Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee has never been shy about speaking his mind, particularly when it comes to golfers who defected from the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. But the longtime analyst has outdone himself with his most recent take about star golfer Bryson DeChambeau ahead of this weekend’s Ryder Cup.
Appearing on Monday’s episode of Live From, Chamblee cast doubt on DeChambeau’s commitment to the American team, calling him a “captain’s nightmare” after the two-time major champion discussed his YouTube success during a press availability.
“I thought it was pretty poignant there when he [was] asked about the rhetoric of Rory [McIlroy] that he didn’t mention the goal this week of a Ryder Cup. Nope, he didn’t do that. He didn’t talk about playing on a team and how much that meant. Nope, he didn’t do that. What he did do was talk about his YouTube channel which, if we want to talk about the numbers that are generated from that, it’s pretty dubious. I have no doubt that bots are generating a lot of those views. There may be some interest as well, but that’s what he wants to talk about. Not the team, not the Ryder Cup,” Chamblee said.
“It’s one of the reasons why I think he’s going to be such a difficult person to get paired with. No doubt he’s one hell of a golfer. No doubt he has his moments of generosity with fans, I’ve heard about them. But he’s an odd duck when he’s trying to blend in with the team. And he has so many potential bulletin board mistakes, and I think he would be a captain’s nightmare.”
If Chamblee is worried about DeChambeau’s fit on the U.S. Ryder Cup squad, there are probably better ways to go about it than conjuring up conspiracy theories about his YouTube channel being floated by bots. Perhaps there is some validity to DeChambeau being the lone LIV golfer on the U.S. Ryder Cup team causing some chemistry issues. But that isn’t because DeChambeau doesn’t care about winning a Ryder Cup, or that he wanted to talk about his successful YouTube channel while answering a question.
This seems to be more a personal attack by Chamblee towards DeChambeau than anything. Chamblee has a long history of criticizing LIV golfers. Sometimes he’s justified, and sometimes he isn’t.
In this particular instance, Chamblee seems to be manifesting an issue when there isn’t one there.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.