Brandel Chamblee will be NBC Sport’s analyst for the 2024 American Express tournament - Reports
NBC Sports will reportedly have yet another golf analyst at the American Express, this time being led by Brandel Chamblee. Many different analysts have sat in that chair, but this week Chamblee will reportedly take the reins and run with the broadcast. It remains to be seen how long he will be in this spot.
Josh Carpenter, a golf reporter, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter):
"NBC Sports' rotating golf analyst chair continues, as the network says Brandel Chamblee will fill the spot this week at the AmEx on the PGA Tour."
Chamblee has been a top analyst in this business for a long time, and he has plenty of experience. The former golfer first turned pro in 1985 and even won a tournament on Tour before eventually retiring and moving into analysis.
Brandel Chamblee and Phil Mickelson have a feud
Brandel Chamblee is in the public eye for many reasons, but his recent and very public beef with Phil Mickelson is a big reason why. Many modern golf fans know who he is because of this. Mickelson's move to LIV sparked a feud that has not yet ended.
Chamblee once tore into "Lefty" during an interview with Golf.com and claimed that his sole motivation for leaving the PGA Tour was money. He also believes that Mickelson was key in influencing others to leave, which is not a good thing from Chamblee's perspective.
Chamblee was quoted as saying:
“When you look at the the different players that defected to LIV, there was the you-wouldn’t-look-at-him-twice-in-Home Depot Taylor Gooch to the testosterone twin peaks of Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson to the flatulently egoed impresario Greg Norman."
He continued:
"But Phil was the only one that could really make a difference. He was the only one. And he was not motivated by altruistic thoughts. He was moved and motivated by greed and that tilted the game in that direction. And so when I think about the dilemma that the Tour was in, it wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for Phil.”
Chamblee also highlighted that not everyone succumbs to Saudi money like he believes Mickelson has.
"People are saying no to them. Not everybody, not enough. But I thought, of all the people in the world that could say no to them — and maybe this is quixotic, but I don’t think it is — it was golfers because, again, golfers answer to nobody," he added.
Mickelson isn't the only one to fall under this category, but he's arguably the most prominent. Chamblee also believes that he's the most important one to have done so, as it opened the floodgates.
Since then, many have joined. Jon Rahm is perhaps the biggest golfer to have defected from the PGA Tour, and he's also the most recent golfer to have made the switch.