Brandel Chamblee has rarely, if ever, warmed to Jon Rahm’s game lately. Blame the Spaniard’s LIV Golf jump or his major-championship performances in recent times, both points of contention in Chamblee’s book. But some fans have started appreciating the pro’s game at least LIV, but Chamblee hasn’t. So, no surprise when, instead of congratulating Rahm on his recent LIV win, Chamblee mocked him.

In a tweet following Rahm’s six-shot win in Mexico and his second of the season, Chamblee wrote on X, “He beat players who sacrificed their careers to play on a tour that was hotter cooked than eaten.”

No points for guessing what players Chamblee is talking about because he has often left no doubt about what he feels about players like Rahm, who traded their “legacy and relevance” for a paycheck. In fact, you could pick just one name out of Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, and other young pros like Josele Ballester, and you’d still be right. DeChambeau, for instance, was coming off the high of two wins at LIV against a field of 57 players, with sky-high expectations surrounding him. Yet, he missed the cut at the Masters.

Chamblee has previously targeted their performance. Ahead of the Masters in a The Favorite Chamblee episode, for instance, he called out Rahm and DeChambeau, dubbing their greens-in-regulation stats “laughable.” In fact, Rahm’s 82.22% and DeChambeau’s 77% struck him as downright “dubious.”

Following the opening round at the Masters, Chamblee said of Rahm, “I’m more surprised at Jon Rahm than Bryson,” and added that it’s like “he forgot to play the game.” Rahm eventually finished T38, worse than last year when he ended Sunday at T14.

But he didn’t limit his criticism to Rahm or DeChambeau. When Brooks Koepka defected back to the PGA Tour in January 2026, Chamblee argued on X that LIV Golf had failed its players and the sport itself. Chamblee used viewership numbers to strengthen his point. In April 2026, he posted that LIV’s 2025 season finale, won by Rahm, drew only 55,000 viewers on Prime Time. That’s a little compared to the numbers the Tour draws in.

On the other hand, Chamblee could also be hinting at the many times ex-LIV pros have complained about unfulfilled promises by the league, such as the OWGR points, a problem that LIV has resolved to some extent. But the major target of this sardonic comment happens to be the recent rumors surrounding LIV Golf and its future. He has even commented on that, calling LIV a concept “so ill-conceived” that it “ended up being worse than anyone could have imagined.”

Golf media is currently buzzing with whispers that LIV Golf could fold after 2026. CEO Scott O’Neil’s slip of the tongue, hinting at no more Public Investment Fund (PIF) cash next season, fueled the fire. One golf insider even revealed that LIV and other sports arm divisions of PIF haven’t invested “any fresh capital for the last 6 months. So when you hear ‘Well, it’s, you know, the war and all this kind of stuff,’ it really isn’t.”

That means LIV Golf is no longer a viable option for any pro in Chamblee’s dictionary, if it ever was.

But Rahm’s win is remarkable, even if Chamblee has bones to pick. The Spanish pro’s win in Mexico propelled him to the top 20 in the world. That’s some 75 places jump in nearly three months.

Following the win, an elated Rahm said, “If you would have told me last week on Thursday afternoon that I’d be winning by a six-shot margin this week, I would not have believed you because of how bad I played,”

On the other hand, Chamblee’s pointed jab from Mexico City didn’t come in a vacuum; it was a direct follow-up to Rahm’s struggles just a week earlier at the Masters.

Jon Rahm’s Masters collapse sets up the LIV Golf debate

In the first round of the Masters, Rahm shot a 78 without a single birdie, finishing six over par and eleven shots behind the leaders, Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns. Speaking on Golf Channel, Chamblee argued that Rahm’s game had declined, attributing it to his time on LIV. He claimed that two years on the circuit had eroded Rahm’s competitive edge and said that LIV players, as a group, had regressed due to the tour’s lower intensity.

Rahm pushed back after his second round at Augusta.

“Yesterday was just an anomaly where everything that could go wrong went wrong.”

Rahm argued LIV offers the same level of preparation as any other tour. He made the cut at Augusta, finished tied for 38th at one over par, and then traveled to Mexico City for his next event.

Rahm offered a dominant response to his critics at the LIV Golf Mexico City event, cruising to a six-shot victory with a bogey-free 64 that included a tap-in eagle on the third hole, effectively putting the tournament out of reach before the back nine even began

Chamblee, however, did not address Rahm’s win directly. Instead, he focused on the quality of the competition and questioned whether the LIV environment challenges its players.

While Rahm’s dominant win in Mexico City served as a rebuttal, it did little to settle the larger debate Chamblee continues to champion: whether a victory on LIV truly carries the same weight as one on the PGA Tour.