn’t all a breeze for the Californian thanks to a run-in with a camera operator during the third round at Detroit Golf Club.
After hitting a shot from a greenside bunker at the 6th, the cameraman followed DeChambeau up to the green. He putted out for bogey then stuck around to have a quick word.
“He was literally watching me the whole entire way up after getting out of the bunker, walking up next to the green,” DeChambeau explained after the round. “I just was like, ‘Sir, what is the need to watch me that long?’
“As much as we’re out here performing, I think it’s necessary that we have our times of privacy as well when things aren’t going our way. We’re in the spotlight. If somebody else is in the spotlight they wouldn’t want that either. It’s just something about respect I think that’s necessary on that end. So for me, I feel like it’s one of those things that we had a conversation, it was all good after that.”
When asked what was meant by “protecting” the players, he continued: “It could really hurt them if they catch you at a potentially vulnerable time. For that to damage our brand like that, that’s not cool.
“If you actually meet me in person, I’m not too bad of a dude. I hope we can get to the point where everybody understands that we just care a lot about the game, we want to do well, we’re passionate about what we do, and we want everybody to enjoy the entertainment. We don’t want negative stuff coming down.”
So was DeChambeau out of order? Two of our writers discuss…
‘DeChambeau outburst shows he is out of touch’
Where to start? asks Dan Murphy. A man playing golf in a made-for-TV event with no fans in attendance and handsomely supported by countless sponsors who derive value from the brand exposure tells a cameraman to stop filming him during a round because he is cross and it might damage his image. Hmm. Talk about shooting the messenger.
Bryson appears to be suffering from what he might himself call cognitive dissonance here.
While most of us can relate to getting hot under the collar on the course, what’s more damning is that Bryson stuck to his guns when interviewed after his round.
I’m afraid it belies a golfer somewhat out of touch. Now I get that Bryson’s entire shtick is that he sees the world differently to most of us, and we can only admire his independence of thought and action, not to mention his insane driving.
But failing to understand that he is going to be filmed while playing in PGA Tour events that currently rely entirely on said filming for exposure to the outside world? Let’s just say it’s not a great look.
‘We all have off days and we’ve seen worse’
He was out of order, there is no doubt. But, writes Alex Perry, I am prepared to cut him some slack.
This is a man who has spent months trying to take his game to the next level with the spotlight constantly on him. Since the PGA Tour returned it has all been about the new-and-improved beefed-up Bryson. Well, we need something to talk about when Tiger isn’t around, don’t we?
Admit it, you haven’t gone an entire day in the past month without thinking about Bryson DeChambeau.
His transformation has been remarkable, and his form has been out of this world.
His discussion with the cameraman, while unnecessary, was at least polite, and we’ve seen far worse.
No one reading this can say they’ve never blown their lid over something minor, particularly on the course. It was petulant, but it wasn’t earth shattering and it feels like we’re just looking for someone to fill the golf bad boy void.
Don’t worry, Bryson, Patrick Reed will be back soon…
If you want more of DeChambeau talking about the incident, he was asked about it on a Twitch stream following the RMC…
Was DeChambeau out of order? Let us know in the comments below or you can tweet us.
- Related: The incredible stats behind Bryson’s latest win
- Related: What’s in his bag?
- Related: Here’s what he’s eating on a daily basis
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Alex Perry
Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.
