I don't know if I can remember seeing any athlete, in any sport, have a bigger public perception turnaround than Bryson. The past year has seemingly been a nonstop flow of PR wins, positive headlines, and universal praise.
This week was no different as videos surface of Bryson playing on the international tour in India. Don't think that's a big deal? How about this stat...
No defending major champion has ever played competitively in India before.
Not one.
If he stays on his current path—I can easily imagine a world where five, ten years from now he becomes this golf generation's worldwide icon. I picture those videos of MJ or Kobe walking through malls in the Philipines swarmed by adoring fans.
Now, is Bryson MJ? Obviously not.
But the fact that he's even thinking about things like visiting India and the crowds are already responding to him has to mean something. I remember on an exchange trip I took as a kid, I visited this school in Austria to find dozens of kids all wearing Bulls gear like it was nothing. Many never even saw a Bulls game, but wanted to rep them anyways.
Could Bryson trigger a similar movement by globetrotting his way into their hearts? Yeah, honestly. He could.
Layer on top of that the news he dropped on The Joe Pomp Show and we're really getting somewhere.
Bryson revealed a "giant project" he was finally getting off the ground. The project makes full use of his enormous LIV payout and is apparently a sports-centric community near his hometown of Modesto in central California.
“It’s been in the works for a couple of years now and we’re at the place where we are getting permits to build. People know about it now. We have acquired massive amounts of land in my hometown and it’s a three-phase process to build a whole community and increase the size of where I grew up by 30%”
30%!
The dude who I used to know as the skinny guy with the kangol... is now building cities and becoming a cultural icon in India. Wild.
