If we have learned anything about Skip Bayless over the years, it is that he loves to involve LeBron James in any conversation he has no business being a part of. And on Saturday, he did just that in regards to the upcoming final round of the 2025 Masters.
Golf fans are set to get the final pairing of their dreams when Rory McIlroy, who is leading the tournament after 54 holes at -12, tees off alongside Bryson DeChambeau, who sits in solo second place at -10, on Sunday.
Despite the fact that McIlroy is the overwhelming favorite to win his first green jacket in the odds market, Bayless believes that McIlroy has a bit of LeBron James in him. AKA, in his head, he believes that McIlroy will choke down the stretch and cede the win to DeChambeau.
In a post on X, Bayless made the connection between McIlroy and James, calling them both “supremely gifted nice guys without killer instinct”.
“Rory McIlroy is the LeBron James of golf, a supremely gifted nice guy without killer instinct. Bryson DeChambeau is the Jake Paul of golf who isn’t afraid to do it HIS way and who beat Rory with an amazingly clutch long bunker shot at Pinehurst,” wrote Bayless.
Bayless further explained himself in an 18-minute video posted on his YouTube channel, predicting that DeChambeau will “out-clutch” McIlroy in the final round. He also notably further continued the McIlroy-James comparison.
“I’m about to tell you why Bryson DeChambeau will out-clutch and out-guts and out-heart poor Rory McIlroy tomorrow in what will be an all-time watchable final pairing at the Masters,” said Bayless. “An all-time great Sunday finish in my favorite sports event on the entire calendar, Masters Sunday. There’s no greater pressure in all of sports than the individual sport of golf at Augusta National on the back nine on Sunday. Which is why ultimately, I believe Rory will beat Rory in an all-time watchable, can’t take your eyes off, back-nine Sunday at Augusta. I will be watching every shot because I know every shot.
“This is the only major, for you non-golf fans, that doesn’t rotate. It’s always on that course, which I consider the greatest golf course on earth. A piece of heaven on earth. I covered 20 straight Masters, I know every shot. I played the golf course. Not well, but I know it. And I know what it can do to a human being on Sunday as the pressure mounts and the wind begins to swirl down on Amen Corner among pine trees. If you haven’t been there to experience Augusta, this is the all-time bucket list sports event. But those pines down at Amen Corner, they are Jack in the Beanstalk pines.
“The great Ben Crenshaw once told me that Augusta to him was like a mystical cathedral. A mystical cathedral that I believe will devour Rory McIlroy, the LeBron James of golf. Rory reminds me so much of LeBron. Rory is now 35 and seems like 40ish in golf years compared to LeBron’s 40, Year 22 in professional basketball. Rory McIlroy, it feels like he has been playing forever. But he hasn’t won a major championship… Think about this, since 2014, we’re 11ish years since he has won a major championship.”
It’s not quite as egregious as Bayless calling out LeBron during Super Bowl LIX... But aside from their age, there really isn’t all that much comparable between what Rory McIlroy does on the golf course and what LeBron does on the basketball court.
DeChambeau may very well track down McIlroy as the latter fades in the final round of the 2025 Masters. But this comparison sure seems like an excuse for Skip Bayless to call LeBron James a choker, which again isn’t exactly an unexpected thing for him to do.