Was it still too soon for Azinger to talk on this topic? It was not.
Paul Azinger is driving to Gator Creek Golf Club in Sarasota, Florida. He brought the fish for a fish fry and then he’s planning to peg it with his son-in-law and a couple of friends.
His mind is miles away from the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, what should’ve been the start of four straight weeks in his home state calling out whoever might be choking his guts out on the PGA Tour for NBC. But in November, the network elected not to renew his contract, ending his four-year stint as its lead golf analyst. (NBC Sports declined to comment for this story.)
Instead, Azinger has been hanging on his boat, fishing frequently, and getting ready to get “his elbows dirty” partnering with Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design to build the new riverside Miakka Golf Club in Myakka City, Florida.
“There’s always something to do, wash the wheels of your car,” he says during a phone conversation on Sunday. “It’s not too bad, and I’m not looking for a job either. I’ve had two full careers. I played the Tour for 30 years, I broadcast for about 18 years. I’m enjoying my life right now. I didn’t know I could enjoy it this much. I’m serious, I wake up with no schedule. It’s weird and it’s nice.”
And before he can be asked the obvious follow-up question, he adds, “I’m not missing golf in any capacity at all as a broadcaster. It’s hard work to be an analyst. It’s always stress and pressure. So I don’t really miss it that much. I just don’t like the way it ended.”
Before calling Azinger, one of my favorite people to talk about the game with, I wondered if it still might be too soon for him to talk on this topic.
KONA, Hawaii — Miller Brady points out in the distance at the Pacific Ocean as another stunning sunset unfolds and says, “Look, there’s a whale spout. It’s right in line with that palm tree.”
It never gets old for Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions, to start the new season at Four Seasons Hualalai, home of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. This is the 28th consecutive year the senior circuit has kicked off the year here in paradise and the 17th in a row for Brady, who is in his sixth year leading the Champions Tour and embarking on his 25th year with the PGA Tour, the last 18 with the over-50 crowd.
“I had the chance to go to the regular tour a couple different times,” he said. “But I just sort of like this niche.”
It’s a niche playing for some $67 million this season, and its top players don’t need signature events or bloated FedEx Cup points to show up. A couple hours later, nearly all the stars of senior golf will attend the pro-am draw party and make their way to the stage when emcee Dave Marr III calls their name.
“It’s one of the coolest pictures you’ll see,” Brady said.
During a wide-ranging conversation, Brady shared why he’s bullish on the future for PGA Tour Champions, the back story on the change in title sponsor for one of its three playoff events and prepping for Tigermania at 50.
Paul Azinger isn’t on the 2024 TV broadcasts, but the 12-time PGA Tour champ will turn 64 on Jan. 6.
Paul Azinger, who was born on January 6, 1960, played on four Ryder Cup teams and captained the 2008 U.S. squad to a win at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. The Holyoke, Massachusetts, native won a dozen times on the PGA Tour, including the 1993 PGA Championship at Inverness, beating Greg Norman in a playoff.
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.
But Azinger did 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.
“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.
Here are a number of our favorite moments from ‘Zinger’s career.
Ogilvy, who has started a golf course architecture firm, won the 2006 U.S. Open.
Paul McGinley had a trial run on NBC during the Hero World Challenge, the Tiger Woods-run event in Bahamas.
Coincidentally, just as Tiger prepares to tee it up again at this week’s PNC Championship, there’s more news regarding the vacant analyst role on the network’s golf coverage.
NBC Sports is eyeing Geoff Ogilvy to replace Paul Azinger with an announcement coming within the next week, according to a Sports Business Journal report.
Ogilvy turned pro in 1998 and went on to win eight PGA Tour events plus four on the now-DP World Tour. His high-water mark was claiming the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. A three-time member of the International Team in the Presidents Cup, he has also been a vice captain during the last three biennial competitions against the U.S. There’s still talk he’ll one day captain the Internationals.
Ogilvy is also busy with his budding golf course architecture firm, OCM, which is tasked with getting Medinah ready for the 2026 Presidents Cup outside of Chicago.
His answer: “I don’t really want to. Would you like to talk to Brandel?,” he quipped. “I like Brandel off camera. He came on our podcast (Fire Pit Collective) and he was great. He sounded like a human. He tries too hard to sound smart. His stats and research is over the top. You can’t tell him anything. But I guess that’s what is required from the analyst on a show like that. So, in that case, he probably does a good job. It’s just not really my speed.
When asked a follow-up about perhaps getting involved in a Manning-cast style golf show, Ogilvy said: “That would be fun. I’d do that during the majors. To me, I think that’s the future for golf on TV. Golf needs to do more of that.”
