Chamblee Rips LIV Golfers Over Shutdown Reality Check

Brandel Chamblee says LIV Golf stars got a 'slap in the face of reality' as the breakaway league prepares to shut down for good.

The Golf Channel analyst did not hold back in his assessment of the players who joined the Saudi-backed tour.

LIV Golf is set to officially close its doors after private capital firm BC Partners pulled its bid to relaunch the league in 2027.

The firm cited a lack of player support necessary to hold competition in the new year.

The news comes after a months-long fight by LIV Golf to stay above water.

The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which launched the league back in 2022 and attracted some of golf’s biggest stars with multi-million dollar contracts, withdrew its financial support at the end of the 2026 season.

Losing PIF’s financial backing came as a major blow to LIV Golf’s leadership.

CEO Scott O’Neil subsequently worked for several months to secure investment partners and keep the project from going bankrupt.

BC Partners, an international investment firm based in London, agreed to relaunch the league with a 17-tournament schedule that maintained the team format.

That team format is what distinguishes LIV Golf from traditional golf organizations like the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

But after failing to get player commitment, BC Partners withdrew their bid.

Chamblee, a longtime critic of LIV Golf and those who agreed to join it, made his feelings clear after the tour officially reached the end of the road this week.

“You can point the finger in a lot of places,” Chamblee said.

“In order for it to move forward, you needed some cooperation from whatever players were going to make up LIV 2.0.”

“The players and their representatives, from what I have read, were making financial demands that could not be met.”

Chamblee then framed the massive paydays the players received from the Saudis in stark terms.

“What the Saudis were paying these players, I would call hazard pay,” he said.

“They knew that they were going to take on reputational damage, they knew it would be disruptive and they knew it would be disruptive for their careers.”

The analyst pointed to the ownership stake that was on the table.

“These players were going to have 52.5 percent ownership of the product going forward,” Chamblee said.

“And the fact they were unwilling to take on that ownership tells you that they didn't have any belief that it would work.”

He delivered his most cutting line as a verdict on the players’ sense of their own value.

“They all thought they were beachfront property in Malibu but the market was telling them your timeshare is in Toledo,” Chamblee said.

“Finally they got a slap in the face of reality.”

The amount of money being doled out to LIV Golf players via contracts and tournament prize money was, of course, the main draw.

Twenty-five million dollars or more was awarded to the individuals and teams who won each tournament.

That kind of money attracted stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm to leave the PGA Tour for a brand-new, unproven breakaway league.

Many like Chamblee were critical of golfers like DeChambeau and Rahm for their choices to join the Saudi-backed tour.

Critics claimed the players were fueled by greed rather than continuing to play at the highest level of competition in the PGA Tour.

Now, with LIV Golf set to fold, Chamblee is having the last laugh.