LIV GOLF KOREA

May 26, 2026

Bryson DeChambeau

Asiad Country Club

Crushers GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome to the media center, LIV Golf Korea, captain of Crushers GC, Bryson DeChambeau. Welcome back to Korea as the defending individual champion and defending team champion with the Crushers. How will it feel to be back in front of the Korean fans this week, and what do you remember about this event last year?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think Korea is a great place for golf. It's a fantastic venue. Last year played great. Was playing great going into it. Struggled on Sundays but got the job done that week, and our team got the job done, as well, which was sweet to have -- I love those sweeps; they're a lot of fun.

The crowd is always excited for our top-level golf, and excited to see what this new venue provides. It's a different test of golf than last week, but I think an interesting one, one that'll hold its own ground and its own right.

The grass is a lot different, so around the greens you're going to see some interesting shots and some incredible shots, as well. Just the grass type around it is a little different than what we're used to. We get some fliers out of the rough, so quite a fun, interesting test of golf this week.

Q. The team aspect of LIV Golf differentiates itself from other tours. There's still the competitive individual battles each week, though, which we saw last year, where you and your teammate Charles battled it out. From a captain's perspective, from a teammate perspective, what's it like to compete and close out a victory against a teammate?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's a weird one, actually. You're kind of rooting for them but also want to beat the living hell out of them. Charles is a great competitor. I knew he was going to give me all he had, and I had to go out and play some great golf and execute some great shots under pressure. I felt like he gave it all he had, but it wasn't enough at times, and I got lucky, I made a couple of putts coming down the stretch, and it could have easily gone the other way. We were going head-for-head and it was a fun battle.

But I was happy to actually get it done on Sunday. It was something I'd needed for a long time. Obviously Charles wants to win, but I was glad I was able to beat him that day.

Q. This is event No. 8 for LIV Golf this season. It's also the eighth different country where LIV will have hosted an event and played. You talk about the importance of growing the game and the positive impact that you and the league can have in markets around the world like this one. What kind of impact has the experience of traveling the world had on you?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: That's a great question. I first played internationally when I was -- 2014, went to Japan for the first time for the World Team Amateur. I think I might have gone to Australia before that one of the years for the -- I'm blanking on what it was, but it was an Australian Masters and the Amateur is what it was. So just getting a little bit of experience then, realizing how big this world actually is -- yeah, golf in the States is massive and it's one of the most impressive markets in the world for sure, but realizing that there's others out there, as well, and that there's an underserved market was something that we saw and thought that it would be an amazing opportunity for us to grow the game globally, and that's what LIV has done.

I think as I look at it now, what's really impacted me the most is the cultural barriers that get broken down, in a good way, with the game of golf. Everybody comes together. I think that's what's really special about LIV. I think that's what's really special about the game of golf. We'd be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn't continue to do that.

I think there's value in the States. There's value outside of the States. There's a way to match both.

Q. Bryson, right now it seems like you're the second defending champion so you have to win two titles. It seems that in major tournaments you might have weaken results, but it doesn't seem a big problem in your current game. Considering that you're determined to win the title of winning in LIV Korea, please tell us your remarks about that. And if it's your first visit to Busan, what are your impressions?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I think Busan is a beautiful place. Thank you for the questions. I think this is a spectacular area of the world that I haven't been before. Being up here Incheon was great. Traveling on train through the center of the country was fun, seeing all the fields and whatnot and the beautiful scenery that you guys have was great.

Then being here in Busan, it's fun to see the beach and touch the water and experience something different and a different country, which has been great.

I'm playing some solid golf. I'm working on my golf swing quite hard, trying to get back to that 58 level at Greenbrier when I just had this golf swing that was so easy.

The weeks that I've been playing in major championships, I've been playing okay, just having nothing happen for me, and that's kind of the game of golf. The weeks before that I played really well going into them. I won two events going into the Masters and then finished third in Virginia. So it's not like I'm playing bad golf. I think I'm putting some pressure on myself to play well in those tournaments, and that's the reality. Nobody is perfect, and I'm still working hard to play as good as I possibly can, and the year before I played really well in the majors, missed one cut there, and it just happens.

That's golf, and ultimately excited for the opportunities I have moving forward. There isn't any quit in me, as you can see, even at Aronimink I birdied my first last three holes trying to make the cut there, and it is what it is.

I'll tell you this: I played worse golf and shot better scores at majors. It's one of those scenarios of ebbs and flows in golf. I'm really excited for the future over at Shinnecock and overseas, as well, for the Open Championship.

Head down, keep moving forward.

Q. What was your initial reaction to the news that Public Investment Fund was withdrawing its support after the season, and what's your level of optimism that the tour can be sustained without their backing beyond this year?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, I think it's a great question. We were surprised that they pulled out as quickly as they did. We didn't really see that coming. But that's okay. One door closes, another opens. I think that's the way a lot of us are looking at it. I think we all have optimism that there is a business plan that makes sense for team golf. I'd quite honestly actually -- how do I say it? I'm very optimistic with the business plan of team golf compared to other models, in my opinion.

But again, other models have worked, as well, so I'm not going to say that one is better than the other, but I do see value in what team golf can provide not only worldwide but also in grass rooting the game of golf. National support, team national support, city local support, we grass root ourselves there. There's a couple ideas that we have -- quite a few ideas that we have that could be interesting.

