STRIPED or SHANKED: Is Chamblee Right…Is Rory Past His Prime?

It’s getting to the point that anything that comes out of Brandel Chamblee’s mouth is hot take that is likely not going to be well-received.

In the interest of “sticking it to the LIV golfers,” Chamblee claimed that THE PLAYERS Championship—and event, unsurprisingly, owned (and controlled) by the PGA TOUR (unlike the other four Majors)—should become golf’s fifth Major.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Unfortunately, however, that may not be Chamblee’s most ridiculous take for 2023. Instead, Chamblee has decided to now turn on, perhaps, the PGA TOUR’s most loyal individual, Rory McIlroy, and claim that he’s past his prime:

Brandel Chamblee is a walking take quake 🐐. This one has it all. 1. Rory not in his physical prime 2. Cross-sport comp 3. “Optical acuity.”

Hate him or love him, you watch. shoutout Pete Weber pic.twitter.com/k5vINvTjdh

— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) July 23, 2023

Apparently Chamblee was asleep when Rory crushed a 375 yard drive onto the par-4, 18th at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play earlier this year, but I digress…

Nearly a Rory HOLE-IN-ONE on the par 4 18th! #DellMatchPlay pic.twitter.com/lPSVy3RBk3

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 23, 2023

It is no secret that, since 2007, Rory has been promoted as the next-generation’s Tiger Woods. And while his career got off to a hot start, amassing 4 Major wins in a 3-year period, Rory hasn’t lived up to expectations—despite a 2nd place finish in the 2022 Masters—in recent (and while Rory missed the cut at the 2023 Masters, he finished 7th at the PGA Championship, 2nd at the U.S. Open, and 6th at The Open Championship).

While some may be quick to claim that married life and becoming a father have become a “distraction,” the simple fact is that professional golf has become significantly more competitive during the latter half of Rory’s career.

Case and point: Brooks Koepka had an unprecedented Majors-run during 2017-19, which were immediately followed by Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler having similarly dominant performances during Majors.

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That said, Rory has heavily invested in his fitness and physical and mental well-being in recent. As is well documented, Rory is a WHOOP investor and has been actively tracking his health metrics for years now. He’s since combined that with Normatec, a recovery device that promotes increased blood flow, thera-massage guns and epsom salt baths.

But Rory’s swing or fitness have never been his biggest weakness; instead, it’s been his mind. And I genuinely believe, as demonstrated by his recent performance in the Scottish Open, putting the PGA-DPWT-LIV dispute in the rearview mirror will allow him to focus on the competition at hand.

Chamblee’s take seems to ignore all of this and, instead, comes off as something that was done to just keep him relevant and generate clicks. And while it’s highly unlikely that Rory (or anyone else for that matter) will have a Tiger Woods-esqe dominance over the sport, I do believe that Rory will be a name that frequently finds itself at the top of a leaderboard for the foreseeable future.

Cover Image via Twitter