Influencer with 3M followers on YouTube following in Bryson DeChambeau’s footsteps after betraying PGA to launch career in LIV

Rick Shiels, a golf content creator with close to three million followers on YouTube, is following in Bryson DeChambeau's footsteps. DeChambeau has a huge following on YouTube, and his content primarily focuses on LIV Golf. That's what Shiels will now do after signing a deal with the rebel tour.

Shiels' X account has PGA in the title, but he's shunning the Tour for LIV Golf. This season, he's signed an influencer deal for his content to focus on the tour and its players.

Flushing It Golf wrote on X:

"Rick has the most popular golf YouTube channel with nearly 3 million subscribers, and with Bryson DeChambeau quickly rising the ranks too, LIV is making a big move in this space. The rise of YouTube golf has been dramatic over the last few years with content creators gaining more and more popularity and influence."

Shiels had been teasing a major career change in the last few months, and he finally confirmed what many had thought he was doing. He came out with a lot of teases while his new content subsided. In hindsight, this was due to the impending deal with LIV.

DeChambeau's personal YouTube is one of the most-subscribed accounts in golf. He has nearly two million followers, which is more than the PGA Tour's official account. With Shiels involved now, there are almost five million subscribers getting exclusive LIV Golf content in 2025.

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Bryson DeChambeau on being golf's Mr. Beast

Recently, Bryson DeChambeau went on the Joe Pomp Show and discussed YouTube. He spoke on his dedication to the growth of his channel, how big his social team has gotten, and how much he's spent to grow it: $1 million.

He also reflected on doing things like another prominent YouTuber: Mr. Beast. Mr. Beast is perhaps the most popular content creator on the platform, and DeChambeau has adopted some of his styles for videos and challenges.

Bryson DeChambeau wants to emulate Mr. Beast (Image via Imagn)

Bryson DeChambeau said via Golf.com that he's "excited" to continue growing these platforms, and he wants to end up like Mr. Beast and other creators.

“I think that’s where everything is going. You look at what Mr. Beast has done, and there’s a few other super famous people right now — Jynxzi and Sketch — and they are growing their avenues and their aspects, and it’s cool to see the cross-platforming capabilities. Like these individuals coming and playing golf and seeing how much influence they have is really cool. It’s just another avenue.”

DeChambeau, with roughly 1.7 million followers, has a long way to go to catch Mr. Beast. The YouTuber has 347 million subscribers, which is why he's arguably the most successful person on the entire website.