Bryson DeChambeau on PGA Championship and if he has a ‘beef’ with Rory McIlroy
Golfer Bryson DeChambeau spoke to close to 400 people on Tuesday morning in Charlotte, and the most direct question came from a young man who is part of the local First Tee program.
“Do you have a beef with Rory McIlroy?” the student asked.
DeChambeau’s answer about McIlroy — including the part where he admitted that he wanted to “kick (McIlroy’s) butt this week” — shed a little new light on one of golf’s best current rivalries. Both men are in town to compete in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club, which begins Thursday. They will be two of the favorites.
Last month McIlroy and DeChambeau played in the final twosome at the Masters, an event McIlroy eventually won to complete his career Grand Slam. DeChambeau would say later that McIlroy didn’t speak to him at all during the final round. This silent treatment was later clarified to be part of McIlroy’s strategy to eliminate distractions.
Said DeChambeau on Tuesday morning to the Hood Hargett Breakfast Club about whether he had a “beef’ with McIlroy: “I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a beef. Do I like everything he does all the time? No. I’m sure he doesn’t like all the things I do, right? We’re professionals, we’re competitive. ... But I respect him as a golfer. I think he’s an incredible golfer, and he does a lot for the game of golf. I really just want to kick his butt this week.”
DeChambeau also said the rivalry was fierce — perhaps in part due to the fact that DeChambeau left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, while McIlroy has remained a high-profile PGA Tour loyalist. But DeChambeau continued to insist he had no animosity with McIlroy.
“Do we have a competitive fire between us?” DeChambeau said. “Do we want to beat each other’s you know what? Yeah. Do I get sick of Rory winning? Yeah. Do I want to win and beat him? I dream about it. Do I have a beef? I mean, not really.”
Egged on by the crowd and the event moderator, DeChambeau also noted that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings was in the audience and might have some pull in not allowing McIlroy to even get to the course (an obvious reference to Scottie Scheffler’s problems at the 2024 PGA Championship when it was held in Louisville).
“You could kick him out, right?” DeChambeau joked to the CMPD chief about McIlroy.
All seemed in good fun, but the 31-year-old DeChambeau and the rest of the field certainly will be keeping an eye out for McIlroy this week. McIlroy is a four-time winner of Quail Hollow’s PGA event, has set numerous course records and generally has been so dominant at the course that CBS golf announcer Dottie Pepper joked recently that Quail Hollow should be re-christened as the “Rory McIlroy Country Club.”
DeChambeau regaled the sellout crowd for 45 minutes about his life and career, including stories about:
Arnold Palmer. DeChambeau said Palmer was “my biggest idol for sure” in the golfing world and that he has tried to treat fans the way Palmer, who was famous for his graciousness and who died in 2016, did with his supporters.
Palmer once told DeChambeau to make sure his signature was always legible whenever he signed an autograph. “He said, ‘Look, if you write your name poorly, you are disrespecting your parents’ name,” DeChambeau recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, Mr. Palmer.’ And you know my last name is not the shortest.”
His health. DeChambeau said he once weighed 240 pounds, when he was trying to bulk up to be “as heavy as I could.” But he also said at age 28 he was at a high risk of a heart attack due to various health issues, and that the extra weight put stress on his body.
“My joints hurt,” DeChambeau said. “Everything hurt.” He has since hired a personal chef, started eating better and found what he said was a healthier “middle ground.”
His YouTube channel. DeChambeau has become a popular social media presence, with nearly two million subscribers on YouTube. His creative golf videos include “Can I break a public course record in one try?”, “Can I break par with the cheapest golf clubs on Temu?” and “Can I break 50 with President Donald Trump?” They routinely garner millions of views. Making those videos, he said, can fulfill him in a way that even winning golf tournaments doesn’t always do, because he knows from the feedback that they inspire people.
“You can’t just be good at golf anymore,” DeChambeau said. “In order for the game to grow, I think you’ve got to be more than the game. We’re entertainers as well. I do believe at some point that a lot more golfers have to showcase their personality and who they actually are.”
