Bryson DeChambeau won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit over the weekend. The burly American claimed €1.35 million and is now ranked seventh in the world.
Though he eventually won by three shots on 23-under, not all went swimmingly for the 26-year-old.
On the seventh hole of his third round, DeChambeau confronted a cameraman after he made a poor bunker shot. He threw the club to the sand, behaviour he later described as "dumb".
"He was literally watching me the whole entire way up after getting out of the bunker, walking up next to the green and I just was like, ‘Sir, what is the need to watch me that long?’" DeChambeau explained.
"I mean, I understand that it’s his job to video me, but at the same point, I think we need to start protecting our players out here compared to showing a potential vulnerability and hurting someone’s image. I just don’t think that’s necessarily the right thing to do. Not that I was going to do anything bad, it’s just one of those things that I hope he respects my privacy.
"As much as we’re out here performing, I think it’s necessary that we have our times of privacy as well when things aren’t going our way. I mean, we’re in the spotlight, if somebody else is in the spotlight they wouldn’t want that either. It’s just something about respect I think that’s necessary on that end. You know, so for me, I feel like it’s one of those things that we had a conversation, it was all good after that."
Bryson running a little hot. Caught up with him on 7 where he took a Sergio slash at the sand after splashing out of a greenside bunker, muttered an expletive after missing the par save and spent 60 seconds in a...testy discussion with a cameraman on his way to 8 tee. pic.twitter.com/ENjQt1U689
— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) July 4, 2020
Asked to elaborate on what he meant "protecting our players", DeChambeau said that he felt players being captured on camera in such moments could hurt their "brand".
"I feel like when you’re videoing someone and you catch Tiger at a bad time, you show him accidentally doing something, or someone else, they’re just frustrated because they really care about the game," he said.
"It could really hurt them if they catch you at a potentially vulnerable time. We’re not necessarily — we don’t mean anything by it, we just care a lot about the game. For that to damage our brand like that, that’s not cool in the way we act because if you actually meet me in person, I’m not too bad of a dude, I don’t think."
