Brandel Chamblee is yet again been chosen to serve as the NBC lead analyst for the Houston Open. Chamblee is one of the most renowned commentators on golf and is popular for his commentary at major tournaments and other PGA Tour events. Thus, this is the second time Chamblee is acting as a replacement for Paul Azinger after Azinger’s contract ended with NBC last year.
Chamblee also worked for NBC earlier this year at The American Express, where Nick Dunlap came out triumphant. Apart from Chamblee, Kevin Kisner also served in three PGA Tour events as a golf analyst. He appeared at The Sentry, followed by the WM Phoenix Open, and then at the Players Championship. Thus, quite relevantly, NBC has been trying to find a permanent installment in the role of the analyst but, until now, couldn’t find anybody suitable. Reflecting on the same, Chamblee sat down for an interview to talk about this role and if he wishes to take this full-time or not.
Brandel Chamblee Reflects Upon His Intentions Regarding His Role
Speaking in an interview at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Chamblee reflected that he’d like to be in this analyst role at the Houston Open. He also shared about how his ‘Live-From’ role is different from this as he gets 90-second breakdowns there but only 5–9 seconds in these PGA Tour events. Then, he went on to talk about how challenging the analyst role is as one has to know the players pretty well; not just their names, but other nuances, faces, shot shapes, and highs and lows.
Chamblee was also asked to shed his opinion about who could do this job better. To which, he replied,
“I think there are several people that can do that job. It’s a very hard job, and by the way, it’s very hard to follow Johnny Miller. Following Johnny Miller in that role is like following Robin Williams on stage. It’s just not going to look good no matter who you are because Johnny was a god at that role, and I think that was probably — it’s going to be troubling for anybody in that role..”
He talked about how imitating Johnny Miller was tough.
Brandel Chamblee gets another turn in the analyst chair for NBC/Golf Channel this week at the Houston Open. Alongside Brad Faxon and Curt Byrum pic.twitter.com/S2DNHm39AY
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) March 27, 2024
The LIV Golf critic talked about how Luke Donald and Geoff Ogilvy would be suitable for this role. Chamblee thinks that one has to be articulate and thoughtful to be an analyst, and be equally hardworking to make this work.
“Whoever ends up sitting in that chair permanently, it’s not enough that they have played the game at a high level. It’s not enough that they’re articulate. It’s not enough that they’re opinionated even. They’ve got to work their butt off at it to bring all that together.”
Lastly, Chamblee also suggested to opt for Tiger Woods for the role because he knows everything about the players. At the end of the discussion, he was asked to pick who the better player was between Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell had they stayed on the tour. Chamblee picked Graeme since the LIV golfer has worked hard for his game and knows how to play it well.
Chamblee has been a strong critic of the Saudi-backed league, and believes that it has no place in the sport as it has only disrupted the game rather than do any good.
