Why Donald Trump-Bryson DeChambeau viral golf round was so captivating

As of this typing, Bryson DeChambeau’s golf round with former President Donald Trump is the top trending video on YouTube. The 56-minute recap, which went live Tuesday morning, has been watched 5,908,528 times, delivered DeChambeau’s personal YouTube channel hundreds of thousands of new subscribers (pushing his sub haul to a beefy 1.13 million) and elicited nearly 30,000 comments. To put that audience size into perspective, NBC and Peacock’s final-round broadcasts of the Open Championship’s final round on Sunday drew 3.39 million combined viewers. Put another way, DeChambeau and Trump’s hit-and-giggle has attracted 73 percent more viewers than the decisive round of the final men’s major of the year, a viewership chasm that will only further widen in the days and weeks to come.

DeChambeau is accustomed to drawing eyeballs. Take the nine-hole made-for-YouTube match he played against Phil Mickelson. That video has attracted more than 3 million views, but it also was published 11 months ago. The Trump video, titled “Can I Break 50 With President Donald Trump?”, eclipsed that tally in less than 24 hours; it’s not likely to reach “Baby Shark Dance” heights (Pinkfong’s version of the popular children’s song is the most-viewed YouTube video of all-time, with nearly 15 billion views), but wherever it nets out, DeChambeau and Trump’s outing already has been a ratings hit.

There are many reasons for the video’s success. The most obvious one is DeChambeau’s high-wattage and polarizing guest. DeChambeau said when he and his team were ideating the episode they reached out to both Trump and President Biden, who at the time were locked in a fiercely contested battle for the White House. DeChambeau’s pitch to the pols: join him for an episode of his “Break 50” series in which he teams with a partner (previous guests in the series have included Sergio Garcia and golf influencers Paige Spiranac and Grant Horvatt) and tries to break 50 in a scramble format from forward tees.

If you follow DeChambeau on X, you might have sensed that a Trump video was in the works. On the evening of the June 27 presidential debate — soon after Trump and Biden’s respective golf abilities had surfaced in a testy exchange between the candidates — DeChambeau tweeted, “Let’s settle this whole handicap debate, I’ll host the golf match on my YouTube @realDonaldTrump @JoeBiden.” Twelve days later, on July 8, DeChambeau tweeted, “Next video dropping very soon, it’s going to be my biggest one yet.”

On Monday of this week, DeChambeau notified his social-media followers that his next “Break 50” guest would be Trump, while also pledging that he would donate $10,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project for every stroke they shot under par. Later that day, DeChambeau said on X that only Trump had accepted his invite. He added, “This is about golf and giving back to our nation’s veterans, not politics.”

That may be so, but DeChambeau does have a longstanding relationship with the Trumps. Earlier in his career, DeChambeau had the Trump Organization’s logo on his bag, once noting in an interview on Trump’s website that “the entire team is always behind me 100%, and I am grateful for their support.” In 2020, after DeChambeau’s U.S Open win at Winged Foot, Eric Trump, one the president’s sons, threw a party for DeChambeau at Trump’s club in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

Trump and DeChambeau are comfortable with one another, which surely was a factor in Trump’s agreeing to play the round. The setting also would have appealed to Trump: his northern New Jersey club — Trump Bedminster — in rolling horse country just west of New York City. Getting four hours on the schedule of a former president who’s campaigning for a second presidency is no small ask. But when you can execute the event on his home turf and, in Trump’s case, on one of his home courses, which he’s always eager to promote, the barrier to entry gets considerably lower. With the election less than four months away, Trump presumably also liked the idea of getting in front of a bloc of young voters.

Whatever the motivation, Trump said yes, and sometime in early July, he and DeChambeau convened at Bedminster to shoot the video.

Trump is a professional schmoozer. (This is not said with malice. Biden is, too; it’s how most politicians are wired.) He’s a master at working a room and identifying and seizing a moment. Trump can work a golf course, too. At LIV events at his courses, he’ll pace the range and glad-hand players. He came up the Big Apple real-estate ranks hobnobbing with celebrities, so he’s not awed by them. Same goes for world-class golfers. Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Ernie Els, Lexi Thompson — Trump has played with all of them, and smart money says he wasn’t jittery on the eves of any of those rounds.

Trump didn’t look nervous in his “Break 50” episode as he warmed up on Bedminster’s range beside the reigning U.S. Open champion. After hitting a few balls, Trump walked toward DeChambeau and said to a small crowd of onlookers: “Come on, let’s see him rip it. Longest hitter by far — by far. I know ’em all.”

After DeChambeau blasted a drive, Trump found a camera, leaned into the lens and said, “It’s very lonnnng, folks, very long.” He drew out his words for effect.

Trump knows how to engage an audience. So, too, does DeChambeau, which has helped power his YouTube success. Sure, his full-send drives help generate views, but DeChambeau’s accessible persona is also key. He talks to his audience as if they’re in on the challenges with him, employing “we” far more than “I” — as in we could really use an eagle here. When putts burn edges, he’ll raise his arms in stunned disbelief as if he’s just blown a major. In Trump’s “Break 50” round, when Trump holed a birdie putt on 18 to get him and DeChambeau to — spoiler alert! — 22 under, DeChambeau theatrically dropped to the ground and said, “Oh…my…gosh.” Are the emotions real? Embellished? Somewhere in between? Does it even matter? It’s all part of the show. On YouTube, big personalities sell.

Clever formats do, too. And “Break 50” has just that. With pushed-up tees, DeChambeau turns every par-5 into a short par-4, most par-4s into par-3s and most par-3 into flip wedges. On the par-5s and -4s, birdies are nearly automatic and eagles gettable. But even with the shortened setups and contributions from his partners, shooting 49 or better has remained elusive for DeChambeau — but not so elusive that it feels unattainable. It’s the perfect target, one that keeps viewers on the hook.

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There’s at least one other big reason why the Trump episode is so captivating: It shines a bright light on Trump’s game, which was a source of debate long before June 27. Close followers of the game know that Trump is a proficient golfer, but there has long been speculation about just how proficient.

When Trump and Biden clashed at the podium last month, Trump claimed that he’d recently “won two club championships — not even senior — two regular club championships.” Trump’s round with DeChambeau, which shows each of Trump’s shots over 18 holes, lets viewers make up their own minds about the former president’s golf talent. Here are a few takeaways that are beyond dispute: He hits a reliable fade off the tee; at 78, he still has impressive pop; his short irons, which he hits with an exaggerated step-through a la Gary Player, look sound. And his putting stroke? Unconventional would be a generous descriptor. But all in all, he can still play.

Some skeptics questioned whether some of Trump’s shots were edited out of the final cut and replaced with second or third attempts. Anything’s possible. But it also should be noted that Trump’s round, as depicted, wasn’t all fairways and greens; it included a couple of fatted wedges and blocked drives.

DeChambeau and Trump shared a cart, which afforded them time for small talk. DeChambeau shared tales of his previous runs at breaking 50 and his appreciation for colonial history; Trump revealed his fondness for Frank Sinatra, Patrick Reed and maple trees. On the drive from the 11th green to the 12th tee, DeChambeau asked Trump why he likes golf. “I hit it straight, I hit it onto the green and I putt well,” Trump said. “And you know what it does: It takes everything off your brain.”

DeChambeau and Trump eagled the 12th, a par-4, and in the closing six holes made one more eagle and five birdies to shoot an even 50, one agonizing shot short of their mark. DeChambeau’s next run at his white whale? He’s already thinking about who can help him haul it in. On Wednesday, he tweeted, “Who should I have on the next episode?”