Bryson DeChambeau has long been LIV Golf’s most visible and vocal star — its standard-bearer, salesman and marquee attraction rolled into one.
That’s why his latest comments should make LIV executives uneasy.
DeChambeau remains under contract and has committed to playing the 2026 LIV season. But with his current deal set to expire later this year — and with Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed already headed back toward the PGA Tour — DeChambeau’s future is increasingly central to LIV’s long-term stability.
And in a new interview with Today’s Golfer, the two-time U.S. Open champion delivered his clearest signal yet that his loyalty to the league has limits.
A lukewarm response to Koepka’s exit
Koepka officially departed LIV in late December, then became the first high-profile player to rejoin the PGA Tour under its new Returning Member Program. That pathway was extended only to Koepka, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and DeChambeau — instantly igniting speculation about who might follow next.
At a LIV Media Day the following week, all three remaining stars publicly rejected the offer. DeChambeau’s answer, however, stood out for how little enthusiasm it conveyed.
“I’m contracted through 2026, so I’m excited about this year,” he said.
It was a technically clear answer — and an emotionally hollow one. DeChambeau didn’t mount a full-throated defense of LIV, and he notably avoided committing beyond his current deal.
‘We didn’t sign up to play for 72’
In his Today’s Golfer interview, DeChambeau went further, openly questioning one of LIV’s most significant recent changes.
Beginning in 2026, LIV tournaments will expand from 54 holes to 72 — a move widely viewed as an attempt to gain Official World Golf Ranking points. The shift also eliminates one of the league’s defining differentiators.
While DeChambeau previously voiced public support for the change, his tone has now shifted.
“It’s definitely changed away from what we had initially been told it was going to be,” DeChambeau said. “So there is some movement that we’ve all been… going, ‘Why that movement?’ Because we were told it was going to be this.”
Then came the bluntest line of all.
“Is it what we ultimately signed up for? No,” he said. “We didn’t sign up to play for 72.”
Though DeChambeau reiterated that he will play out his contract, he again stopped short of pledging anything beyond it.
“I’ve got a contract for this year, and we’ll go through it there and see what happens after that,” he said.
Even as he tried to strike a conciliatory tone — calling the new format “great for our team” and expressing hope it might grow on him — the uncertainty lingered.
“Hopefully it weighs positively on me over the course of time,” DeChambeau said. “But you never know.”
Not an isolated view
DeChambeau isn’t alone in his skepticism. Paul Casey told Today’s Golfer the change “wouldn’t have been the thing I would have changed,” while Louis Oosthuizen said the 54-hole format “was a bit more unique.”
Together, the comments underscore a growing tension inside LIV: a league built on being different now reshaping itself to look more traditional — and risking the buy-in of its biggest stars in the process.
The 2026 LIV Golf season begins Wednesday, February 4, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Whether DeChambeau will be part of LIV beyond it remains very much an open question.
