Bryson DeChambeau won again in South Africa on Sunday. But at that moment, for him, the golf didn’t feel like the main story.

He picked up his fifth LIV individual title at Steyn City, and Crushers GC came back from nine shots behind to win their ninth team title. Those are definitely the big achievements, but when DeChambeau spoke to the media later, no one was really asking about his shots or his score.

He'd been crying since the 16th hole, and he was asked why.

"I wish I could tell you," he said. "A lot has happened in my life in the past week."

He paused for a second, and then he said something that caught everyone off guard.

"Golf is a fickle game, and you work so hard at it your whole entire life. You realize that golf is just golf, and there's a lot more to life than that."

The 32-year-old has done everything in his power for golf in his life. New swing, new body, and new driver every other week, it seems. Golf has been his whole thing for as long as anyone can remember. So hearing him say that, voice cracking, eyes red, it wasn't a throwaway line.

Whatever went on this past week hit him somewhere that golf doesn't usually reach.

"I was just praying all day, praying to give me the perseverance to move forward and keep looking forward."

He never said what happened but left the room with more questions than answers.

Anirban Lahiri, Paul Casey, and Charles Howell III Saw Everything and said about Bryson DeChambeau

The Crushers knew their teammate was going through it. Anirban Lahiri, who played some of the steadiest golf of his season on Sunday, described DeChambeau in a way that cut through all the noise around him.

"Bryson is larger than life to the golfing world," Lahiri said. "But to the four of us, he's a brother."

Charles Howell III made a point worth sitting with: good golfers aren't exempt from being human, he said. DeChambeau has figured out how to compete through things that would break most people's concentration entirely, and that's the part that makes him different.

Paul Casey compared the 18th green atmosphere to a Ryder Cup. His family ties to South Africa made the whole week personal for him, too: father from Cape Town, brother born in Johannesburg, relatives watching from the stands.

Bryson DeChambeau flies to Augusta now, as the Masters is less than three weeks out. He goes in having won two straight, with a 3-wood in the playoff that Casey flatly said he didn't think anyone else on earth could pull off.

"South Africa was unbelievable," DeChambeau said on his way out. "Got to be the best LIV event we've ever had."

He said it like a man who needed this week more than anyone watching realized.

Bryson DeChambeau is going to Augusta after two wins in a row, with a lot more on his mind than just the Masters. Do you think he can keep this form going in the major season? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Shraabona Sengupta