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‘One of the saddest days in the history of pro golf’ – Brandel Chamblee blasts PGA Tour-LIV merger

Published

4 months ago

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The fallout from today’s stunning news has probably just started.

After two years of wrangling – both verbal and legal – players discussing their loyalty to here and there, social media rows amongst former united professionals and huge fines for playing on the ‘other side’, golf has suddenly and, completely unexpectedly, come together.

After a fairly quiet winter, rows between the former rivals have escalated over the past few weeks with the most notable, and visual, being that between six-time major winner and the man that brought LIV to the public eye, Phil Mickelson and Brandel Chamblee, notable anti-LIV broadcaster.

Both players made their feelings clear after the PGA Tour released the shock news, with 2023 PGA Champion Brooks Koepka, calling for a health check on the Golf Channel anchor.

Golf fans around the world have been waiting to hear the thoughts of Chamblee, and in the last few hours, the 60-year-old has been speaking on Golf Channel, saying in part:

“When I first heard about it [the joint agreement], I was completely shocked,” revealed the one-time PGA Tour winner.

“I can’t imagine that too many people outside of maybe the two, three, four or five people that were in the room would have known anything about it,” he admitted.

 

Continuing to still look astounded at today’s developments, Chamblee continued.

“After the shock had ebbed away, I was hugely disappointed,” he said before revealing,

“This was one of the saddest days in the history of professional golf,”

Coincidentally, a phrase he used back in June 2022, when the PGA Tour banned former players that took part in the LIV International Series.

“I do believe that the governing bodies, the entities, the professional entities have sacrificed their principles for profit. And then, of course, I tried to imagine what circumstances would have led to such a capitulation.”

“I think there are three things likely that would have led to something like this,” he surmised, before explaining.

“Intractable legal issues going on, indefinitely into the future, no doubt with legal vulnerability on both sides of this issue. And the only people that stood to profit from that were the lawyers that were involved.”

Check out Brandel Chamblee’s entire Golf Channel segment from today here.

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‘It was devastating’ – Keegan Bradley reveals the call he got that made him believe he was on Ryder Cup team

Published

8 hours ago

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Sep 21, 2023

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This week, Keegan Bradley was a guest on the Foreplay Podcast. The 37-year-old was one of the players who seemingly narrowly missed a spot on the Ryder Cup team, and shared a heart wrenching story of how it all went down.

Apparently, Zach Johnson texted all of the players in consideration for a Captain’s pick that they’d be getting a call the following day about whether or not they’ve made the team.

When the next day arrived, Keegan got a call from Netflix, who said “Keegan, we got a camera crew five minutes from your house.”

At that moment, Bradley let himself believe that meant he was going to be heading to Rome for the Ryder Cup.

“Why would they be sending a camera crew if I’m not to get picked? For the first time, I let my brain think I did it.”

He then said he knew immediately by the tone of Zach’s voice that he wasn’t going to be picked.

“It was devastating.”

You can catch the full episode here.

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Brooks Koepka explains why he understood the case for and against picking Dustin Johnson for the Ryder Cup

Published

16 hours ago

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Sep 21, 2023

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Brooks Koepka is the lone LIV golfer in next week’s Ryder Cup. This will be the 33-year-old’s fourth Ryder Cup, and second in Europe. In his three prior Ryder Cups, Koepka is 6-5-1 overall, including 2-0-1 in singles matches.

Koepka was extremely close to being an automatic qualifier but slipped out of the final spot during the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The five-time major champion spoke about his Ryder Cup preparation prior to this week’s LIV Chicago event, in which he will be taking a flight to Rome directly after.

“My whole mindset has been to practice for (the Ryder Cup) the last few weeks. I mean, look, I think it’s one of the top six, seven biggest sporting events you can have. It’s a little bit more eyeballs, a little bit more pressure.”

When asked if he “plays for legacy” now after all he’s accomplished, Koepka said “I think everybody remembers their record”.

“I think everybody remembers their record, or that’s kind of what you’re known by, wins, losses. Poulter has pretty much made a career on that. Yeah, I think you can.”

While speaking with Sports Illustrated this week, Brooks was asked about the fact that Dustin Johnson, who went 5-0 at Whistling Straits in 2021, was not chosen as a captains pick this time around.

“I get the case for DJ. He played great the last time, played great last year. Hasn’t really played that great this year … or hasn’t played to DJ’s standard. That’s a better way to put that. And he didn’t play well in the majors. So I can see why he didn’t get a pick. But if they had picked him, it’s DJ and I could see that one as well.”

Although there will be no other LIV players in Rome, Koepka said he’s not worried about who he plays with and can “play with anybody”.

“I can play with anybody, and I will play with anybody.”

It will be interesting to see who Koepka is paired with next week at Marco Simone.

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Free agent Matt Fitzpatrick explains why he can’t play golf clubs made by these two manufacturers

Published

16 hours ago

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Sep 21, 2023

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The 2022 U.S. Open Champion, Matt Fitzpatrick, is currently an equipment free agent. He recently sat down with GolfMagic to discuss why he isn’t tied down with a manufacturer and what his outlook is going forward.

“I struggle with TaylorMade and Callaway clubs because of the way their woods and hybrids are designed. The soles aren’t very good for me so my interaction with the turf is terrible with those. Until that changes, I’d never be able to get on with them. PING and Titleist have always been a little bit better for me.”

With TaylorMade and Callaway off the table, Fitzpatrick is currently using Titleist TSi3 and is also experimenting with a Titleist TSR3.

According to the photos captured by GolfMagic, Fitz is still using his Bettinardi BB1 Fitz, but also has a different Bettinardi prototype he’s experimenting with in Rome.

With tight fairways at Marco Simone, the Englishman will be hoping that whichever driver he chooses keeps him in the fairway at next week’s Ryder Cup.

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