Wesley Bryan won the RBC Heritage in 2017 for his only PGA Tour victory and last year finished second at the Corales Puntacana Championship, which is being played this week opposite the signature event taking place in Hilton Head.
Bryan, 35, would be eligible for the secondary event via his place in the PGA Tour’s priority rankings and had already played in three events this year with a best finish of T25 at the Farmers Insurance Open in January.
But Bryan is not playing in either event due to a suspension.
Levied by the PGA Tour, the suspension stems from his participation two weeks ago in “The Duels: Miami,” an event sponsored by LIV Golf in advance of the LIV Golf League event that brought together two of Bryan’s obvious strengths: professional tour golf and his content creation via YouTube.
His indefinite suspension, as reported earlier this week by Ryan French of Monday Q, is both simple and complicated.
Bryan is in violation of the PGA Tour’s media rights policy, clearly spelled out in the player handbook.
But the enforcement of that policy has varied as the Tour has loosened some of its restrictions to allow players such as Bryan—and anyone else on the PGA Tour—to create their own content and post it via social media platforms or at a place like YouTube, where Bryan and his brother, George, have a successful outlet that has attracted more than 550,000 subscribers.
Most of what is allowed is instructional or fun in nature, not actual competition with other pros for a purse.
Bryan did not respond to a request for comment and did not offer much detail in French’s report. When approached at the Miami event on April 2, when it was apparent he might be in violation of Tour policy, Bryan politely declined to comment and said he would have more to say at some point via one of his social channels.
“No, I don't have regrets,” he told Monday Q. “That video is one of the most powerful videos in YouTube golf.” He also noted Grant Horvat, another popular content creator whose YouTube channel aired the nine-hole match during the weekend of the LIV event—and also opposite a PGA Tour event, which is also likely part of the issue.
“We are going to continue to support Grant and grow the game through YouTube,” Bryan said.
The PGA Tour would make no one available for comment. As per its policy, it never comments on disciplinary measures against its members unless there is a violation of the performance-enhancing drug policy which leads to a suspension.
The fact that Bryan disclosed the suspension has led to considerable conjecture in the ongoing divide in men’s professional golf which sees the PGA Tour suspending any player that participates in a LIV Golf tournament and banning even none members from playing in PGA Tour events for up to a year; the Tour deems LIV events to be “unauthorized” and thus has put in place those rules.
An example of the latter is Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra, who despite leaving LIV Golf after the 2024 season is prohibited from competing in a PGA Tour event until September, a year after his last LIV appearance. Chacarra, who has status on the DP World Tour, recently won in India and is in contention at this week’s event in China. He could earn a PGA Tour card via the top 10 on the DPWT Race to Dubai season money list.
Bryan, who has conditional status on the PGA Tour because he finished 128th in the final 2024 FedEx Cup season standings, is subject to the “media and marketing rights” provision as a PGA Tour member.
In part, it reads that a player cannot participate in any “live or recorded golf program” without the prior written approval of commissioner Jay Monahan. “Golf program” for purposes of that section means any “golf contest, exhibition or play that is shown anywhere in the world in any form of media now known or hereinafter developed,” according to the player handbook.
The Duels had six LIV players teaming up with six YouTube creators in a nine-hole scramble and offered a $250,000 purse. The team of Sergio Garcia and George Bryan won in a playoff over Bubba Watson and Luke Kwon. Wesley Bryan played with Dustin Johnson while Horvat teamed with Phil Mickelson.
Although the Tour would not comment on any aspect of this situation, it is generally believed that Bryan received a written warning that the airing of the event would constitute a violation.
Sports leagues routinely prohibit players from engaging in any broadcast competition outside of league play as a way to protect its television rights holders and sponsors. In the case of the PGA Tour, it must sign off on outside events—and is often paid a fee—to allow for made-for-TV matches such as the Crypto.com Showdown in December that saw Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler take on Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.
Complicating matters in the Bryan case are two issues that have caused confusion. One is the fact that Bryan is allowed under Tour rules to post all manner of YouTube content, mostly instruction. The other is Horvat announcing on the same day as the suspension was reported that he is mulling a sponsor invite to the Barracuda Championship later this year.
Sports Business Journal reported earlier this year that the Tour had relaxed some of its guidelines as to what can be posted via various outlets, including by fans and even players, much of which was previously prohibited.
The Tour also makes clear in its rules on media rights that instructional programs are exempt from the rule but still require confirmation that they are “not shown or distributed at the same time as any scheduled live coverage” of a PGA Tour event.
The Duels was to originally air on April 5, the day of the second round of the Valero Texas Open. It ended up debuting the next day on Horvat’s YouTube Channel and has more than 2 million views.
The Tour has been accused of being inconsistent in its policy because Horvat apparently is free to accept a sponsor invite despite also participating in the Duels event. The distinction is Horvat is not a Tour member subject to the same rules as Bryan. It also suggests that the PGA Tour did not view the Duels itself as an “unauthorized event.”
Both Bryan and Horvat took part in a PGA Tour-sponsored Creator Classic event staged at TPC Sawgrass on the day prior to the start of the Players Championship. Other such events are scheduled for later this year.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as In the Middle of Another PGA Tour-LIV Golf Collision, Wesley Bryan’s Suspension Is Complex.
