Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee Claims Jon Rahm Is a Man Who Could Be Bought

Jon Rahm is at Augusta National Golf Club as the defending champion of the Masters Tournament, but his move to LIV Golf continues to draw the most attention. The Spaniard fielded questions on the topic during a round of press conferences, and his answers generated a lot of reaction.

Specifically, Jon Rahm said that he may have been the tipping point in negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Hours later, well-known Golf Channel commentator Brandel Chamblee used his time on camera to give his take on Rahm’s statement.

Here is a portion of what Chamblee had to say about Jon Rahm’s words (via NUCLR Golf):

“Jon Rahm thought his departure was gonna be the tipping point. It wasn’t the tipping point at all, but generally speaking, I think that he went from being viewed as his own man to being somebody that could be bought. He went from being viewed as somebody who would state their principle very clearly of history and legacy, and then turns back on those principles for money and finances.”

“The thread that runs through every single aspect of life, and none of us can really say who held the money that we have in our hands before we did, but when you know exactly who is paying you and exactly what they’re paying you for and at its core is malevolent in nature, you can’t pretend that the impulse to take the money is good when it was so heavily fertilized in greed.”

Brandel Chamblee is a well-known opponent of LIV Golf and the general idea of Saudi Arabian government involvement in professional golf. His views are based on allegations of human rights abuses made against Saudi authorities.

Chamblee was not alone in commenting on Jon Rahm‘s remarks during his press conference. Fellow former professional player and golf commentator Notah Begay III had this to say (via NUCLR Golf)

“What I heard up there in the press conference was someone trying to convince himself that the decision he made to go to is justified and it is certainly in his bank account, but I don’t think he’s going to be as prepared.”

What Jon Rahm said during the press conference

Jon Rahm used his press conference time to talk about a variety of topics, not the least of which was his comparison between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Here’s what he had to say:

“I still hope that at some point I can compete there again. You do miss competing against certain people. But I’ve had so much to focus on. The dynamic has changed. I’m a team leader, a team captain. I’ve had a lot of fun playing in those events. The competition’s still there. They’re smaller fields, but you still have to beat some of the best players in the world and you still have to play at the same level you have to play on the PGA Tour to win those events. That doesn’t change.”

It was also interesting to hear Jon Rahm’s thoughts on the new dynamic of team golf. The Spaniard assured that he is really enjoying this new vision of professional golf:

“It’s been fun to be part of a team. It’s one of the driving factors for me to make the change. It’s fun to be a part of a family and part of a common goal. And enjoying those team victories has been really, really fun. Usually on a Sunday, like last week, I would not have been thrilled by the way I finished, [but I] had a team goal to actually celebrate. I mean, that is actually kind of fun.”

“Something that I was jealous of from many other sports [is] when you win as an individual, you do all your commitments, you wake up the next day, and that’s it. It’s not like there’s a shared emotion after that like you see when a team maybe wins a Super Bowl or the NBA Finals or the World Series.”

Jon Rahm will play in the Masters Tournament starting this Thursday, April 11th in group number 13, which he shares with Matt Fitzpatrick and Nick Dunlap. His tee time is 10:30 am on Thursday and 1:36 pm on Friday.