Bryson DeChambeau might be the most exciting golfer since Arnold Palmer, but for slightly different reasons.
Arnie charged up the fairways, taking long strides, talking, gesturing to his caddie. He seemed to always be fighting for another birdie.
He was brilliant on the golf course and garnered the lion’s share of fans in every place he played or visited. His fans became known as Arnie’s Army, and they came out at every event Arnie played.
From 1958 to 1964, Palmer won The Masters four times, by the way.
DeChambeau doesn’t yet have an army, but he sure has a vocal following. When he’s locked in the heat of competition, he gives Arnie’s famous pants hitch a run for its money.
He jumps and yells and gestures and talks to the gallery. He has seemingly unstoppable energy and hits amazing shots. His long drives, some measuring in the high 300s before leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, were just plain jaw-dropping.
So, what would happen if Bryson won The Masters? He’s already a needle-mover, and one has to wonder if he could break the ratings for golf with a victory.
Bryson actually has a long history with Augusta National. In the spring of 2016, after winning the 2015 U.S. Amateur, he stayed in the exalted Crow’s Nest in the top-most part of the clubhouse, then went out and tied for 21st, taking low amateur honors.
A lot has changed since then, and his journey has been anything but average.
Success on the PGA Tour came rather quickly for Bryson, as he earned five victories between 2017 and 2018.
In the COVID year of 2020, he worked to gain muscle and clubhead speed. He started eating tons of protein and began working out to build muscle. The better to hit the ball farther was his theory, and it worked, as he won the U.S. Open, hitting massive drives at Winged Foot.
Bryson went from being 45th in average driving distance with 299.4 yards in his rookie season to first in driving distance with an average of 322.1 yards during the 2019-20 campaign. He actually had a hand injury from hitting so many golf balls.
After gaining between 40 and 50 pounds, he looked more like he played football than like he played golf and got a new nickname: The Incredible Bulk.
DeChambeau was the longest driver on the PGA Tour when there, and while he still hits bombs, he's somewhat semi-disappeared in LIV Golf, as the Saudi-backed series still hasn't caught on with viewers. He tried his luck at Long Drive contests but didn’t outdo the experts.
Then, Bryson got social, as in social media.
Bryson spent 16 days trying to make a hole-in-one by hitting over his house to a green on the other side. On the 14th try of the 16th day, he finally made it and hopped around his driveway, elated at the accomplishment.
Then, he gave a guy named Jimmy the chance to match him.
It was a 95-yard shot, with the chance to win $100,000. He had five hours to do it, keeping in mind that it took Bryson 16 days. Camera guys behind the green would yell up to a guy on the roof to tell Jimmy how far long, short, left, or right on the hole his ball landed. He would then relay the message down to Jimmy and Bryson.
They were settled in and ready for a long day. But Jimmy surprised them all, as it took him only five balls to get an ace. Five! Bryson and Jimmy danced and yelled in the driveway.
Then Bryson started Breaking 50 on his YouTube channel, which is where he and a guest golfer, somebody famous you would want to watch, like Tom Brady or Tony Romo, play a scramble format trying to break 50 for 18 holes from the forward tees.
Millions upon millions have tuned in since the series began.
Again, now imagine this guy winning The Masters. Would he be dancing around the 18th green with his caddie? Would he be running around the green like Hale Irwin at the 1990 U.S. Open style? Would he just settle for a Larry Mize leap? And how many people would be jumping up and down in their living rooms if he did win?
In 2019, when Tiger Woods won his fifth green jacket, 37.2 million viewers in total watched The Masters, and the average number was 10.8 million. Live coverage peaked with 18.3 million viewers from 2:15 to 2:30 p.m. Eastern on Sunday afternoon. That's a lot for golf. That's why everyone says Tiger is the needle-mover.
But as good as those numbers were, the ratings poohbahs said it would have been higher, except there was an early start that day because they were trying to avoid bad weather.
Could someone like Bryson DeChambeau break that number? With two U.S. Open titles, and a popular You Tube channel already, he has potential.
But does he have the potential to equal Tiger Woods? Maybe if he’s playing against Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy coming down the second nine on Sunday. That might blow up the ratings bean-counters forever.