Golf Channel – Page 4 – Syndication Server

Paul Azinger won’t return as NBC Sports lead golf analyst in 2024

The 1993 PGA champion has been in the booth for NBC Sports for the last five years.

Paul Azinger will not return to his role as lead golf analyst for NBC Sports in 2024, ending a five-year relationship between the network and the 12-time PGA Tour winner.

“We want to thank Paul for his work with us over the last five years,” an NBC Sports spokesperson said to Golfweek. “His insights, work ethic and relationships in the golf industry are well known, and we appreciate what he brought to our team. We wish Paul the best in his future endeavors.”

According to the Associated Press, the first to report the news Sunday morning, Azinger was disappointed and surprised by the abrupt decision. His last event was the Ryder Cup in Italy, and the 1993 PGA champion will now miss calling next month’s Hero World Challenge, where tournament host Tiger Woods will make his first competitive appearance since the Masters in April.

“I have treasured working beside Dan Hicks and the other talented NBC broadcasters as well as lead producer Tommy Roy and all those behind the scenes,” said Azinger via a statement. “They are a remarkable team, and I will miss them tremendously. My thanks to them and the countless others who have supported me and helped me along the way during my work in television. I have faith in what the future holds for me, for NBC, and for the great game of golf.”

Azinger played on four Ryder Cup teams and captained the 2008 U.S. squad to a win at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. He began his broadcasting career in 2005 with ABC and ESPN, and after the network lost its Open Championship broadcast rights in 2015 he joined FOX Sports as their lead golf analyst. He also worked for the BBC at the Masters Tournament for six years.

“I always felt like it was my job in the booth to give the viewer a sense of what it takes to deal with the mental and physical challenges of the game,” Azinger continued. “If you play competitive golf, you learn that your mind and body change under stressful conditions and circumstances. The great players understand this and know how to perform and win when the heat is on.”

Azinger will now continue his work on the Miakka Golf Club in Myakka, Florida, as well as with his wife, Toni, on the Azinger Compassion Center in Bradenton, Florida, which supports the One More Child organization.

This time last year Golfweek was first to report that both longtime voices Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch wouldn’t be returning to NBC golf broadcasts in 2023 as network looked to “refresh” its team. The network now has another big seat to fill.

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Q&A: Roger Maltbie on his life and times walking the fairways for NBC

His most memorable call? “Tiger Woods, sixth hole at the 2000 U.S. Open: My response was ‘just not a fair fight.'”

Roger Maltbie is a national treasure.

The veteran pro turned roving reporter for NBC/Golf Channel had his workload cut back significantly this year to our everlasting chagrin but he still is making a few appearances here and there, including a few weeks ago in Napa at the Fortinet Championship, not far from his old stomping grounds as a NorCal golfer.

Wine Country is where Golfweek caught up with Maltbie for an hour-long chat that was so entertaining we’ve decided to split it into a two-part Q&A. And here’s some more good news: You can get another fix of Maltbie and his unique brand of humor this week as he takes part in the broadcast of the PGA Tour’s Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.

Just hours into the 2023 Ryder Cup, golf fans were already fed up with the TV broadcast

NBC Sports and Golf Channel employees may want to stay off social media for the next few days.

Not even two hours in to the coverage of the Friday foursomes matches at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy and television viewers who were awake at 1 a.m. ET for the start were already fed up with the coverage (or lack thereof).

Airing on USA Network, the broadcast missed the introductions and tee shots from the third match of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka vs. Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa and showed more commercials than golf shots.

This year’s broadcast features a score bug in the bottom right of the screen that shows the matches and live results, which is a nice innovation, except when the coverage doesn’t provide context for how those scores came to be.

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Check out the early reaction to the TV coverage of the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.

ESPN+ to carry PGA Tour Live on Thursdays, Fridays only at fall 2023 U.S. events

For you live streamers and cord-cutters out there, your viewing options are being altered just a tad.

The FedEx Cup Fall is a unique one-off of seven tournaments, as the PGA Tour transitions from the wrap-around schedule to a return to a calendar-based format, with the 2024 campaign starting in January.

