Sign up for our daily newsletter

Want latest news, reviews, analysis, deals, and events, and offers from our commercial partners? We’ve got you.

Put a microphone in front of Brandel Chamblee, ask him about Tiger Woods, and fireworks will invariably soon go off.

Just a few days on from telling a Golf Digest podcast that the 14-time major winner arguably “got the least out of his talent of any player, maybe in history”, the Golf Channel analyst was at it again, this time on “The Dan Patrick Show.”

Chamblee, who recently played his first competitive golf in over a decade at the Senior Open, said that Woods would have broken Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major victories had it not been for one thing in particular.

• Rickie Fowler pays tribute to Jarrod Lyle at US PGA Championship

• US PGA Championship endures disastrous start on ELEVEN SPORTS

Lifting weights.

Patrick asked Chamblee: “Finish this thought, Brandel: ‘If Tiger doesn’t lift weights…’

Chamblee, pictured below, responded: “He would have won 20-plus major championships and 100-plus events.”

Brandel Chamblee

He went on to say that he reckoned Woods would, right now, still be hitting the ball as long or longer than any other player on the PGA Tour had he spent less time in the gym.

• Oh dear! Open winnings paid to the WRONG Tommy Fleetwood!

• Tiger Woods really wants this rookie to make the US Ryder Cup team

“When he started working out – and he still managed to win the Masters, obviously in 2000, 2001, 2005 – but he was averaging [drives] along the lines of 290, 280,” said Chamblee. “Never sniffed what he was averaging when he was a kid. That sinewy, that quick-snapping speed was what he had and it was a gift. He traded all of that speed for strength, and I think it was purely for vanity reasons.

“He has an obsession with perfection. Perfect golf swing, he’s changed his swing three or four times, cost him two years he did it. Changed his body because he was looking for the perfect body – who knows what that’s cost him in time and injuries and majors and tournaments.”

More Reads

Image Turnberry green

The bunkered Golf Course Guide - Scotland

Now, with bunkered, you can discover the golf courses Scotland has to offer. Trust us, you will not be disappointed.

Find Courses

Latest podcast

The PLAYERS Championship