McGinley, 56, won four times on the DP World Tour and served as winning Ryder Cup captain for Europe in 2014.
NBC Sports is replacing one Paul with another in the booth – at least for one week.
Former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley will be in the chair formerly occupied by Paul Azinger as the lead analyst for NBC during the Hero World Challenge, which begins on Thursday in Nassau, Bahamas. A spokesperson for the network confirmed the news to Golfweek after the Irish Independent was first to report.
Azinger had one event remaining on his contract that was up at the end of the year, but negotiations to renew stalled when Azinger countered and NBC reportedly pulled its offer and parted ways with the 12-time PGA Tour winner.
McGinley, a 56-year-old Irishman who won four times on the DP World Tour and served as winning Ryder Cup captain for Europe in 2014, is no stranger to American golf fans and to the Golf Channel/NBC team. He’s a longtime TV commentator for Sky Sports in Europe and has contributed to Golf Channel’s “Live From” show from the majors for the past two years.
McGinley will work in the booth with NBC lead anchor Dan Hicks and also team with analyst Curt Byrum in a three-man booth in what has the feel of a tryout.
The Independent noted, “McGinley’s [TV] future will likely depend on how he does in the Bahamas and future events over the next few months.”
“They obviously need a fill-in this week and as I’ve done some work with them this year and am part of the Comcast Group I’m filling in,” McGinley told Golf Digest. “That’s all. No more than that.”
Azinger had been NBC Sports’ lead analyst since 2019 following the retirement of Johnny Miller.
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.
“If LIV plucks a bunch of guys off of the Tour as is rumored, why would I even watch the Ryder Cup?”
Rory McIlroy put it best during Team Europe’s Ryder Cup winner’s press conference: Winning a Ryder Cup on the road may be the hardest thing to do in sports.
Considering that the U.S. side hasn’t won on European soil since 1993 and the Euros needed the Miracle at Medinah to rally from a 10-6 deficit to do so in 2012, McIlroy has a good argument. The home team has held serve ever since but more troubling is the fact that you have to go back to the 2012 edition of the biennial competition for the last time we didn’t have a blowout. Sundays have largely been a foregone conclusion as to which side is going to win.
Want to make the Ryder Cup great again? How about giving arguably the two best captains of the modern era another shot behind the wheel to see if either of them can win on the road. In other words, Paul McGinley, who guided the Euros to a beatdown of the Americans in Scotland in 2014, as Europe’s captain in 2025 at Bethpage, and Paul Azinger, who was brilliant at the helm in 2008 in Louisville, in 2027 in Ireland.
When I proposed this scenario to Azinger, he chuckled and said, “That would be awesome.”
“McGinley was a brilliant captain, he really was,” Azinger said. “There’s only so much a captain can do but he has a huge responsibility to create an environment, to create a message and get his players to out-prepare the other team. I might have said to this U.S. Ryder Cup team that if you were in the top six (an automatic qualifier to the team) do whatever you want, you made it, but the next six, you have to play the week before or two weeks before or I’m not going to pick you. That’s the way it is, sorry. You have to promise me you’re going to play. Everyone knew they didn’t play enough going in. That to me was the biggest way they out-prepared us.”
Europe players lift their captain Paul McGinley as he holds the trophy after winning the 2014 Ryder Cup.
Azinger laughed when I said let either Tiger Woods if he wants the job at Bethpage or Stewart Cink or even Fred Couples take a turn in 2025 but let’s get going on 2027 to end this seemingly endless losing streak on the road. The idea of taking another bite at the captaincy? He says that ship has passed.
“I lobbied in 2010 to carry the flag and win the cup on the road. The PGA of America told me, ‘There’s more captains than there are Ryder Cups.’ I said, ‘OK, that’s fine.’ They chose Corey Pavin. Then they get (Tom) Watson and (Davis) Love again. I wanted that challenge but it was 17 years earlier. I think I’m passed due. I’ll be 67. It’s not fair to a guy like Stewart Cink. I think he’ll be an awesome captain. I’d roll in as an assistant captain. They’ve got a clique going now. It’s the result of the Task Force. Sometimes cliques are incredible. Let’s not forget they won the last Cup by 10 points but I think it’s time to break the clique up…I worry that Tiger is going to want Freddie and Davis and Strick again. I would like to see a different group be in there as assistants that can be future captains.”
McGinley echoed a similar sentiment that his window for a return engagement as captain has closed.
“I think we’ve certainly nailed the home template but we haven’t written the template for away from home. I like the way you’re thinking but I think my ship has sailed in that regard. I’m 10 years aways from being a captain, I’m 56 years old, there’s a certain disconnection with the current crop of players,” he argued.