Of the seven events, four of them will be staged in the U.S.

That means for you live streamers and cord-cutters out there, your viewing options are being altered just a tad, as the streaming coverage of PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ will only be on Thursdays and Fridays.

ESPN+ is the exclusive home of PGA Tour Live, and Front Office Sports reports that it’s the most watched content on the streaming platform. But while ESPN+ generally has its four-channel experiences for all four days of PGA Tour stops, it’ll only have the first and second rounds of those U.S.-based tournaments.

According to ESPN: “Coverage of the four fall events on PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ will include one feed showcasing complete rounds of two Featured Groups in both the morning and afternoon waves on Thursday and Friday.”

Dates	Tournament	Course	Coverage start time
Sept. 14-15	Fortinet Championship	Silverado Resort Napa, Calif.	10 a.m. ET
Oct. 5-6	Sanderson Farms Championship	The Country Club of Jackson Jackson, Miss.	8:30 a.m. ET
Oct. 12-13	Shriners Children’s Open	TPC Summerlin Las Vegas	9:30 a.m. ET
Nov. 16-17	RSM Classic	Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course) St. Simons Island, Ga.	9:30 a.m. ET

The Zozo Championship in Japan, the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico and the Butterfield Bermuda Championship will not have PGA Tour Live on ESPN+.

All seven of the fall events will have four rounds of live coverage of Golf Channel, which will be simulcast on NBC’s streaming service Peacock.

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NBC Sports to televise nearly 150 hours of college golf in during fall 2023 season

NBC Sports will have live coverage of six premire college golf events this fall.

After a busy spring that saw nearly 150 hours of college golf coverage shown live by the NBC Sports family of networks, a similar schedule is coming this fall.

The company announced its fall coverage of college golf on TV and streaming will nearly double from last year. This week marked the first event, the Folds of Honor Collegiate, with coverage on Golf Channel and Peacock.

Then in October, there will be four events, including one at St. Andrews. First is the Blessings Collegiate in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Oct. 2-4 from 4:30-7:30 p.m. ET. The following week, it’s the Jackson T. Stephens Cup at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas with coverage Monday, Oct. 9 from 5-8 p.m. ET and Oct. 10-11 from 4-7 p.m. ET.

Coverage then heads across the pond for the St. Andrews Collegiate, where it will be on Golf Channel from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. ET on Oct. 23-25. Then, the it’s the East Lake Cup, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta from 3-6 p.m. ET.

The final event, the Showcase at Cedar Crest in Dallas, Nov. 13-15, from 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. ET.

Florida is the defending men’s college golf national champion while the Wake Forest women won their first title in school history last season.

Camilo Villegas to make broadcasting debut at 2023 Wyndham Championship for Golf Channel

“This is the perfect event for Camilo to provide his expertise to Golf Channel’s viewers.”

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Former Wyndham Championship winner Camilo Villegas will make his broadcast debut this week on Golf Channel’s coverage of the PGA Tour event in Greensboro, North Carolina. Villegas, a 41-year-old four-time Tour winner who ranks 223^rd in the FedEx Cup standings, will work in the booth as the main analyst alongside host Steve Sands.

Last year, Sands served as emcee at Villegas’s charity golf tournament, a fundraiser for Mia’s Miracles, when Sands told him he thought he could have a bright future doing golf commentary on TV. Sands wondered, “Would you like to do a week and see how it goes?”

Villegas looked Sands straight in the eyes and told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t interested.

“As a competitor, as a golfer, you never want to be done. When you start looking somewhere else and you’re 41 and you haven’t been performing, that was my first reaction,” Villegas explained.

But after giving it some thought, the former University of Florida golfer and Colombia native called Sands back and apologized for his knee-jerk reaction.

“For him to think I could do a good job on TV was actually an honor,” he said.

Asked to explain why he thought Villegas would excel as a broadcaster, Sands said, “He has always been accessible and a terrific communicator.”

