In late February, we reported on a story about Rory McIlroy‘s former agent, Chubby Chandler, saying how he believed there was “a possibility” of the Northern Irishman defecting from the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf.
And while Chandler, who was once a player himself on the European Tour and founded International Sports Management, no longer believes that, he still has plenty of thoughts on his former client.
In an exclusive interview facilitated by our friends at Press Box PR on behalf of BetIdeas.com, I had the chance to speak with Chandler on March 11 on a variety of topics, obviously including McIlroy.
During our highly entertaining chat, Chandler opined on McIlroy’s current struggles with the flat stick, saying he’s “always been a weak putter,” his thoughts on “how wronged Rory had been by the PGA Tour,” who he believes is the real second-best player in the world behind Scottie Scheffler, his overall thoughts on when the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will finally merge, and more.
Here are the highlights from Heavy’s exclusive interview with Chubby Chandler.
Chubby Chandler Says Rory McIlroy Has ‘Always Been a Weak Putter’
As I spoke with Chandler the day after the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which wrapped up on March 10, we naturally discussed how dominant Scottie Scheffler was during his five-stroke victory at Bay Hill. Rory McIlroy tied for 21st at the event, and while he putted better than he had in recent starts, he still struggled at times with the flat stick.
We discussed the overall state of McIlroy’s game, his performance at Bay Hill, and specifically got into Rory’s putting. Here’s what Chandler had to say:
“I think this week was probably quite worrying to him because he played like all the rest do, and that’s not often. He had two hours where he played unbelievable golf. That back nine on Saturday was amazing, but the rest of the time was pretty average.
“And right now, you can’t see much past Scheffler. He’s been playing so well and putting so badly, but if he actually gets the putting together, he could be better than everybody most weeks. His stats have been amazing.
“I think [Rory] has always been a weak putter. He’s always been an average putter. Now and again, he gets above average, and he wins. But most of the time, he’s an average putter compared to some of the guys.”
Chandler Believes Joaquin Niemann, Not Rory, Is the Second-Best Player in the World
From there, I asked Chandler, who’s a big fan of LIV Golf, if he believed Scheffler was indeed the top player in the world, given the talent on the Saudi-backed circuit, to which he replied that he did.
However, despite McIlroy’s ranking as the second-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, Chandler doesn’t believe his former client deserves that spot. Instead, he opts for Joaquin Niemann, who’s won two of the four LIV Golf events played thus far in 2024 and also notched a win at the Australian Open to close his 2023 campaign.
“Yeah, well, [Niemann] is obviously one of the best players in the world at the moment. You know, you don’t beat those guys like he has done without being a very good player. We forget that they’re really good players. The fact that they’re playing over three rounds with a DJ and stuff behind them makes us forget that it’s still proper golf.”
I also asked Chandler about the OWGR itself and whether the world rankings mean anything, given that those in LIV Golf can’t receive points.
“It’s very easy to answer that. I don’t think you can take any notice of them at all. And I think when they swallow their pride—you read about how much they’re influenced by the PGA Tour—at some stage, somebody’s got to sort of say this is crazy because there are 20 guys not in the top 50 who should be.”
Niemann, of course, will be one of many LIV players at The Masters, and Chandler is very much looking forward to Augusta, saying, “One of the nice storylines for The Masters is the LIV guys versus the PGA Tour guys.”
Chandler Says McIlroy Was ‘Wronged’ by the PGA Tour
Chandler and I also discussed the recently released second season of the highly acclaimed Netflix series Full Swing, the first two episodes of which dive into the still-pending merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
Rory McIlroy, of course, was a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board for a time (a role he’s since left) and has never hidden his disdain for LIV as a whole. The four-time major winner was essentially the face of the PGA Tour in its fight against LIV before the proposed merger, which surprised just about everyone, including McIlroy, when it was announced, which Full Swing highlighted at length.
Here’s what Chandler had to say on the matter:
“[Full Swing] highlighted how wronged Rory had been by the PGA Tour. I mean, he’s been sat up there and was the spokesman for 15 months, was very outspoken, and then they didn’t bother to tell him that they were going to pull out the rug from under his feet and make him actually look pretty stupid. And I feel sorry for him.
“I think he wasted a year of his golf career being involved in a lot of the things that, in the end, nobody listened to. And you’d have never got Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods doing that.”
Chandler Shares Thoughts on When PGA Tour and LIV Golf Will Finally Merge
GettyAndrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler circa July 2022.
Chandler also offered his thoughts on when he believes the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will finally merge and discussed how the two measure up to one another.
“I think what’ll happen is LIV will continue as it is for this year and next. And it’s pretty obvious what should happen. The PGA Tour should play from January to August, and then LIV should play from September to November or early December.
“Because if you see what’s happened — I quite like watching LIV; I’ve gotten quite into it. I’ve been to Hong Kong many times, and they’ve never had a field like they had this week.
“So you can see that when they travel around like Formula 1, it’s going to be a big deal for everybody. And it was very obvious that the crowds this week in Hong Kong were much bigger than they are when LIV is in the States, or Mexico, or wherever.
“And if LIV services the rest of the world and then a bit of America, then it’s doing a decent job, I think. To me, it’s a take off the Indian Premier League (cricket) and F1. I think it’s somewhere between the two. And if it’s half as successful as either, I think it’s going to do alright.
“I think by the end of next year, something will have happened to bring them together. If Tiger were still playing, it would be different. But he isn’t going to play again, at least not enough to make a difference on the PGA Tour.
“So when I think of the PGA Tour, a regular event, they don’t even stand up against LIV. This weekend’s Signature Event is probably a similar-strength field, maybe slightly stronger on the PGA Tour. The non-Signature Events in no way compare with LIV.”
We want to thank Chubby Chandler for his time and the folks at Press Box PR and BetIdeas.com for setting up the interview.
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