Brandel Chamblee reveals what Donald Trump told him that made him ‘change his mind’ about a LIV Golf and PGA Tour deal

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Golf analyst Brandel Chamblee has been one of the most vocal critics of any potential PGA Tour and LIV Golf deal but he’s revealed that President Donald Trump has altered his view on a few things.

Talk of a deal between the two tours has gone quiet since rumours of a $1bn investment from the PIF into the PGA emerged in 2024.

As it stands, the two tours are operating as separate entities and both have now kicked off their respective seasons for 2024.

• READ MORE: Jon Rahm gives his honest verdict on night golf after the first round of LIV Riyadh in Saudi Arabia

Of course, there has been hope Trump being president could accelerate any deal but as of now, nothing has moved forward. Still, the PGA Tour saw fit to announce last night that they’d met with President Trump to discuss what could happen going forward.

And while reacting to that news live on air, Brandel Chamblee shared a story of his own discussions with Trump about the future of golf.

Brandel Chamblee shares what Donald Trump told him about the future of golf

Chamblee was speaking on the Golf Channel’s coverage of the WM Open and reacting directly to the announcement from the PGA Tour of their meeting with Trump.

And while Chamblee has criticised LIV in the past, he did admit Trump was quite convincing in his arguments.

‘I had the pleasure of playing with President Trump last year and almost after every hole, he would come over and talk to me about LIV Golf, about Saudi’s involvement in the game of golf, he was so magnanimous on our differences he said ‘look I know you and I differ on our opinions but here me out’,” Chamblee said.

“He said ‘Yasser (meaning the guy who runs the PIF/LIV). Yasser loves golf more than you do and more than I do’. Now that’s hard to believe because President Trump plays all the time and I’m crazy about it. He said he loves golf, he has $32tn of oil under that sand and he needs to diversify his economy.

“Every hole, he wanted to talk LIV and the Saudi involvement in the game of golf. He was like ‘Look further into the future, it’s going to be good for the PGA Tour, good for LIV, good for golf. Did I agree with him? No.

“But I will say at the end of it, he made me change my mind and made me think about Yasser as a partner in the game, and not just looking for an economic opportunity from the game.”

What Brandel Chamblee has said about LIV Golf in the past

It’s absolutely fair to say that Brandel Chamblee has had more than a few comments to make towards LIV and some of its players.

Indeed, just this week, Chamblee suggested both Talor Gooch and Joaquin Niemann were not as good as LIV thinks, while Chamblee has also dug out Jon Rahm more than once.

Furthermore, Chamblee has had a go at LIV as far back as a year ago, when he defended Rory McIlroy in the face of comments from the aforementioned Gooch.

“Yes LIV players seem oblivious to their mirror accusations. See Gooch’s quotes about McIlroy’s possible grand slam, that was chock-full of ironical humour given what his comments said about his LIV wins and his argument for world ranking points,” Chamblee said.

“LIV players lost their autonomy (and world ranking points) when they sold out to the Saudis (MBS). They have to say what they are told, play where they are told and do what they are told. MBS and his thugs, murder, jail and intimidate dissenters and are amongst the worst oppressors of women on earth and still the world of finance opens its doors to these medieval men. But finance is mostly about the bottom line, whereas sport has inherit values of delayed gratification and discipline that are meant to develop character and should be about far more than the bottom line.”

Should a deal ever be done, it will be interesting to see if Chamblee backs down or continues his verbal volleys against the LIV players.