DeChambeau misses – Bryson DeChambeau’s US Open campaign ended before the weekend again as he missed the cut by one after opening with 70 followed by 75, the latest in a majors run that now threatens to become the first “no-cut” sweep at all four this year. With his LIV deal due
Bryson DeChambeau’s US Open day didn’t feel like a fight for relevance—it felt like another disappearing act.
On Wednesday, before it all went wrong again, he posted to his 4.5 million Instagram followers: “Like this post if you think I’m going to make my first cut.” By the time the third round began at the US Open on Saturday, he was nowhere to be seen.
The reason was written into the margin of his misery. DeChambeau’s second round included two double-bogeys. and it was delivered through a pair of three-putts on the third and fourth holes. After an opening 70, that promise evaporated as another challenge cooked. He shot 75 and missed the cut by one, then left the course in silence.
The image of him signing autographs for kids came with a strange contrast. He kept that decency, even in a period that has kept stripping the spotlight away from him. But when it came to words for the media. there were none—an approach that has echoed from the PGA Championship last month as well. The frustration behind the silence has a simple edge: DeChambeau is still golf’s most intriguing figure. and right now his situation is the story.
The stakes aren’t abstract. If he misses another cut at The Open next month, it will mean he failed to make the weekend at any of the four majors. Call it the Bryson Slam.
What makes this run so loaded is the timing. DeChambeau is 30 and, according to the arc of the year so far, heading for what could become his worst major season as a professional. The weekend missed at the US Open was the third time he has done so at this year’s majors.
His career is also at a crossroads with his LIV deal due to expire soon—at the end of this season. The future isn’t just personal. It’s tied to the business logic that has surrounded LIV since its rise.
LIV’s leadership talks about its survival in blunt terms. If DeChambeau walks away from LIV. the circuit will die. leadership has suggested in its own way of framing the situation. In that context. the problem isn’t only performance—it’s money. and whether anyone is ready to replace what comes with him.
During the PGA Championship in Philadelphia last month. Daily Mail Sport spoke to a senior element of LIV’s hierarchy. and the response came with sharp language. When Saudi funding and the structure behind LIV were discussed. the senior figure used the phrase “kill shot” in a key context: if the PGA Tour wanted to apply it. they would find a way to bring back DeChambeau. whose contract expires at the end of this season.
Returning to the same source in Philadelphia, one possible workaround was described—offering DeChambeau equity in the league itself. The idea would be to compensate for what LIV now lack in Saudi-funded signing bonuses. But the dilemma is plain: “20 per cent of a ship holed beneath the waterline isn’t the same as cash.”.
There’s another layer to the trap. A return to the PGA Tour has not come easily, even in private conversations. When discussions were sounded out earlier in the spring, the Tour did not offer conditions that DeChambeau deemed favourable. Many members are described as lukewarm at best on the possibility.
So DeChambeau is caught between a rock and a hard place: on one side. the uncertainty around what LIV can offer as it tries to stabilize itself; on the other. a PGA Tour that hasn’t made a persuasive offer. His game, meanwhile, appears badly damaged by the state of flux. His public utterances in the past two months—usually in sanitised interviews—have said little beyond his desire to make LIV work. and a willingness to become a full-time content creator on YouTube between majors.
The question nobody can avoid is what happens when the calendar turns and the competition is no longer structured around LIV events. DeChambeau’s major form has become dire with the benefit of LIV tournaments. and it makes the future feel precarious: what does his immense talent look like without access to any meaningful competition?.
On Saturday at Long Island, the swing itself looked lost. Hank Haney—Tiger Woods’s former coach—spoke for many in saying DeChambeau is his “favourite touring pro but his swing is so flawed and it is beyond me why he doesn’t fix it.”
There is no tidy way to separate the swing from the situation. because the situation is carrying the swing right now. The autographs for kids were the reminder of who DeChambeau is. The missed cut—again—was the reminder of what’s happening to him. And the silence after his round feels like the loudest part of all.
An athlete can endure a bad day. What’s harder to watch is the sense that a season—and a deal—might be slipping while he searches for something he can’t quite find on the course.
Bryson DeChambeau US Open missed cut LIV Golf PGA Tour The Open Hank Haney Tiger Woods coach