Villegas wasn’t quite ready to jump into the booth but after talking with his agent, he determined he didn’t want to close a door on a great opportunity without exploring whether he liked the job or could determine if he was any good at it. He agreed to do a one-week trial this year, and it made sense to do so alongside Sands, who pitched him on the concept, and at a tournament where he has not only competed regularly but has tasted great success.

“This is the perfect event for Camilo to provide his expertise to Golf Channel’s viewers,” Sands said.

Villegas has struggled with injuries since winning the 2014 Wyndham Championship with bookend rounds of 63, and then dealt with the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Mia, in 2020. This season, he made just nine starts on the PGA Tour and hasn’t recorded a top-10 finish since the 2021 Honda Classic. But Villegas says he’s not hanging up his spikes just yet. He began working with instructor Jose Campra, who also caddies for Sebastian Munoz, on a major swing overhaul and Villegas says he’s seeing signs that he is making progress.

As for prepping for his TV try-out, Villegas shadowed Sands and analyst John Cook when they were in the booth during the first round of the RBC Canadian Open in June. He said he’s been watching more television than he’s used to and conceded he’s a little nervous about his TV debut.

“I just want to be myself,” he said.

Asked if that would include being comfortable enough to criticize players that he still competes against regularly, Villegas said, “I guess we will find out soon. I’m going to call it like I see it. I’m a very analytical guy. I have a very structured approach to the game of golf. I want to share with the viewer a little of what I’d be feeling, thinking while someone is hitting a shot…I don’t have a problem disagreeing with players’ decision or approaches or strategy.”

Villegas doesn’t have any TV plans beyond the Wyndham Championship but he sounded open to the possibility of doing more TV work in the future.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I need to find out if I like it,” he said. “I’m going to continue to play golf. If I really like it and they think I have potential, could there be weeks where I hop into the booth and fill in? We’ll see. I don’t know. Too many moving parts to know where this thing will go.”

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How to watch 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach

NBC is planning 12 hours of weekend coverage, while Golf Channel will have another 25 hours on-site.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – History will be made on a number of fronts this week at the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. The venue, of course, is the most significant first. While six U.S. Opens have been contested at Pebble, this week marks the time the women will have their turn at a major on this American treasure.

It’s only fitting then that the television coverage of an historic event makes its own mark. Early week, Golf Channel will produce a record 25 hours of “Live From the U.S. Women’s Open” studio coverage on a set just off the 18th fairway.

NBC will feature 12 hours of weekend coverage July 8-9, giving the women prime time network coverage for the first time in championship history.

U.S. Women’s Open: Thursday tee times

The broadcast team includes:

Play-by-play: Dan Hicks, Grant Boone
Analysts: Morgan Pressel, Paige Mackenzie
Tower: Tom Abbott
On-course: John Wood, Karen Stupples, Kay Cockerill
Interviews: Cara Banks

Here’s the breakdown of coverage across NBC, Peacock and USA Network. Note that all times listed are ET. Pebble Beach is PT, three hours behind:

Tuesday, July 4

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., Golf Channel

Wednesday, July 5

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., Golf Channel

Thursday, July 6

Streaming

Featured groups, 11:50 a.m. to 5:35 p.m., Peacock, uswomensopen.com, USGA mobile app, USGA streaming app on smart TVs and DirecTV.

First round, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Peacock

TV

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Golf Channel

First round, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., USA Network

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 11 p.m. to midnight, Golf Channel

Friday, July 7

Streaming

Featured groups, 11:50 a.m. to 5:35 p.m., Peacock, uswomensopen.com, USGA mobile app, USGA streaming app on smart TVs and DirecTV.

Second round, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Peacock

TV

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Golf Channel

Second round, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., USA Network

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 11 p.m. to midnight, Golf Channel

Saturday, July 8

Streaming

Featured groups, times TBD, Peacock, uswomensopen.com, USGA mobile app, USGA streaming app on smart TVs and DirecTV.

