Being a professional athlete is as high-profile and high-pressure a profession as there is, and for one golfer, the pressure got to be too much on Saturday. American linksman Bryson DeChambeau had a rough time getting out of a bunker on the 7th hole at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, and took his frustration out on a cameraman who was simply filming his post-shot reactions.
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
Essentially, DeChambeau was upset with the cameraman’s filming of his climb out of the bunker after a weak sand shot, as well as his reaction; the golfer slammed his club into the sand after the shot, and was visibly upset with his performance on the greenside bunker. He would eventually make bogey on the hole, and is currently tied for second place at the tournament.
However, afterwards, his focus was on the unnamed cameraman, saying that filming his reaction could damage his brand:
I mean, I understand 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.
As noted by Golf Channel, he kept going hours after the round, before blaming it on his love for the game:
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.
While it’s fair to ask for more privacy when you live most of your job in the public spotlight, that same spotlight is what allows golfers to have careers in the first place. With the story of his rant at the cameraman making news, perhaps DeChambeau should have worried more about that damaging his brand than someone doing their job.
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