What Bryson DeChambeau claimed ‘stinks’ about the qualification rules ahead of the 2019 Presidents Cup

Bryson DeChambeau expressed his frustration back in 2019 that his victory at the Dubai Desert Classic did not come with any qualification points ahead of that year’s Presidents Cup.

DeChambeau’s only appearance to date in the Presidents Cup came seven years ago, as Team USA narrowly beat the International Team at Royal Melbourne. It is probably fair to say that captain Tiger Woods did not have a huge amount of faith in the rookie.

DeChambeau’s only appearance before the singles came in a loss on Thursday. The only other American to play less than four times across the week was Woods himself, who featured on three occasions.

Perhaps it should not have been a huge surprise given that DeChambeau was the last man to qualify automatically for the event. However, DeChambeau obviously felt that his position should have been much more comfortable.

Bryson DeChambeau criticised the qualifying criteria ahead of the 2019 Presidents Cup

DeChambeau did not win on the PGA Tour in 2019, leaving him in a precarious spot as the FedEx Cup playoffs approached. He had, however, won the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour in January of that year.

And speaking to Golf Channel ahead of the playoffs, DeChambeau hit out at the qualification rules.

“I think that [captain Tiger Woods] knows that I’m a good enough player to be on the team,” he said. “You could have one of the best players in the world and have a terrible stretch for a few weeks, and it’s like, ‘okay, is it really warranted? Should he be going?'”

“I also feel like winning in Dubai, it didn’t count at all. That kind of stinks. It counts in the world rankings. You’ve got a guy that goes over and plays once and wins, it’s like, that should kind of count, you would think. But as of right now, I have to work a little harder. But it’s okay. I’m used to it. I’m used to having to work harder.”

J.J. Spaun may now agree with Bryson DeChambeau’s viewpoint

In fairness to DeChambeau, he did win in Dubai by seven shots. So you can understand why he felt a little hard done by.

Of course, one player who may now empathise somewhat with DeChambeau’s claim is J.J. Spaun. Spaun travelled over to the United Kingdom for the BMW PGA Championship having already been snubbed for this year’s Presidents Cup by Brandt Snedeker.

His victory has obviously come too late for Snedeker to change his mind. However, Spaun may well feel that winning the flagship event on the DP World Tour should count for something ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup, even with the qualification period yet to begin.