Bryson DeChambeau was in the middle of his final round at the 2024 PGA Championship, moving on from the ninth hole at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. He was locked into trying to capture his second-career major championship, but then he turned toward a junior fan along the rope line and tossed one of his golf balls toward him.
What happened next was surprising.
The first surprising thing was that an adult swooped in and took the ball out of the air, away from the kid that DeChambeau intended to get it. That adult then tried to get away quickly from the scene with their piece of championship memorabilia.
Then, the next surprising thing happened.
DeChambeau, who was on the march to the 10th tee, noticed that the adult fan had grabbed the ball and had started running away from the rope line. The 2020 US Open champion came back toward the kid and to the rope line, and he started yelling toward the adult fan to get his attention. He kept shouting "Hey!" to get the adult's attention.
Once DeChambeau had that fan's attention, he made it very clear that he wasn't supposed to be getting that ball. It was meant for the kid, and that he should give it to the kid.
Sure enough, the adult complied after DeChambeau and other fans on the rope line applied pressure. The kid got the ball, and he has a memory for life. DeChambeau also probably has a fan for life in that kid.
DeChambeau absolutely did the right thing here. He wanted to make sure a young fan got a ball, and he wasn't going to let someone else ruin that moment.
"When the moment comes, knowing what to do, what to say, how to act is really important," DeChambeau said after the round. "You know, when I was younger I didn't understand what it was. Yeah, I would have great celebrations and whatnot, but I didn't know what it meant and what I was doing it necessarily for. Now I'm doing it a lot more for the fans and for the people around and trying to be a bit of an entertainer that plays good golf every once in a while."
