Bryson DeChambeau might not get a choice in the matter, but Rory McIlroy believes he’d be a valuable addition to the DP World Tour.
DeChambeau and other LIV Golf free agents are not being offered a pathway back to the PGA Tour at present, with commissioner Brian Rolapp confirming bankruptcy proceedings would need to be finalized by the defunct maverick circuit before any bridge to return to the PGA Tour can be built.
Tyrrell Hatton, Jon Rahm and others left without a professional golf home since LIV folded have committed to playing in Europe.
McIlroy said Tuesday the DP World Tour could also be a landing spot for DeChambeau and all of his trimmings.
“I think a name like Bryson DeChambeau and everything he brings with him, good and bad — he brings eyeballs, which is a good thing for tournaments,” McIlroy said Tuesday before the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. “And honestly, look, I’m certainly not in his shoes — and nor would I ever want to be — but it doesn’t seem like he’s got many options. You know, if he wants to play competitive golf, it doesn’t seem like he’s got many options.”
McIlroy painted a similar picture of Rahm’s options over the summer when the Spaniard created friction by questioning the parameters set by the DP World Tour.
DeChambeau turned down the opportunity to rejoin the PGA Tour last year, when Rolapp created a strict path for Brooks Koepka to rejoin. Patrick Reed played on the DP World Tour last season and is currently third in points, but plans to be back on the PGA Tour.
“We’re all athletes and really, at the end of the day, a lot of those guys that are going through that are good friends of mine,” Reed said of the LIV Golf players in limbo. “You sit there, and you just hope that they are able to come out and do what I did: Come out and play solid golf and come out on the PGA Tour.”
DeChambeau, 33, has won nine PGA Tour events, including U.S. Open championships in 2020 and 2024.