Brandel Chamblee blames media for skewing relationship with Bryson DeChambeau

The relationship between Brandel Chamblee and Bryson DeChambeau can be described in many ways; “complimentary” isn’t one of them.

Chamblee joined The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday morning to discuss the 2025 Ryder Cup. But at the start of the interview, Patrick asked Chamblee to categorize his seemingly tumultuous relationship with DeChambeau.

“Probably somewhat complicated now,” Chamblee admitted. “But I’ve enjoyed the time when I’ve been around Bryson DeChambeau…I like Bryson, I enjoy his game, I say a lot of nice things about him, but the way the world works, they pick up on one negative thing you say about him and it becomes a headline and it becomes memes and it gets back to him and he probably thinks I’m highly critical of him, when I’ve mostly been complimentary of him.”

Chamblee has been making negative headlines about DeChambeau since the two-time major champion ditched the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. And he was at it again ahead of this weekend’s Ryder Cup, when Chamblee called DeChambeau a “captain’s nightmare.” Chamblee also accused DeChambeau of being too concerned with his YouTube channel, which he alleged is being aided by “bots.”

Sure, Chamblee also noted DeChambeau is “one hell of a golfer” in the midst of his rant. But imagine if Chamblee went on camera and attempted to say DeChambeau is a bad golfer? Obviously, there are times where Chamblee can’t avoid being complimentary of DeChambeau the golfer, but his personal criticisms have been pointed. And those criticisms aren’t just media-driven narratives for clicks.

With Patrick, Chamblee admitted “captain’s nightmare” may have been too harsh and probably could have worded it better. But with Chamblee maintaining that DeChambeau is a difficult pairing, Patrick asked who the U.S. Ryder Cup alpha is. Chamblee gave that honor to Scottie Scheffler. And in dubbing Scheffler the alpha, Chamblee wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to chide DeChambeau.

“Bryson’s in beta too much to be an alpha,” Chamblee said with a smile. “He’s always in beta, ‘I’m testing this, I’m testing that’ etcetera etcetera.”

Chamblee can attempt to spin his relationship with DeChambeau however he wants. But it seems like a lack of accountability to repeatedly drop hot takes about DeChambeau and then blame the media for picking those headlines up.