Tiger Woods is one of the greatest golfers to ever play the game. He has 82 PGA Tour wins, which ties him with Sam Snead for the most in history. He has also won 15 major championships, second only to Jack Nicklaus, who has 18. For most people, those numbers are staggering. But for Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, they represent a career that fell well short of what it could have been.
Chamblee appeared on The Dan Patrick Show earlier this week to preview the 2026 Masters tournament at Augusta National. The conversation turned to Tiger Woods, and Patrick asked Chamblee a simple but loaded question about what might have been different in Woods’ career. Chamblee’s answer was direct. According to Brobible, he said that if Woods had never lifted weights, he would have “probably won 125 golf tournaments and 25 majors.”
To back up his claim, Chamblee pointed to a practice round at Augusta in 1995 or 1996, where Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer watched a teenage Woods play. After watching him, the two legends reportedly said Woods would win more Masters than both of them combined, which would mean at least 12 titles. Chamblee also noted that the teenage Woods was averaging 346 yards off the tee, without the equipment advantages players have today.
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Chamblee has been saying this for years, and he is not backing down
This is not the first time Chamblee has made this argument. He made similar comments back in 2018, when he said Woods “traded all of that speed for strength” and called the decision purely about vanity. He has long believed that Woods’ natural swing speed as a young player was his greatest gift, and that building muscle took it away.
In his recent comments, Chamblee did acknowledge Woods’ greatness. He said the injuries and multiple swing changes were what ultimately kept Woods from becoming the all-time major champion that many had expected. But he stopped short of letting the weightlifting off the hook.
Woods has had a difficult few years. He has not won a major since 2019. A serious car accident in 2021 left him with significant leg injuries, and he has never fully returned to competitive golf since. Achilles injuries in particular can be brutal for athletes, as seen with how Jayson Tatum has mentally approached his own Achilles comeback and what it means for Boston’s playoff run. Woods was not able to play in this year’s Masters either, dealing with yet another setback.
Chamblee also used his time on The Dan Patrick Show to comment on LIV Golf. He said the PGA Tour had won its battle against the Saudi-backed league. He pointed out that even when big names like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are playing, LIV broadcasts draw only around 35,000 to 50,000 viewers in the United States. Chamblee compared those numbers to pickleball viewership on television.
Whether Chamblee is right about Woods and weightlifting will always be up for debate. What is certain is that Woods’ career ended up far differently than almost anyone predicted. For fans interested in how physical setbacks shape an athlete’s later years, the story of Tatum returning to the place where he got hurt and what drives him now offers an interesting parallel.
Published: Apr 10, 2026 01:00 pm