Third round, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Peacock

TV

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Golf Channel

Third round, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., NBC

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Golf Channel

Sunday, July 9

Streaming

Featured groups, times TBD, Peacock, uswomensopen.com, USGA mobile app, USGA streaming app on smart TVs and DirecTV.

Final round, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Peacock

TV

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Golf Channel

Final round, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., NBC

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Golf Channel

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan on ‘owning his hypocrisy’, lack of transparency, 9/11 family concerns

“This was an opportunity to unify the game and put the PGA Tour in a control position.”

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan dropped a bombshell on the golf world when he announced Tuesday that the Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s PIF, which had underwritten LIV Golf, have agreed to merge their commercial interests.

While that will put an end to the messy legal entanglements that surely were a concern to all parties, Monahan is in the doghouse with his players, fans and even the 9/11 Families United, who blasted him for becoming “a Saudi shill.”

Speaking to the Golf Channel from the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto on Wednesday, Monahan attempted to explain his reasons for his about face and why being partners rather than rivals with PIF is in the best interest to golf’s leading entities, stressing, “This was an opportunity to unify the game and put the PGA Tour in a control position.”

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Here’s more from Monahan.

How to watch Sunday at the 2023 Masters: Live stream, TV information for the final round

CBS is in its 68th consecutive year carrying the Masters tournament.

The third round is in the books and Brooks Koepka sits atop the Masters leaderboard at 11 under after 54 holes.

Jon Rahm remains two shots back as each of the tournament’s frontrunners posted third-round 73s.

Viktor Hovland shot a 70 to move up into third. Patrick Cantlay shot 4 under in his third round to get in to solo fourth.

CBS picked up live coverage of the completion of the third round Sunday morning and now takes a break. The final round of the 87th Masters will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET and CBS, in its 68th consecutive year carrying the tournament, will return to the airwaves at 2 p.m., which means it’s sticking to its original broadcast window. Final round coverage will go till 7 p.m.

Check out the Masters live leaderboard, schedule, tee times

Paramount+ will stream a simulcast of the final round at the same time CBS is on the air.

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Golf Channel’s Live From the Masters, originally set to start at 9 a.m., started at 7 a.m. ET Sunday. Live From is also being streamed on Peacock.

Masters Tournament officials announced that golfers will go off the Nos. 1 and 10 tees in pairings in the final round.

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Tiger Woods’ chances at Masters 2023: Here’s what Brandel Chamblee, Trevor Immelman, Andy North and more have to say

Forget what will Phil do next? The more intriguing question is: What’s the next trick up Tiger’s sleeves?

Tiger’s opening-round 70 a year ago at Augusta National en route to making the cut was one of the most impressive rounds of 2022 when you consider that it was just some 13 months earlier that he was involved in a near-fatal car accident and could have lost his right leg.

Tiger’s game looked sharp in the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February, his lone start in an official PGA Tour event since missing the cut at the British Open in July. It reinvigorated talk about the possibility of a 16th major title for Woods, who has slipped into the winner’s Green Jacket on five occasions, most recently in 2019 at age 43.

Tiger’s quest to get closer to Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors (and six Green Jackets) already has the TV talking heads buzzing. Here’s a snippet of what the CBS, ESPN and Golf Channel analysts had to say:

Brandel Chamblee, Golf Channel

How Tiger plays, I think, will captivate us beyond belief.

Notah Begay, Golf Channel

The fact that he was able to play (at the Genesis Invitational in February) at the level after basically being on the bench for six months, to come out and make a cut, I just can’t even get my mind around that.

Andy North, ESPN

To be able to get around there is so difficult. It’s just — for him it’s such an uphill battle. But in the back of your mind, you still believe that you get something rolling, you just never know.

Curtis Strange, ESPN

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he got us on the edge of our seat for the first couple of days, but can he sustain it? I think that L.A. kind of just made me look forward more to the Masters because he’s still got something in that body.

Trevor Immelman, CBS

If he somehow finds a way to get his name in and around that leaderboard come the second nine on Sunday afternoon it will be all systems go out there.

Scroll below for their takes on Tiger at the Masters.

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