Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee has launched his latest scathing attack on the LIV Golf League, calling its format "stupid", its concept "laughable", and arguing there is "no way to judge the talents of the players" involved.
Chamblee has famously never been a fan of the PGA Tour's more compact rival and has regularly criticized players who switched tours for the highly-lucrative deals offered by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which controls LIV.
And speaking exclusively to Golf WRX's Matt Vincenzi ahead of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla, Chamblee continued his no-holds-barred assessment of LIV Golf by insisting it is impossible to know if one of its players is truly in form due to the concise format and seemingly over-friendly course layouts.
Chamblee said: “The format for LIV is just stupid. There’s no other word for it. 54 holes, 54 players start. Willy nilly here and there. Nobody winning a golf tournament should finish on the third hole on some par three while his closest competitors finish on the 17th hole or the 18th hole.
“It’s just a laughable concept. There’s no way to judge the talents of these players out there. You look at their data, and again, their data is laughable. It’s very hard to hit 75% of your greens and it looks like everybody on their tour is hitting 75% of greens. Who’s keeping their stats? Who’s doing their data? They haven’t gotten their act together."
Going on to use the European Tour during its heydey in the 1980s and 1990s as an example of being able to truly judge a rival circuit's players appropriately, Chamblee continued his assessment of LIV golfers by stating more of them should be working harder to qualify for Majors.
He said: “They went to play on a Tour that they knew didn’t qualify for world ranking points. So, if they want to get in majors, they’re going to have to figure out a way to qualify, the way Joaquin Niemann did. Go play some events that we can clearly judge the kind of player that you are. The format of LIV is just not conducive to judgement.”
Chamblee's condemnation of LIV follows just days after he backed the PGA Tour to complete a deal with the PIF - calling it "the better end of the deal."
The American broadcaster insists he still does not like the motives of the Saudi Arabian officials in trying to "buy golf" and is far from convinced on the team aspect, but conceded the PGA Tour must complete some sort of agreement or face significant trouble further down the line.
Speaking to Golf WRX earlier this week, Chamblee said: "What I said the other day is what I said last year at the US Open. I said the second-worst thing that could happen to golf would be if the PGA Tour made this deal, and the worst thing that could happen to the PGA Tour is if they didn't make this deal. That's, unfortunately, the pickle that the PGA Tour, that professional golf is in.
"Because the Saudis are not going to go away, they can spend the PGA Tour into oblivion, they will be a poaching threat forever. So the best way - as far as I can tell - was to make some sort of deal, figure out a way to mitigate the influence of the Saudis in the professional golf landscape.
"They seem to be enamoured with team golf, which boggles the mind. It seems to hold no appeal, globally. They've been at it for years now and, what have they made? $40,000 in hot-dog sales in Australia to offset $3 billion. It's not resonating with anybody, globally.
"But they seem to be enamoured with it, so if they can mitigate the Saudi influence and let them play team golf somewhere in the fall, fine. That seems like the best deal that golf could make."
Meanwhile, during his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh also called for the PGA Tour and the PIF to find common ground sooner rather than later.
Waugh said he does not believe men's pro golf is "big enough for two tours like that" but is confident a deal can be achieved as both sides "need" something to happen.
At Valhalla, he said: "On the deal side of things, look, I said earlier, it's messy, and it has been, right, and it seems to get messier every week. I'm a little bit -- I'm a very optimistic type and I'm sort of hoping it's darkest before dawn, if you will, but I think, you know, I think the best thing for the game is a deal. And we've been very consistent on that front.
"I don't think the game is big enough for two tours like that, and I think we are diluting the game in a way that is not healthy. We've said that, really, from the beginning. I hope there's a deal.
"I think both sides are not only committed to trying to find a deal but really need a deal, and in my history of deal making, when both sides kind of need something to happen, it generally does."
