Over the past three Sundays of competition, Bryson DeChambeau felt that a degree of youthful, reckless abandon had been missing from his game as he struggled to close out victories.

“I’ve got to focus on having fun and playing like a kid,” DeChambeau said of his strategy the night before the final day of LIV Golf Korea at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon.

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Perhaps it didn’t help then that DeChambeau’s final group playing partners were 52-year-old Richard Bland and 45-year-old Charles Howell III.

Lose a four-shot lead to Bland and a five-shot cushion to Crushers teammate Howell and confidence would likely be low heading into the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow later this month. Not because of Howell and Bland’s seniority, but because DeChambeau, 31—the long-hitting U.S. Open champion who is firmly in the prime of his career—would have squandered 36-hole leads in his previous two LIV starts.

Outside of LIV, DeChambeau also suffered a disappointing 75 on Sunday at the Masters while in the final pairing with Rory McIlroy. That Sunday in Augusta, Ga., DeChambeau had grabbed a one-shot lead after two holes, when McIlroy started double-bogey-par, only for the Northern Irishman to hang on to an eventual green jacket and career Grand Slam victory, while DeChambeau faded to a T-5.

Chasing a reprieve in the form of a LIV Golf win, DeChambeau looked stressed through 12 holes on Sunday in Korea; he mis-hit short irons and wedges and missed several short putts.

“I was personally pretty nervous on the front nine for whatever reason,” DeChambeau said.

He was shocked having ran into the evergreen ball-striking talent of Howell, who channelled his trademark low draws on a Sunday where he had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Howell produced four front nine birdies, and then five straight from the 11th hole to deeply trouble DeChambeau’s theory that the fountain of youth was a sure way to victory.

Howell hung tough until he found a fairway bunker on the par-4 16th. A bogey there ended his run.

“Chucky and I had a great battle out there; he never wavered today, it felt like, until 16,” DeChambeau said. “It felt like he was just pushing forward, and he was going to shoot 10, 11 under today. I thought, ‘My goodness, I don’t know if I could beat that today.’”

DeChambeau made a consequential par at 16, then a birdie at 17 to take a two-shot lead into the final hole at the 2015 Presidents Cup host course.

Howell shot 63 on Sunday and didn’t win.

“It was a fun day,” Howell said. “Any time you shoot nine under in the last group and you still don’t win, it’s a tough day.”

At the par-5 18th, DeChambeau still made it difficult by leaving his drive within the bank of a water hazard, although from an awkward stance, he produced a solid second shot and two-putted for birdie to match Howell’s closing 4. At 19-under-par courtesy of a 66, DeChambeau earned a two-shot victory and his third LIV title since joining the league in 2022. Talor Gooch was third at 17 under. DeChambeau’s Crushers won the teams component by nine shots over Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC franchise, while Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC was third.

LIV Golf Korea was also the final event before 13 of the league’s players tee up at Quail Hollow in two weeks for the PGA Championship.

DeChambeau has been in good form at the majors, even considering a poor final round at Augusta. He produced one of the most clutch, long-range bunker shots in major history to defeat McIlroy by one shot at Pinehurst last year to win his second U.S. Open crown, only a month after finishing second to Xander Schauffele at the 2024 PGA Championship. That said, the Californian would not have wanted to arrive in Charlotte having not converted any of three 36-hole leads on LIV.

Quail Hollow is a long driver’s paradise and DeChambeau will no doubt lean on his 360-yard drives and world-class putting to contend. He will be among the most potent challengers to tournament favourites Scottie Scheffler and McIlroy, twice a PGA champion and four times a regular PGA Tour winner at Quail Hollow.

LIV Golf Korea 2025 Crushers GC - Chung Sung-Jun

Chung Sung-Jun

But asked about his hopes for the PGA, DeChambeau would not be drawn into specifics.

“My goal is to win every tournament that I show up to,” he said. “Scottie is on a great run. Joaquin Niemann is on a great run. Jon Rahm has been playing well. There’s a lot of star-studded talent out there right now that’s going to be in the PGA Championship. We’re going to be battling it out.”

“I’m glad to have pushed through in this victory and won this event, but there’s a lot more work to be done this year,” he added. “There are three more majors, and my eyes are focused on that with all the other LIV events, doing my absolute best in every single event I show up to.”

Main Image: Jason Butler