U.S. Open winner and LIV Golf Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau has confirmed that LIV Golf is ditching the wearing of shorts in competition to project a more professional image.
Allowing shorts, which the PGA Tour prohibits, was implemented by LIV Golf to give players relief from the heat in some of its more torrid locales – including Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Singapore and Australia.
The rule was originally championed by then-CEO of LIV Golf Greg Norman in 2022.
Although the change was never confirmed by the league, DeChambeau explained the reason behind the move. Speaking to Fox News, He indicated it was done to add more professionalism to tournament play.
“We actually changed back to pants for tournament rounds,” he said. “It was great, but we wanna look a little bit more professional,” he told the right-wing news channel.
LIV played its fifth event of the season in Miami and DeChambeau said he had dinner with the president. From the Daily Mirror of the U.K.:
“’We didn’t talk much about politics, we just enjoyed the time together, and we’re honestly really grateful he gave us the course to play on, super excited to be around him.”
The Miami event was the final warm-up for the Masters, where DeChambeau is one of 12 LIV players competing at the first major of the year. The 2024 U.S. Open champion is feeling confident, and thinks he’ll be among the contenders.
DeChambeau will be looking for a distraction from the ongoing saga surrounding the future of LIV. The breakaway league’s funders – the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund – reportedly approached the PGA Tour over a $1.5 billion investment, which would bring the two sides of golf together again, the Daily Mirror reported.
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Featured image pf Bryson DeChambeau courtesy of LIV Golf
