Bryson DeChambeau had one of his strongest showings at the 2025 Masters Tournament. However, it unfortunately followed a very clear pattern of promise fading late. Now, from the beginning of the season, the LIV golfer has woven the narrative differently. Momentum is firmly on his side heading into the Masters Tournament. Back-to-back LIV Golf victories have positioned him as one of the form players arriving at Augusta National. Yet, not everyone is convinced this surge will translate into a Green Jacket.
Sitting for the Indo Sport Golf podcast, Brandel Chamblee stated, “Their statistics out there are just laughable to look at them. I’ll try to put it in perspective. Bryson, he’s played, like, five times this year. He’s averaging right at 77% of the greens in regulation. To put that into perspective, when he played the tour for five or six years, he averaged around 67% of the greens hit in regulation.”
“He’s not even leading!” Chamblee continued. “Jon Rahm is leading with 82.22% of the greens. This would be like Steph Curry shooting free throws through a hula hoop size goal and peacocking around like he’s, you know, better than he’s ever been.
Bryson DeChambeau has claimed two wins from the five LIV Golf events held this season, while Jon Rahm has added one victory along with three runner-up finishes. Brandel Chamblee, on the other hand, is asking if those results really show how well people are doing.
Well, DeChambeau hit 67.15% of greens in regulation during his last season on the PGA Tour in 2021–22. And as Chamblee pointed out, DeChambeau is not the best in that category this year on LIV either; Sergio García and Jon Rahm both have higher GIR percentages.
For more context, if you look more closely at the greens in regulation (GIR) numbers, you can see a clear difference between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. In 2026, Johnny Keefer is at the top of the PGA Tour with 73.72%. On LIV Golf, Jon Rahm is at 82%. But let’s not forget that even a 74% GIR rate would not put a player in the top 10.
The course setup is a big part of why this gap exists. For example, LIV events in Singapore and South Africa have greens that are about 7,000 square feet on average, while the PGA Tour’s greens are usually 5,000 to 6,000 square feet.
The difference becomes even clearer when you look at it in historical context. Rahm was the best player in LIV in 2025 (74.86%) and 2024 (74.62%), while Bryson DeChambeau was the 10th best player in 2025 (69.17%) and the 8th best player in 2024 (70.56%). In 2023, Rahm’s 70.51% put him in 14th place on the PGA Tour. Going back even further, he reached 71.59% to finish third. DeChambeau, on the other hand, finished 23rd on LIV’s first season with 69.44%.
Chamblee further analyzed DeChambeau’s gameplay techniques and stated, “He’s played well there the last two times because he does drive the ball well and he had a historic week for him around the greens at Augusta last year. He led Chokescan around the greens, but it’s just not a great fit for him.”
That said, he picked his top-three favorites to win the Masters, and Jon Rahm edged DeChambeau. After naming Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, Chamblee said:
“And I’ll go with Jon Rahm. Partly because I just want to see Jon Rahm back playing great golf. I’d like to see him back. He’s an exciting player. He’s combustible. He’s combative. Plays with a little chip on his shoulder. As much as I cannot stand the Saudi-backed league that he plays on, the Ryder Cup nature of that league versus the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, is compelling as hell.”
However, not everyone shares the same opinion.
Jim Nantz believes Bryson DeChambeau has a chance of winning the Masters despite a shocking admission
Jim Nantz is all set to host CBS’ Masters broadcast for the 38th time. However, before that, he chose to land himself in a controversy.
Nantz made a shocking admission about Bryson DeChambeau during a media conference call to talk about the 2026 Masters. He shared that he hasn’t seen DeChambeau “hit a single shot this year.” His comments were then seen as a sly dig at LIV Golf.
However, despite that, Nantz was pretty much confident about his Masters performance. And surprisingly, he believed that the LIV Golf star does have the potential to win the Green Jacket.
“I think if you had to pick one guy, [Scottie Scheffler] would be the guy, and probably right behind him would be Bryson [DeChambeau],” said Nantz.
He also added that DeChambeau can give a hard time to all the PGA Tour stalwarts, given his recent track record for the PIF-backed league. Thus, with a lot going on, it now remains to be seen who gets the last laugh in Augusta this year.
