Saudi golf league
Bryson DeChambeau commits to PGA Tour amid Saudi golf-league speculation
Keyur Khamar
Bryson DeChambeau, long rumored to be in discussions with a proposed Saudi-back golf league, released a statement Sunday that, for now, he is staying put on the PGA Tour.
“While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I,” DeChambeau said on social media. “As of now, I am focused on getting myself healthy and competing again soon. I appreciate all the support.”
It is the second time in seven days DeChambeau has addressed his playing status with the tour, as he took to social media last Monday to say he was missing the Genesis Invitational due to injury and addressed “false reports,” which he never clarified.
DeChambeau has been one of the more prominent names associated with the Super Golf League, a potential golf circuit to rival the PGA Tour backed by a group that also runs the Saudi International (in which DeChambeau has competed). Earlier this month, the Daily Mail reported DeChambeau has been offered a nine-figure deal to join the league, a report that DeChambeau said was wrong. And following the second round of last week’s WM Phoenix Open, in response to Charley Hoffman’s rant aimed at the PGA Tour—in which Hoffman wrote, “You wonder why guys are wanting to jump ship and go play on another tour” and tagged the Saudi International—DeChambeau lent his support, remarking “Agree wholeheartedly.”
DeChambeau’s statement comes hours after Dustin Johnson—another player rumored to be in discussions with the Saudi golf league—committed to the PGA Tour.
DeChambeau, who last played at the Saudi International, withdrawing from the event with hand and hip injuries, has not said when he plans to return to the PGA Tour. The Arnold Palmer Invitational, which DeChambeau won last year, begins March 3, and his agent has told other golf outlets that DeChambeau is trying to rehab in time to compete in the event.