Banning Wesley Bryan Made No Sense
By: Derek Clements | Mon 28 Apr 2025
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If you follow golf on YouTube then you will probably have heard of Wes Bryan. If not, you may know him as being the winner of the RBC Heritage on 2017 - a victory that came from nowhere.
Bryan and his brother George have been a social media sensation for more than 10 years. The interesting thing is that they only did so to raise the money to allow them to compete on mini tours with the dream of one day making it to the PGA Tour. Winning the RBC Heritage was the culmination of that dream for Wes.
But it has been a pretty rocky road for Wes. In 134 starts he has made just 68 cuts. Last year he made eight cuts in 18 starts and in 2025 he had made three starts and made it to the weekend once.
So when he was invited so take part in a YouTube match with Grant Horvat and a number of leading professionals including Phil Mickelson it should surprise nobody that he grabbed it with both hands. However, it was associated with LIV Golf and was filmed during the Miami LIV event ahead of the Masters.
In its infinite wisdom, the PGA Tour decided that it was an unauthorised event and that it required a release, something that Bryan failed to seek. So what did they do to Bryan? They banned him.
My feelings on LIV are well known. I firmly believe that the world of professional golf would be better served if a peace deal could be drawn up and my view is that LIV golfers should not be allowed to compete in PGA Tour events until that deal is in place. I believe that the money being paid to LIV’s players is obscene.
But to ban Bryan for taking part in what amounted to a fun exhibition is a huge over-reaction, to put it mildly. I have no way of knowing whether Bryan would have joined LIV if given the opportunity to do so but the PGA Tour have now painted him into a corner, effectively depriving him of the chance to earn a living from playing competitive golf on any circuit sanctioned in any way by the tour. It all seems somewhat extreme.
He said: "We had to jump at that opportunity. All we [Wes and brother George] have ever wanted to do from the Bryan Bros. is merge professional golf and YouTube and this was one of those opportunities that we’ve been dreaming of since we got into YouTube golf.
"It’s been a very difficult road to navigate trying to balance playing competitively and creating content on YouTube. We have been able to be part of something special in growing the YouTube community and I’m going to continue to do that."
It comes as no surprise to learn that Bryan is planning to appeal against his suspension. Let’s get something straight here - this was a fun event. It was not a LIV-sanctioned golf tournament. Although he has said nothing on the subject, my guess is that Bryan would have received a fee of some description. So what? I know that many old farts have no time for social media. I believe that it can be a force for good and can be used to grow the game by attracting a whole new audience - and that is what the Bryan brothers have been attempting to do for a decade.
Suspending him strikes me as being both petty and incredibly short-sighted.
As Bryan said: "I don’t think that when the rule was written it was meant to cover content creation on YouTube. I think it was meant to cover organised, professional, high-end events."
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