Brandel Chamblee has made a really big claim about one potential reason behind Jon Rahm’s move to LIV Golf in 2023, and it involves his Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy.
Rahm was one of the PGA Tour‘s best players and biggest draws before he upped sticks to join LIV Golf at the end of 2023.
The Spaniard has been a big hit with the Saudi-backed outfit, and despite not winning last season, Rahm still earned just over $31.6 million on LIV.
Despite the fact that he is playing his golf on LIV now, the 30-year-old was selected to represent the European Ryder Cup team by Luke Donald earlier this week.
Rahm will link up with McIlroy and 10 other European players at Bethpage later this month, just like he did in Rome two years earlier.
Back in May Rahm admitted that he is a huge fan of McIlroy’s golf game, but golf analyst Brandel Chamblee thinks something that happened after the Ryder Cup in 2023 involving the two players pushed the Spaniard into joining LIV.
Brandel Chamblee has a theory over why Jon Rahm joined LIV Golf
Chamblee is an incredibly outspoken pundit, but that is what makes him such a popular voice in the game.
Golf fans flock to listen to the former PGA Tour player’s views on the game, regardless of whether they like him or not.
And Chamblee’s latest take will definitely cause somewhat of a stir.
He discussed Donald selecting Rahm for the European Ryder Cup team on ‘The Favorite Chamblee Podcast’.
Chamblee said: “Jon Rahm, you know, it’s hard to leave Jon Rahm off (The Ryder Cup team). Data Golf has got him in the top five of the world, so it is hard to leave him off.
“Although he did look disgruntled in the media centre (during the Ryder Cup in Rome). And I think that’s part of why, who knows exactly why, maybe it was for the money, but I think part of the reason why he left was because he didn’t feel like he had as big of a voice in the world of golf as Rory McIlroy.
“It’s hard to say but when he was finally asked a question in the media centre in Rome he acted like he was asleep and he acted like he was pissed that he wasn’t asked a question previously, and that they were all going to Rory.
“I thought that was pretty telling and then shortly after he ended up going to LIV.“
“No, because I think Luke Donald is so bright and he would have thought how to handle that. And Rory, when they asked Rahm that question and he acted disgruntled that they hadn’t asked him a question previously, Rory turns and says, ‘yeah, he’s only the number one player in the world’. There was Rory, conceding ground as a consolidatory moment to Rahm. He was doing his part to sort of mend any fences that might have been frayed.“
That is a fair point from Chamblee, if not slightly inflammatory.
Rahm and McIlroy get on just fine, and it would have been quite an overreaction from the Spaniard if he had chosen to join LIV purely because the man from Northern Ireland had a ‘greater voice’ than him in the golfing world.’
Rahm said what would have happened to McIlroy had he won the 2011 Masters
Back in 2011, McIlroy experienced heartache at Augusta National when he fell apart on the back nine and lost the chance to win the Masters trophy in the process.
A disastrous run after the turn saw the Northern Irishman drop six shots in three holes from the 10th to the 12th.
He ended up carding a final round of 80 and had to wait 14 years before he banished those demons by finally slipping on the green jacket.
Back in May, Rahm opened up on how he thinks things would have been very different for McIlroy, had he won The Masters in 2011.
He said: “To be honest, if that Masters in ’11 had gone his way, I think he would have achieved so much more than he has already.
“I think it’s been a very difficult hurdle to overcome, and you could see his emotion towards the end, just because his first real chance to win a major, and how it went down.
“I understand he won the US Open shortly after by a record margin, but every time he went to Augusta, that was on his mind. It’s funny to me, when you see Rory’s game, every time I went down to Augusta National, I’m like, if there’s ever a golf course that is perfect for this man who can hit a high draw on command better than anybody else, has great hands and great touch, it’s him.
“He’s had so many chances. It’s just, it’s never easy. It’s very difficult. I would not be one bit surprised if this lifted a weight off his shoulders that could get him going on another run, a bit like Xander did last year. Wins one, gets another one, gets in contention many times, like Scottie [Scheffler] and many other players have done. A player of his caliber, you never know.”
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