Bryson DeChambeau earns $260K in pro golf debut, charters private jet home

Sunday was the first day that Bryson DeChambeau could take home some cash for his efforts on the golf course. The amateur superstar turned pro immediately after the Masters, which he held an exemption into only if he stayed an amateur.

The RBC Heritage granted new pro DeChambeau an exemption into their historic event at Hilton Head, and he did not waste any time taking advantage of his ability to start piling up cash. The reigning U.S. Amateur and NCAA champ finished tied for fourth at the Heritage, which was good for a $259,600 payout on Sunday evening.

DeChambeau was an elite prospect — he joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ryan Moore as the only players to win the U.S. Amateur and NCAA title in the same year. So the off-course money was going to roll in as soon as he turned pro anyway. But his first check from a pro tournament was substantially more than some of those aforementioned Hall-of-Famers. He’s yet another beneficiary of the Tiger effect on PGA Tour purses.

After the Masters, he made the worst-kept secret official and announced he’d signed a multi-year deal with Cobra-Puma golf and had their logo festooned all over his gear and apparel this week at Harbour Town. But it still had to be nice to actually have the ability to accept a check for your results on the course. He had to forgo money from three starts in the Middle East on the European Tour, a T27 finish at Bay Hill, and a T21 low-amateur result at the Masters. The two players who had the same score at T21 last week at Augusta won $116,000 from that massive $10M purse.

Aside from the new six-figure check and the Cobra-Puma deal, DeChambeau also shared perhaps the most striking signifier that he was no longer slumming it as an Am and had joined the upper crust of touring pros: the post-tourney “wheels up” photo from a private plane.

DeChambeau is one of the more unique talents to come into golf in a long, long time. His press conferences are fascinating, all his irons are the same length, he’s a self-professed mad scientist-artist blend of some sort. And he’s loaded with talent, leading the entire field in strokes gained: tee-to-green, an extremely important stat these days, in his first damn pro event. He has rubbed some people the wrong way early on here, but he’s fascinating, and we’re going to be hearing from him for a couple more decades.

In addition to DeChambeau, here are some of the other payouts from top finishers on Sunday at Harbour Town:

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