Golf commentator and long-time LIV Tour opponent Brandel Chamblee is changing his tune after playing a round with President Trump.

Chamblee had criticized the Saudi-led LIV, calling it an effort by the “murderous regime” to shift focus from alleged human rights violations to sports ventures.

“Money comes from the sewer and the product stinks worse than the source,” the Golf Channel analyst once said of LIV.

But this week, the former professional golfer changed his tune. 

“I had the pleasure of playing with President Trump last year, and almost after every single hole, when we would putt out, he would want to come over and talk to me about LIV Golf, about Saudi involvement in the game of golf,” Chamblee said. “He was so magnanimous about our differences.”

The newly inaugurated president, an avid golfer himself, made enough points to make Chamblee think twice about the Saudi venture.

“They have $32 trillion worth of oil underneath that sand, and they really have to diversity their economy. He said they are all-in on this and they’re not going anywhere,” Chamblee said. “As the round progressed, he would want to talk almost every hole about LIV, about the Saudi involvement and how excited he was for it.”

On the campaign trail last year, the president said he could broker a deal between the rival PGA and LIV tours “in 15 minutes.”

If Chamblee is to be believed, a merger could be in sight.

“My issues were about the human rights concerns and about how golf was going to have to at some point apologize for some issue,” Chamblee said. “And he was like, ‘Just look farther into the future. It’s going to be good for Saudi Arabia, it’s going to be good for the PGA Tour, it’s going to be good for LIV.’”

There’s still no deal in sight to merge the two tours, but LIV CEO Scott O’Neil is optimistic about the president’s involvement.

“If the leader of the free world is spending his time on golf, [then] I am very happy,” O’Neil told Al Arabiya News. “This game matters. It gives values that this world needs more of right now. It brings us together with connectivity.”

• Liam Griffin can be reached at lgriffin@washingtontimes.com.