Bryson DeChambeau hopes Donald Trump will inspire Team USA to Ryder Cup victory

Bryson DeChambeau says Donald Trump’s appearance at the Ryder Cup can be a “great force” and “inspire” the United States to victory.

The golf-loving American president is attending the opening day of action at Bethpage Black on Friday afternoon as the US try to regain the trophy they lost in Rome two years ago.

He is the first sitting president to attend the Ryder Cup and his presence is sure to fuel American patriotism.

DeChambeau, who played with Trump for a video on his YouTube channel, is ready to harness it, saying: “I hope he will inspire us to victory.

“I think he’ll be a great force for us to get a lot of people on our side. I think it will be interesting and exciting to see how the crowd and everybody reacts.

“It’s going to be an electric environment.”

DeChambeau is back in the American team after failing to qualify in 2023 following his move to the LIV tour.

The 32-year-old’s return has not been a universally popular decision, with outspoken Golf Channel analyst Brandle Chamblee calling him a “captain’s nightmare” and suggesting his focus was on his 2.3million YouTube subscribers rather than the Ryder Cup.

DeChambeau’s video of his round with Trump collected 16million views and his other posts regularly top four million, but Chamblee questioned how many of those were bots.

He said: “He didn’t mention the Ryder Cup. He didn’t mention playing for a team. Nope. He talked about his YouTube channel.

“And those numbers? Let’s be honest, there’s no doubt bots are driving a lot of them.”

But DeChambeau retorted: “I think it’s great. I think any time that people can throw stuff at me like that, I enjoy it.

“I appreciate it. I think it’s good for the game of golf because it starts to spur conversation on.

“Ultimately, on YouTube, you have to be verified to be able to subscribe and whatnot. So I don’t think it’s really that honest or true.

“But it is what it is. I mean, any time you can say something like that and create more buzz for the game of golf, it’s great.”

DeChambeau’s performances at the majors over the last two years have earned him his spot in New York this time around, an achievement he described as his “passion project” after the hurt of missing Rome.

He was emotional when talking about what it meant for him to be back in the mix.

“When I missed the Olympics because I got Covid and wasn’t able to represent my country, that was a pretty big shot to the heart,” he said.

“Playing in team events my whole entire life, that’s all I wanted to do growing up.

“And then being on the Ryder Cup for a winning team and a losing team, experiencing both the highs and the lows and missing in Rome, this has put something in my stomach that’s kind of made it a passion project for me.

“I want to be a part of this team and be the most helpful person I can for this team in whatever way possible that is.

“The words really aren’t there right now to explain how passionate I am about this USA team and how good I think we are and how positive we are and how encouraging we are, inspiring we are, and what this captain (Keegan Bradley) has done to bring us together, to band us together like possibly no other captains have done in the history.”