Max Homa: It’s a ‘Shame’ Characters Like Bryson DeChambeau Are Missing From PGA Tour

As of a fan of the game, Homa called DeChambeau one of the most “interesting people” in professional golf.

The golf community can always count on Max Homa to give an honest, refreshing take on the game’s current landscape, even when controversy is brought into the mix.  

At a Players Championship press conference, a reporter asked Homa about certain “characters” that have been known to “get under the skin” of other players, such as Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, and Brooks Koepka—all of whom have left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf. 

“Do you think those sidebars are kind of missing from the Tour right now?” the reporter asked.  

While most PGA Tour players would likely skirt around the question, Homa took it head on, and he pointed to DeChambeau specifically as one of the most “interesting” individuals in the game. 

“Yeah, I think that certain TV shows and movies aren't great, like a Hallmark movie, when everything is just all perfect,” Homa said. “I do think that it is a shame that I find Bryson to be one of the most interesting people who has probably ever swung a golf club. He thinks about it differently. Even his setup of his golf clubs are different. He obviously transformed his body, and I thought that was incredibly interesting.

“[The] 6th at Bay Hill last year or two years ago, it was like must-see TV, and it was awesome," Homa said of DeChambeau’s famous drives over the lake at the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

The six-time PGA Tour winner makes a fascinating point. DeChambeau intrigues fans of the sport—like Homa himself—because he breaks the mold. 

DeChambeau might have left behind the PGA Tour to join LIV, but Homa refuses to deny that DeChambeau provides quality entertainment, especially when he’s morphing his physique and bombing drives across large expanses of water. 

Homa, stepping into the shoes of his non-professional golfer friends, then expertly explained why controversial players are good for the game at large. 

“As I talk to my friends who are far removed from my standing in golf and how close I am to it, I ask them quite often, you know, who are their favorite players and least favorite players, and it's interesting because when they mention someone who is maybe not their favorite, they always seem to like light up and love talking about it,” Homa said. 

“I'm not saying that those players are anyone's least favorite, but they obviously have brought some controversy when they have played in events here and there, whether that's good or bad, but for the, for golf I feel like that's good. For entertainment that's good, for fans that's good.”

DeChambeau, Reed, and Koepka might not be in the mix to stir up some buzz during regular season PGA Tour events, but they will be around during this year’s four major championships. 

Homa, however, believes that more buzz-worthy players will rise up the ranks of the professional game soon enough. 

“I guess one thing that I've kind of settled on is, although some of the most interesting players in golf are playing on a different Tour, I don't think that that, that those are the last of the interesting players that will come through this Tour. I think that there will be other interesting aspects or other interesting characters to come play through here. They might be on it now, they might not be. They might be coming up in a bit, in a year or two,” Homa said. 

“But of course I think the most kind of frustrating part of kind of the fracture of golf right now is that everyone plays a role in entertaining the fans. And since there's a divide, you're missing something at the very least, and that's quite a shame. Again, as a fan of golf that's a shame that you have to watch them in two separate events. But such is life, I guess.”