The merger of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf left Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee in a mood about as festive as a funeral.
The 60-year-old has been an outspoken critic of LIV Golf, accusing golfers like Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka who left the PGA Tour to play for LIV of “sportswashing” for the Saudi Arabia regime which funds the upstart tour.
Chamblee went on Golf Channel on Tuesday afternoon and said that the news of the merger marked “one of the saddest days” in golf history.
“When I first heard about it, I was completely shocked,” Chamblee said. “I can’t imagine that very many people outside the 2-3-4-5 people in the room and brought this merger to fruition would have known anything about it.
“After the shock sort of ebbed away, I was hugely disappointed. I think this is one of the saddest days in the history of professional golf.”
Brandel Chamblee has long been anti-LIV Golf. NBC SportsEverything to know about the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger
PGA Tour and LIV Golf are ending a war — by joining forces.
The two golf leagues, along with the European DP World Tour, are merging into one company after a period of fierce rivalry, one where LIV Golf defectors were banned from competing on the Tour.
LIV, financed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and led by legendary golfer Greg Norman, lured some of the top names in golf last year with reported nine-figure contracts, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
Other huge golf names, however, like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, stayed loyal to the Tour, despite being offered a massive amount of money.
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Norman said last year Woods turned down a payday in the range of $700 million-$800 million to stick with the PGA Tour.
With the merger, the Saudi-backed LIV and the Tour are ending an antitrust battle and agreed to end all litigation between the two sides.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOUR’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model.”
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Chamblee tried to go inside the minds of those who were involved in consummating the merger.
“I do believe that the governing bodies, the professional entities that sacrificed their principles for profits, and then I try to imagine what circumstances have led to this sort of capitulation,” Chamblee continued.
He went on to cite “intractable legal issues going on indefinitely into the future” would lead to no one profiting besides the two sides’ lawyers.
Immediately after the merger was announced on Tuesday morning, Koepka took a victory lap, tweeting, “Welfare Check on Chamblee.”
Brandel Chamblee called the LIV Golf / PGA Tour merger one of the saddest days in professional golf history. Getty ImagesLast month, Koepka’s coach, Claude Harmon III, took swipes at Chamblee and Golf Channel host Eamon Lynch for hypocrisy in their LIV commentary.
“Brandel is a paid actor by NBC and Golf Channel. All he’s trying to do is get his lines and shows for the Golf Channel. He’s just trying to get lines for Brandel,” Harmon said.
“And I mean, I love him, I think Eamon is a fantastic writer, but for Eamon Lynch and Brandel Chamblee, who worked for NBC Golf Channel to utter the words ‘sportswashing’ when the company they work for televised the last two Winter Olympics in Russia and China with the same leaders that they’ve had. It’s not like they were good leaders back then. It’s not like [Vladimir] Putin was a good guy, right?”
