Brandel Chamblee has never held back when it comes to his opinions on LIV Golf.
Brandel Chamblee has long been one of the sharpest and most outspoken critics of LIV Golf, regularly defending the merit-based structure of the PGA Tour and challenging the breakaway circuit’s legitimacy.
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That history is exactly why many in the golf world were eager to hear Chamblee’s response when the Official World Golf Ranking announced it would begin awarding ranking points to LIV Golf events. His reaction, delivered via social media, struck a more nuanced tone than some expected.
Chamblee backs the OWGR decision — despite his LIV stance
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Chamblee made it clear that his broader opinion on LIV Golf has not changed. However, he acknowledged that granting world ranking points was the correct move from a competitive standpoint.
In his view, elite players had been sliding down the rankings for reasons unrelated to form or performance, weakening the fundamental purpose of a “world ranking.” He argued that the OWGR had begun to resemble a gatekeeping mechanism rather than an objective evaluator of who the best players in the world actually are.
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By including LIV players, Chamblee suggested, the OWGR addressed a clear fairness issue — even if it did not resolve deeper structural problems within the ranking system itself.
Why Chamblee still believes the OWGR falls short
While accepting the decision, Chamblee was quick to underline what he sees as the OWGR’s biggest flaw: its methodology. He reiterated his belief that Data Golf offers a more accurate model for assessing true playing strength.
According to Chamblee, the OWGR places excessive weight on achievements such as major championships, finishing positions and volume of play, while failing to properly account for how a player performs within a given week. Factors like strokes gained at shot level, course difficulty, weather conditions and quality of execution are not fully integrated, making it harder to distinguish sustainable dominance from short-term variance.
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In his assessment, the OWGR remains strong at answering who has built the best résumé — but weak at predicting who is most likely to perform best next. Including LIV players may make the rankings fairer, Chamblee argued, but not necessarily more accurate as a measurement tool.
As LIV Golf’s inclusion reshapes the rankings landscape, Chamblee’s reaction reflects a wider debate: whether fairness alone is enough, or whether the sport’s primary benchmark still needs a fundamental rethink.
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