Golfers aren’t necessarily known as being great trash talkers, but Bryson DeChambeau delivered one of the best put-downs in recent sports history at the expense of Rory McIlroy and his collapse at the U.S. Open earlier this year.
DeChambeau is teaming up with fellow LIV Golf player Brooks Koepka to take on World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and McIlroy in ‘The Showdown’ on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Monday served as the media day for the event with all four players mic’d up on the driving range together, which is where the trash-talking ensued.
After being asked about the setup of Tuesday’s match, McIlroy explained that he’d like to square off against DeChambeau so he can “try to get him back” for what the American did to him at the U.S. Open.
The comment opened McIlroy up to take on immediate fire, and DeChambeau took full advantage by dropping a nuclear bomb right there on the range.
DeChambeau stopped hitting balls, turned around to McIlroy, and said, “To be fair, you kind of did it to yourself.”
After 15 seconds of awkward laughter, McIlroy admitted “I don’t really know where to go from there.”
DeChambeau earned the right to throw any U.S. Open-related haymakers after winning the second one of his career at Pinehurst this summer, but he was also telling the truth with his joke about McIlroy’s self-inflicting wounds.
McIlroy missed two putts inside of 5 feet down the stretch while bogeying three of his final four holes to finish one shot shy of DeChambeau at Pinehurst and, in the process, extended his decade-long major championship drought.
Tuesday’s showdown between DeChambeau, Koepka, Scheffler, and McIlroy won’t have an ounce of drama compared to what we saw at the U.S. Open earlier in the year, but hopefully, the trash talk flows throughout the exhibition. Based on DeChambeau’s put-down on Monday, we could be in store for some fun.