Chance Taylor has won $100,000 courtesy of Bryson’s Backyard Games, beating DeChambeau quite literally in his own backyard. The self-proclaimed hillbilly was anything but overawed by the opulence of Bryson’s mansion, showcasing his talent with three successive elite pitch shots to beat the two-time US champion.
What were Bryson’s Backyard Games?
Bryson's Backyard Games were a new competition series on his YouTube channel. It was being played on the same property where he made his famous hole-in-one over his own house in late 2024, a challenge he documented daily until he finally holed it on the 16th day.
Ten golfers played one-hole matches across a range of holes set up around DeChambeau's backyard, with one video released daily over the course of ten days. The loser of each match went home while the winner moved on. The property has several green complexes, which lets him build different routings for each match.
Chance Taylor was the man left standing after those knockout rounds, leaving a three-hole match against DeChambeau standing between him and US$100,000. But while it’s hard to root against Taylor, plenty would have been watching the video hoping for him to shank one into Bryson’s window, because if DeChambeau won it, that $100,000 would have gone to one of his followers.
How it ended
Each hole in the event essentially involved an awkward pitch shot to a pin on a significantly sloped green. On the first, they both stuffed it to about 4 feet. Taylor missed his putt; Bryson did the same.
On the second, Taylor again put it to 4 feet, while DeChambeau left his 30 feet away. This time, Taylor sunk his putt; DeChambeau went ahead and chipped in from on the green to keep the match tied.
The final hole saw them head to the artificial tee box which DeChambeau previously made so famous, with the players hitting over the top of his house to the backyard green. Chance went first, and with $100k on the line, hit it to less than a foot. Unfortunately for him, DeChambeau put it even closer. They both sunk their putts.
Enter the playoff hole - off the roof, nearest the pin. Chance again hit it to 2 feet, and this time around DeChambeau left his 9 feet away, giving Taylor the victory.
The field
The 10 players who took part were:
Grant Horvat
Brad Dalke
Wesley Bryan
George Bryan
Chance Taylor
Rhett Anderson
Arlynn Spence
Sara Winter
Martin Borgmeier
Chaz Bowker (Chazzy)
It's a mix of some of the biggest names in YouTube golf and a few players who'll be less familiar to casual viewers. Half the field have already been gracing our screens on Your Golf Tour over the past few months, while a number of the others will also be a part of the Internet Invitational later this year.
Having previously been cast as something of a villain in the world of professional golf, Bryson has done plenty of work curating his public image over the past few years after, generally to pretty good effect. If he’s hoping to boost his image even further, this is not a bad way to do it - with $100,000 available to one of his followers if he can avoid being beaten in his own backyard, it’s safe to say the masses will be rooting pretty hard for Bryson DeChambeau.
