Bryson DeChambeau has taken a bitter swipe at the PGA Tour after being blocked from playing in a crucial Ryder Cup warm-up event.
The LIV Golf star, who’s all but guaranteed a spot on Keegan Bradley’s Ryder Cup squad, expressed frustration Friday over the ongoing restrictions placed on players who defected to the Saudi-backed breakaway league.
It comes as U.S. captain Bradley eyes the PGA Tour’s Procore Championship, scheduled this autumn in Napa, California, as an ideal opportunity to get his team some live tournament reps.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler confirmed that he intends to play, with many of his likely teammates also expected to tee it up in support of Bradley’s plan.
DeChambeau, however, remains ineligible due to his PGA Tour suspension.
‘That’s up to the Tour and their decision to make,’ DeChambeau told Sports Illustrated after carding a 4-under 67 in the opening round of LIV Golf Indianapolis.
LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau has taken a bitter swipe at the PGA Tour
DeChambeau fumed over the restrictions placed on those who joined the Saudi-backed league
‘It’s on them if they don’t let us become together as a team and play.’
The comments come amid tensions between the breakaway LIV contingent and the PGA Tour, which has suspended players like DeChambeau since defecting in 2022.
Despite ongoing merger talks and broader calls for unity across the sport, the Tour has shown no sign of softening its stance – even with the Ryder Cup just weeks away.
DeChambeau would require a sponsor’s exemption to compete in the event, but according to a PGA Tour spokesperson, that won’t matter.
They told the outlet that the two-time US Open champion ‘is not eligible for PGA Tour competition.’
The Procore Championship, played in the five-week gap between the PGA Tour season and the LIV schedule ending, has been identified by Bradley as an ideal opportunity to get his players in sync ahead of the biennial clash with Europe.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said Wednesday he plans to play, and several other likely Ryder Cup selections are expected to join him in Napa in a show of unity and preparation.
That leaves DeChambeau, one of the in-form Americans this season and a confirmed part of Bradley’s Ryder Cup plans, on the outside looking in.
U.S. captain Keegan Bradley is eyeing the PGA Tour’s Procore Championship as a tune-up event for his team ahead of the Ryder Cup
While DeChambeau has made no official request to play, Bradley’s agent Brett Falkoff told SI that the 30-year-old ‘plans to participate in every team gathering that he is permitted to attend.’
But unless something changes fast, he could be the only American team member not competing in the Procore tune-up – a glaring omission in an otherwise united front.
The PGA Tour’s ongoing hardline stance on LIV players continues to ripple through professional golf – and now, potentially, through America’s Ryder Cup campaign.
Whether that costs Team USA on home soil remains to be seen. But for DeChambeau, the damage may already be done.