CBS Sports tees off its 2020 PGA Tour season next Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Farmers Insurance Open (3-6 p.m. ET) from Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California.
The network, which will air 20 Tour events, debuts its new announce team with host Jim Nantz, and lead analyst and six-time major champion Nick Faldo anchoring coverage from the 18th tower. Davis Love III makes his CBS Sports debut, alongside analysts Ian Baker-Finch, Frank Nobilo, Dottie Pepper, Mark Immelman and reporter Amanda Balionis.
When asked during a media conference call to predict when Tiger Woods would break the record he shares with Sam Snead and capture his 83rd Tour title, Faldo picked the Masters, where CBS will broadcast for the 65th consecutive year. Woods has won five times and is the defending champion.
“He’s only good when he plays golf courses that have got minimal rough and pine trees left and right,” Faldo said, noting those circumstances happened to be three victories. “I don’t know how he can create the emotion again of what it meant to win his 15th (major)… If the weather is good – it needs to be warm for his back – he’s got a shot at Augusta… You never know what might happen at Augusta again.”
Nantz looked into his crystal ball and predicted Tiger may win even sooner.
“Hardest thing in the world to do in sports is to try to predict who will win a golf tournament, but Tiger in his prime was the surest bet,” he said. “I know when he got 82 I was walking into a stadium and someone came over to me and said, ‘Any regrets you didn’t get to call No. 82?’ My knee-jerk reaction was, ‘No, we’ll be happy to call No. 83.’ I’d rather have 83 than 82.
“I’m always looking for context and he’s signed up to play the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. Yes, he’s never won at Riviera. I think that would be the coolest story if he won at the site where he first competed as a 16-year-old high school kid in the 1992 L.A. Open. He never won there and he started his exposure to professional golf as a 16-year-old amateur there so maybe he comes back 28 years later and wins it for the first time to take over first place on the all-time win list.”
Woods, who matched Snead with a victory at the Zozo Championship in Japan in October, is scheduled to make his season debut next week at the Farmers Insurance Open, too.
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