It’s been ten years since Rory McIlroy won his last major championship. When he walked off the green of Valhalla in 2014, many golf fans thought the Northern Irishman would win a handful more by the time 2024 came around. However, McIlroy has come up short in the decade that’s passed since that day.

• Related: ‘I thought it was a bot, but it’s just somebody who’s been bought’ – Brandel Chamblee’s stinging assessment of Anthony Kim

While speaking with GolfWRX, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee gave his opinion as to why McIlroy has come up empty.

“I just think he can’t find a place mentally where he plays his best golf.”

“If you go back and look at what he did from 2011-2014, in that stretch, he led roughly 20% of the rounds he played in major championships. His game has not fallen off, not one bit.

He’s, on paper, pretty much the same player he was. He’s not quite the ball striker he was 2011-2014, not quite, but he’s made up for it with his short game around the greens and on the greens. He’s almost the same player.

“Yet, he’s led just two rounds beginning with the 2015 Masters to the 2024 Masters. I just think that tells you he can’t find the proper way to prepare, the proper way to ease into a round. When he’s needed to play his best, he’s played his worst. When he’s played his worst, he’s then followed it up with his best golf. That’ll tell you that he’s just not in the right place mentally.”

Chamblee did say that he believes his win at Quail Hollow last week may have a positive impact on McIlroy’s chances going forward.

“I said last week, and I believe it, that beginning in the final round on Golf Central that I thought that round could echo. It could influence how he plays not just this week but the rest of this year and going forward. He needed to go out and dominate.”

McIlroy will look to end the major drought this week at Valhalla.

Check out the full interview with Chamblee below:

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Last Friday, LIV Golf’s Anthony Kim took to his X account to lambaste Golf Channel analyst, Brandel Chamblee.

• Related: Brandel Chamblee: Why the format of LIV prevents anyone from judging the talents of the players

Kim said (in reference to Chamblee saying the PGA Tour should now accept a deal with the Saudi PIF) “ur such a pu**y 4 beating on ur chest & basically saying never retreat & hypocritically retreat.”

Chamblee responded, saying that Kim’s post was “inaccurate as some of Phil Mickelson’s drives”.

This is about as inaccurate as a lot of Mickelson’s drives and sadly ironical coming two tweets after you asked for advice on raising your daughter that you would refer to someone as a female body part in a juvenile attempt to denigrate them. It’s clear that you were not offered… https://t.co/LVeSgfZenG

— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) May 11, 2024

“This is about as inaccurate as a lot of Mickelson’s drives and sadly ironical coming two tweets after you asked for advice on raising your daughter that you would refer to someone as a female body part in a juvenile attempt to denigrate them. It’s clear that you were not offered disability for your pithy takes. As for your criticism of me saying a deal with the Saudis is the best deal for golf right now, it’s something I’ve said recently, because I don’t think the Saudis are going to turn away from the game and they will continue to be a poaching threat and dilute the product of the PGA Tour. It’s the sad reality of you and your brethren on the LIV tour willingly dealing with a murderous dictator for profit so that he can hide his atrocities, that golf has had to try to figure out how to mitigate the influence of MBS, PIF and LIV in the otherwise philanthropical and merit based world of professional golf. Now why don’t you get back to doing what you formerly did best, which is to wow the world with your talent. I don’t like LIV for a lot of reasons, but I certainly enjoyed your golf and would love to see you playing anything like the semblance of the golfer you used to be.”‘

On Tuesday during an interview with GolfWRX, Chamblee addressed the feud between Kim and himself.

“At first, I thought it was a bot. But it’s not, it was just somebody who’s been bought.

I thought it was juvenile. Social media is a perfect place for juveniles to go behave like children, like the ball pit at McDonalds without adult supervision.”

Chamblee added:

“I’m sure Anthony Kim scrolls and gets positive comments and says ‘yeah, these people get me! I’m doing the right thing’. And it’s just juvenile and sad is what it is.

I feel sorry for him”.

Brandel Chamblee is in the booth this week for the 2024 PGA Championship from Valhalla that will feature 16 LIV pros but no Anthony Kim.

Check out the full interview with Chamblee below:

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While speaking with GolfWRX, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee explained why he believes the LIV format makes it impossible to determine if a LIV player is playing well.

Describing the format as “stupid”, Chamblee stated

“The format for LIV is just stupid. There’s no other word for it. 54 holes, 54 players start. Willy nilly here and there.

Nobody winning a golf tournament should finish on the third hole on some par three while his closest competitors finish on the 17th hole or the 18th hole.”

When we asked Brandel if LIV players should be in majors, Chamblee indicated that it would be tough to do with no way to truly measure their performance.

“It’s just a laughable concept. There’s no way to judge the talents of these players out there. You look at their data, and again, their data is laughable. It’s very hard to hit 75% of your greens and it looks like everybody on their tour is hitting 75% of greens. Who’s keeping their stats? Who’s doing their data? They haven’t gotten their act together.”

Brandel then compared the current situation to the when the European Tour was at its peak.

“There was a way to judge the European Tour. Guys are playing 72-hole events, tough conditions, windy and they shoot fifteen under par. You think ‘good gosh, is Ian Woosnam really that good?’ He shows up at the Masters, Berhard Langer, Jose Maria, Jose comes over to the world series and wins by 12. You think, ‘these guys are amazing’.”

Chamblee concludes that if LIV players want to get in majors they “need to find a way to qualify”.

“They went to play on a Tour that they knew didn’t qualify for world ranking points. So, if they want to get in majors, they’re going to have to figure out a way to qualify, the way Joaquin Niemann did. Go play some events that we can clearly judge the kind of player that you are.

The format of LIV is just not conducive to judgement.”

16 LIV players will be teeing it up at this week’s PGA Championship. Chamblee will be part of the broadcast team for the event.

Check out the full interview with Chamblee below:

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