'Nobody's perfect': Bryson DeChambeau defends PIF, Saudis from 9/11 criticism

Bryson DeChambeau was one of the many PGA Tour golfers to jump ship and join rival organization LIV Golf. The eight-time PGA Tour tournament winner initially declared his loyalty to the PGA before accepting what he said was more than $125 million a year ago to participate in the upstart tournament, which is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Firm.

After the news broke Tuesday that, after a year of bitter dissension, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf were merging, DeChambeau spoke with CNN's Kaitlan Collins on what the unification means. He had high praise for the deal, calling it "the best thing that could ever happen for the game of golf."

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"There's a lot more behind closed doors that's been going on. What I can tell you is that H.E. Yassir (Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor) has always been a staunch supporter of golf globally and wanted to grow the game," he said. "That's been his vision from the start when we first started talking a few years ago.

"As it's come to fruition now, I think that this is the best thing that could ever happen for the game of golf and I'm extremely proud to be a part of that because of the fact that the fans are gonna get what they want, the players are gonna experience something a little different, a little new on the PGA Tour side, but I truly believe in the end, the game of golf wins in this scenario."

Earlier on Tuesday, Al-Rumayyan and PGA commissioner Jay Monahan spoke about their shared vision and how they ultimately came together.

"If you look at the size of golf, monetary-wise, it's about $100 billion today. I think the growth is there," Al-Rumayyan said. "I think working together, we can have a faster growth rate than the way it was for the past 10 or 20 years."

"Reaching a younger demographic at a time when the sport has never been more popular and doing so by coming together to collaborate at this point in time, that's where we see the commonality in purpose and that's where we see this huge opportunity," Monahan said.

Bryson DeChambeau addresses LIV Golf criticism from families of 9/11 victims

The families of the victims from the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been vocal in their opposition to LIV Golf and its backing by the Saudi government. The organization 9/11 Families United released a statement saying the group felt "shocked and deeply offended" by the merger, especially because the PGA Tour had previously taken a hard stance on the side of the families.

DeChambeau acknowledged the pain the families must feel at suffering such a tragedy, but explained why he still feels confident in his decision to play with LIV Golf.

"I think we'll never be able to repay the families back for what exactly happened just over 20 years ago and what happened is definitely horrible," he said. "I think as time has gone on, 20 years has passed and we're in a place now where it's time to start trying to work together to make things better together as a whole. I have deep sympathy, I don't know exactly what they're feeling, I can't ever know what they feel, but I have a huge amount of respect for their position and what they believe, nor do I ever want anything like that to ever occur again.

"I think as we move forward from that, we gotta look towards the pathway to peace and forgiveness, especially if we're trying to mend the world and make it a better place. I think this is what they're trying to accomplish, LIV is trying to accomplish, the PIF is trying to accomplish, we're all trying to accomplish is a better world for everybody and a way to provide great entertainment for everybody around the world."

When Collins asked a follow-up question about the other human rights issues present in the Middle Eastern country, including the state murdering journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he held his stance.

"It's unfortunate what has happened and that's something I cannot necessarily speak on as I'm a golfer," DeChambeau said, "but what I can say is that what they're trying to do, what they're trying to work on is to be better allies, cause we are allies with them. Look, I'm not going to get into the politics of it, I'm not specialized in that. But what I can say is they are trying to do good for the world and showcase themselves in a light that hasn't been seen in a while. Nobody's perfect, but we're all trying to improve in life."

Bryson DeChambeau feels 'bad' for PGA Tour players

Many are calling the PGA Tour hypocritical for threatening players against defecting to LIV Golf and then joining the rival organization within a year of its inception. DeChambeau didn't call out Monahan or the PGA Tour, but instead expressed sympathy for how the players were treated. He said that the information about LIV Golf and the growth opportunities was available to all players and acknowledged the difficult road he and many others, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka took.

"I really feel bad for the information that was delivered to the players in the PGA Tour, the ones that stuck with them," he said. "We did take a risk, the players that did go over, we did take a risk and there was a reason for taking that risk relative to the capital that had to be paid out, for that to occur. But I do feel bad for the PGA Tour players cause they were told one thing and something else happened and on our side, we were told one thing and it's come to fruition."

Players such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Masters champion Jon Rahm reportedly turned down hundreds of millions of dollars to join LIV Golf. DeChambeau said he hopes that those who remained on the PGA Tour will find a way to earn their maximum value in the same way LIV Golf has offered its players and that he is excited for the best players to have the opportunity to compete against each other without drama.

"Look, in the end, for me, I want the players, the fans and the game of golf to win," he said, "and it does stink a little bit from my perspective that the PGA Tour players are not necessarily winning. I hope that they can find a way to make sure that they are valued in the same way that we are over at LIV. I think that'll happen. It's just going to take some time with the players pushing back a little bit and trying to figure out what makes them, what gives them the best opportunity to be successful on their own end. Eventually, we all come back together now and play as one group, I think that's the best thing, watching us play week in, week out, the best players against each other."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bryson DeChambeau defends PIF amid LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger