Along with being one of the top golfers on the planet, Bryson DeChambeau has become one of golf’s leading influencers and after he was joined on his YouTube channel by none other than former US President Donald Trump, he’s amassed more than 300,000 fresh subscribers and the video has been viewed 6.5 million times in less than 48 hours.
But speaking to the press ahead of LIV Golf UK at JCB Country Club, the reigning (and two time) US Open champion wished to reiterate that promoting golf, not politics, was the video’s intent.
“First off, it’s an honour to play with anybody of that type of influence, no matter who it is on any political side,” he said.
“This whole content piece was about delivering some unique, different content on YouTube. We wanted to showcase the golf abilities of any influential person, and he was definitely up on a list that I wanted to showcase.
“We were able to call out and ask him to play, and he said yeah, absolutely. He’s obviously a figure that can pull a lot of views, and we thought it would be great to showcase his golfing ability, and he’s a pretty good golfer.
“It was a lot of fun to do, and it took a little bit, but we got it approved and it was fun to shoot. It happened in three days. I think we did it on July 6 on Saturday, so it was a few weeks before all the stuff [the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Trump] went down, and yeah, it was a great time.
“We had a blast, and again, I look forward to doing a lot more of those with other influential people.”
With President Biden withdrawing from the election campaign to be the 46th US President, current Vice-President Kamala Harris is expected to be the Democratic Party nominee, and DeChambeau says that he’d be more than willing to have her, former President Barack Obama, or “anyone else from that side” join him for a future installment.
“I’m more than willing to play with them,” he said. “I have no issues whatsoever. The thing about golf is that the more we can utilise golf to bring everyone together in a cool way, I think that’s the vision of the global game of golf.
“Inspiring a younger generation is huge for me, and that’s why I think this YouTube space is so cool because it really shows everyone’s true side. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish, and it’s definitely helped me on that regard, and I can’t wait to hopefully do it with others.”
After his victory at Pinehurst where he cemented his remarkable turnaround from being a figure of derision to becoming a clear fan favourite, DeChambeau’s standing in the game has never been higher and his popular YouTube channel has played no small part in that.
Having as divisive a character as Donald Trump on the channel, however, carried risks as well as potential for growth, but perhaps due to the editing process, he ensured that political talk was kept to a minimum and golf really was the focus of the near hour-long video.
It was also recorded prior to the failed assassination attempt on Trump’s life, so, given the events in Pennsylvania, it’s unlikely that a second instalment will happen.
Nevertheless, he had no hesitations about having the former president for company and highlighted the charity aspect of the project which saw $10,000 per birdie and $20,000 per eagle donated to the Wounded Warriors Project which serves to aid military veterans injured in combat.
“Politicians are divisive figures for sure and I respect and understand that,” he said. “I think showing the content side of it, creating content, was the most important thing we were trying to accomplish there and raising a lot of money for charity.
“Those two things combined, that’s where we were focused, trying to take the politics all out of it and just going let’s create some amazing fun content for people to see some cool, fun, entertaining shots.”
Though Trump himself had worn many hats before donning the now famous red MAGA one, including but not limited to an appearance in Home Alone II, celebrity guest appearance on the WWE where he had a feud with billionaire owner Vince McMahon, and, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, co-produced and starred in ‘The Apprentice’ TV series, DeChambeau insists that a shift into political spheres is unlikely to lie down the road for himself.
“DJT said he’d never do it, and he’s obviously doing it now,” he joked. “You never know the position of things, and they may change down the road, but for me, probably not. I don’t think so. I’m going to play golf for the rest of my life. I’ll stick to my golf lane.”