We'll see if investors like it or not. I'm giving all I can to make it happen, and if it doesn't, it doesn't happen.

Q. Bryson, I'm totally inspired by your beautiful game. I just wanted to ask you, could you tell us what kind of philosophy and inspiration goes into your game to actually play at this level?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, it's a great question. I think a lot of the philosophy stems from, for me, digging it out of the dirt like Ben Hogan, by working really hard and then backing it with principles that are based in the real world. A lot of scientific data, a lot of research, as well. Really researching a lot of other people's ideas and gaining ideas off of that and then putting them into my own ideas, and hopefully they work. Then sometimes taking ideas from other people that have already worked, things that have already worked in the game of golf, whether it's one-length irons, whether it's dimple hits for me on putting, whether it's how I feel my golf swing, because as technical as I am, I'm still a very feel-based player, so how I feel the club head going through the ball is still very important to me. So it's a mixture of data and analytics to my feel being an athlete, trying to match the two, and making my perception meet the reality and having the reality meet my perception. That's kind of the philosophy of what I believe in. It stems from "The Golfing Machine," Ben Hogan, Moe Norman, Tiger Woods, Payne Stewart, you name it, guys like that that have really inspired me and my philosophy in the game.

Q. Bryson, you obviously will be a big draw this week. You're a big draw whenever you tee it up. You sign autographs endless hours. How do you strike that balance between being a competitor and an entertainer? What are the biggest challenges in trying to maneuver between those two things?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I think in balancing yourself between being a bit of an entertainer and a bit of a competitor, you have to compartmentalize really well. You have to go out there on the golf course on the first tee and focus as hard as you can but realize what's happening around.

I think there's moments where I'm in that bucket of competitiveness, and then I've got to put myself out and be in the bucket of being an entertainer. Sometimes that entertainer can feel the competitiveness and vice versa. Sometimes when I'm playing really well, an entertainer flows out of me quite a bit easier. When I'm not playing well, it's tough for me because I don't want to be fake. I just want to be as authentic as possible. When I'm not playing well, I'm not going to be happy. Who's going to be happy hitting it all over the place?

Is there time to still high five and sign autographs? Yeah. Am I the best at it? Probably not. I'd say there's always room for improvement. But for me, it's really good compartmentalizing and knowing at that moment am I supposed to be an entertainer or am I supposed to be a competitor, and just monitoring every minute of the day, where am I at, where am I at. It becomes more natural over time. It's not like I'm forcing myself to do anything, it's okay, I've got really cool attributes in myself that I know I can be this crazy entertainer and then I can be this intense competitor, as well. So it's using those to the best of my advantage.

It's like tools in a toolbox. I'm just going to use what works for whatever thing I need to put in the wall and whatnot. It's very similar to that; it's having tools in the toolkit. Sometimes the anger part of me comes out. That's a part of the toolkit that helps me focus more sometimes. I try to reserve that quite a bit but that's just the honest reality.

Q. You've kind of reached the point now where people seem fixated on anything you say --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Oh, literally. It's the funniest thing ever.

Q. Is that just part of building a brand --

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: Yeah, 100 percent it is. I respect everybody's opinion on me. I respect everybody that says that I'm the worst thing for golf or I'm the best thing for golf. It's okay. The reality is I'm so focused on what I can do for the game that somebody saying something online or to me personally in my face is not going to distract me from the mission that I have.

I hope can understand that, that my goal is bigger than just winning every tournament every single week. Do I want to win every week? 100 percent. Do I care about the game sometimes more than my own life? Yeah. Because I see what it can do for people's lives. That's ultimately why I care so much and I'm so passionate and I want the best for everybody.

So when people are saying these things about me, I know my mission. I know what I'm here to do. Sometimes it's tough to see, but sometimes it's an inspiration for me. Fuels positive fire in my stomach. I have to honestly thank everybody because it's what helps me make the next decision in my life, in a positive way. It's never a negative. I never try to do things in spite or out of non-caring about things or people or anybody else. The other side, this side, doesn't matter. At the end of the day, we're just playing golf. We're just hitting a ball into a hole 450 yards away, sometimes longer.

I think people love to say something, and you have to respect that. I think everybody's opinion is valid. All I can do is continue to be the best every single day that I can, whether I win tournaments out here, I win majors or don't win majors or finish dead last out here. It doesn't matter to me, as long as I'm working as hard as I can and giving as much as I can, that's all that really matters.

I hope that I can look over and see a kid looking up smiling at me so I can go sign an autograph because that is what makes me come back every day.

Q. This is also a similar question to the previous question that was asked about the PIF fund retracting. There are some rumors that LIV Golf will also be filing bankruptcy. In this kind of situation where you're not really sure about the future of LIV Golf, I'm wondering as an athlete, a professional athlete, how are you feeling? How are you going to overcome this and also contribute to the cause?

BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU: I go out there on the first tee on Thursday and hit a beautiful drive down the middle of the fairway, hopefully. That's what we're focused on. In the background, yeah, we're trying to help where we can, but ultimately it's up to executives and everybody banding together. If we all band together, there's an opportunity here. If not, it's going to be a different day for all of us.

But for me, how I support, go out and hit a great drive on the first tee, play a great round of golf, sign autographs after and have a good time.