It was bad enough what we could see at Caves Valley on Sunday but more than that, the worst for Bryson DeChambeau came not after Patrick Cantlay drove a proverbial stake through his heart on the sixth playoff hole, no, it came as the head-hanging DeChambeau headed up the hill toward the locker room.
ESPN reporter Kevin Van Valkenburg saw what transpired first hand.
He recorded his shocking observation and it was disturbing in so many ways.
Here’s how Van Valkenburg described it:
“After losing a six-hole playoff, Bryson DeChambeau was on his way up the hill and presumably to a cold shower. A patron waited until DeChambeau had walked by, but was not out of earshot, then sneered from over the rope line, “Great job, Brooksie!” DeChambeau spun around in a rage and began briefly walking in his direction. “You know what? Get the f–k out!” DeChambeau yelled. He had rage in his eyes.
“Thankfully, DeChambeau paused, angrily motioning for a police officer to handle the heckler, then continued his march up the hill. The entire exchange took less than 10 seconds. The PGA Tour declined comment when asked about the incident by ESPN. But we’ve been building to something like this all summer. And I don’t know what the endgame is.”
The “endgame” as referred to by Van Valkenburg isn’t getting very pretty. All you hear these days are louder, younger blowhards screaming “GET IN THE HOLE” at the top of their lung capacity on virtually every shot, all afternoon, especially for the tournament leaders.
For the past few years, the PGA Tour wanted to bring its product to the masses. It wanted a younger demographic and it’s getting that. It’s getting the testy bring-your-phone, drink-too many-beers-and make-yourself-part-of-the-story demographic. Works perfectly for the WWE, not so much for the PGA Tour.
Remember when the Tour’s brand slogan was: “These guys are good!”
Well, now it may as well be: “See which of you can drink the most, holler loudest and make yourself part of the scenery. Oh yes, and don’t forget to run full speed to get to your next viewing spot, don’t worry about trampling the unsuspecting.”
Bryson has insisted that the “Brooksie” chants don’t bother him. That obviously wasn’t the case with that person who had the balls and bad judgement to throw that ill-timed insult at DeChambeau, who hadn’t yet cooled off from the heat of battle. No, these are not “patrons” as Van Valkenburg referred to the Bryson offender. No, these are well-lubricated power drinkers showing up on site to scream their lungs out.
Thank goodness for Augusta National, where cell phones remain forbidden to this day AND — no running — no one screaming “Get In The Hole” — no shouts of “Baba Louie.”
The Tour encourages them and you see people holding those phones up like badges of courage every time a play hits an offline shot and visits that No Man’s Land outside the gallery ropes.
Now add a guy like DeChambeau, who might claim to have thick skin, but really doesn’t. Truth be known, Bryson can’t get out of his own way. His mouth is a constant landing spot for his size 11 Pumas.
The talking heads kept telling us all week that this crowd was quite nice to Bryson. No “Brooksie” cat calls but what do you expect when a guy is threatening the 59 barrier? But when it got down to it and Bryson suddenly hit that wild drive that found the creek at 18 in the playoff, there were resounding cheers.
So it’s on to East Lake where perhaps it’s a tougher ticket with more spectators coming from name sponsor connections. Hopefully the stupidity of the on-site masses will decrease (wishful thinking, right?).
But when it gets down to why this is happening in a sport where the PGA Tour has done it’s best to get rid of the “golf applause,” the Tour can look in the mirror and see the culprit.
Simple as that.
6 Comments
Arn911
While I feel badly for Bryson, I wonder if the negative cheers were more pronounced after he barked at Patrick about walking during Bryson’s prep to hit a shot. Even the NBC commentators were taken back by the tone. In a “gentleman’s” sport, Bryson is not always a gentleman.
Tom Edrington
I think what we’ve seen is that Bryson makes every shot into a mathematical equation but rarely thinks before he talks, ie: the take on Covid vaccine; his blurt-out at Cantlay, telling a PGA Tour official: “I don’t believe you” after getting a ruling, and so on…….there was a player back in the 70s who was very misunderstood, at times didn’t think before he spoke and was distrusting of the golf writers….however, we became friends and he always spoke open and freely to me….his name was Tom Weiskopf
tonydpowell
We (my wife and I) have been to PGA tour events during the Payne Stewart era. “Back Then” the players were cool, collected, and played within acceptable levels. I don’t think ‘Arnies Army’ was so noisy and raucous. Since the Tiger Woods era, championed by him, there is fist pumping in a knock out fashion, boisterous expressions of victory by players, and a imaginary physical battles between the players It’s the belief that golf is war . The crowds have fed off that attitude just like they fed off ‘cheeto-head’ in politics. Seve, winning the Open, didn’t use his arm and fist in a knock out motion but in celebratory motions with a grin from ear to ear. We can thank Woods for some of the raucous behavior along with the lack of any notification that lack of ‘acceptable behavior” will be swiftly and firmly dealt with. Maybe police with breathalyzers at exits will curb some drunkenness. HAH.
Tom Edrington
Tony, thanks for checking in, appreciate your thoughts; No need for political stuff (the former President loves golf, invests in facilities and was very well like by a lot of the tour stars); Tiger brought a new level of excitement but all of this GET IN THE HOLE screaming is getting annoying, loud enough where you want to mute the sound on the television. I knew Seve quite well and a lot of the old guard didn’t like him, guys like Hale Irwin, Ray Floyd, etc. I spent a lot of range-time with Seve — loved his accent and he was quick to smile and laugh…..he would have driven Bryson NUTS in match play because Seve had all these annoying little tricks….
tonydpowell
Thanks for replying. I wish the golf channel people would reply. I remember Seve and Azinger. They had a time playing. The ‘thing’ is: all the gamemanship, tricks, and treats, happened within the ropes by the participants, not the crowd. And Bryson would have driven Seve a bit crazy with all the deliberations and studying of the weather, ground, humidity, etc. That would be fun.
No sponsor wants to restrict alcohol sales and turn off customers. Doesn’t Augusta arrange everything including alcohol sales?
I would like to see your opinion someday on the cost that is passed to us poor everyman golfers from the millions that is spent outfitting pros and amateurs all over the world by the equipment companies. Thanks
Tom Edrington
Tony: You are so correct about the “overpriced” equipment we look at in those big golf stores; You’ve got about $30 worth of components; There is very little retail markup in clubs, only about 30%; The R&D that goes in is certainly understandable; I’ve told the folks at Golf Spy, which does the best job of evaluating equipment, that I’ve never bought anything because some Tour player uses it; There’s a huge cost built into equipment to pay players to be brand ambassadors, as they are referred to these days; Best bargains are always used clubs, people buy into the “10 more yards” hype and truth be known, you’re swing speed is your swing speed. In Friday’s DogLeg newsletter, we’ll have a lesson from our old friend, former Tour player Larry Rinker with some great tips on how to improve speed in your swing. Check it out on Friday.