But McGinley, too, recognized that winning on the road has become the white whale for Ryder Cup captains and it was something he once desired.
“I think it so much more difficult away and I’d have loved to have written the away template but I thought it was greedy to go again,” he said. “I knew there were a lot of guys waiting patiently behind me and I thought it would be unfair to go again.”
But what once was a backlog of potential captains has become a shortage due to LIV, which wiped out Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Graeme McDowell and Paul Casey for Team Europe and Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and (eventually) Dustin Johnson from consideration. Let’s take this unique moment in time to determine once and for all which of these brilliant leaders of men can steer his team to victory away from home.
Azinger and McGinley both lived and breathed the job for two years and understood team dynamics better than anyone before or after in the captaincy role. Both are still active in their role as TV commentators and have a handle on the pulse of the game.
“I think I’d rather broadcast it, thank you, though,” Azinger said. “I think it’s really important at this point to have someone of their era who really knows the players.”
Who does he think should lead Europe into the hostile environment that will be Bethpage Black in 2025?
“It’s going to be contentious. Luke Donald is the perfect personality type. Otherwise, I would love to see Sergio (Garcia) but it will never happen. If I’m them, I’m bringing the most polished professional I can bring. If you can find anyone more polished and buttoned up than Luke, let me know,” he said.
“It wouldn’t be a big surprise if Luke was to go again,” McGinley added. “In an ideal world, you should do two captaincies – one home and one away. That would be a real test of the captain, wouldn’t it?”
Azinger expressed one concern for the Ryder Cup going forward: Will the U.S. be able to field its best team?
“I really fear for the next Ryder Cup,” he said. “If LIV plucks a bunch of guys off of the Tour as is rumored, why would I even watch the Ryder Cup? That’s the way I’m feeling about it. It’s just not America vs Europe anymore. I mean, it is, but it wouldn’t be our best players. I fear for the Ryder Cup because of LIV.”
You heard it here first: McGinley in ’25, Azinger in ’27. Let’s settle who is the best captain once and for all.
Former PGA Tour star Paul Azinger and the architecture firm of Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design have partnered to build 18 main holes and more for the new riverside Miakka Golf Club in Myakka City, Florida.
The private club will be built on more than 1,100 acres along the Myakka River about 30 miles southeast of Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport, not far from the Gulf of Mexico between Tampa and Naples. The club shares ownership and is adjacent to the TerraNova Equestrian Center and The Estates at TerraNova, with development led by Florida entrepreneur Steve Herrig.
The club will include a full-length 18-hole course, a 12-hole par-3 course, a 7-acre short-game facility, a lighted putting course and a circular practice range that includes a performance center. Along with a clubhouse, the club plans to build cabins for members and guests. Plans are for the short course to open in 2024 with the main course ready for play in 2025.
“This is one of the best natural sites for golf and one of the best teams we’ve ever been affiliated with,” Jason Straka, principal of Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design, said in a media release announcing the club. “The property has an incredible two miles of frontage along the Myakka River with hundreds of mature oak hammocks. Just the golf club and its facilities are being built on more than 1,100 acres.
“Miakka is going to be pure golf with no encroachments or distractions of any kind. The course will resemble the celebrated courses of the Australian Sandbelt, with wide turf corridors, no rough, and distinctive bunkers and natural-area hazards jutting into the line of play.”
Azinger, a former Ryder Cup captain, grew up in Florida and lives in nearby Bradenton.
“This is my home, and it’s incredibly important to me,” Azinger said in the media release. “Steve (Herrig) and his team are absolutely committed to making Miakka Golf Club one of the very best private clubs in the world. He’s assembled an all-star team and will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.”
Dana Fry said his design team is going to great lengths to provide superior playing conditions.
“The entire 7,700-yard golf course will be sand-capped with a proprietary blend of sand and Profile soil conditioner,” Fry said in the media release. “Everything but the greens will be sodded. In addition, the entire course will have substantial underdrains to ensure fast and firm playing conditions year-round. Recently, Miakka secured 1,600 acres of adjacent land and will be the first course in Florida with its own sod farm. This is where they’ll grow the Stadium and Lazer Zoysia grass that will be used on the fairways, tees, and green surrounds.”
Maverick McNealy, Adam Scott and Kevin Streelman have been selected to run for PAC Chairman.
The PGA Tour announced its 16-member Player Advisory Council on Monday morning, as well as a handful of future leaders.
Maverick McNealy, Adam Scott and Kevin Streelman have been selected to run for PAC Chairman, with the election set to end Feb. 13. The winner will replace Charley Hoffman as a Player Director on the PGA Tour Policy Board (board of directors) starting Jan. 1, 2024, and will serve at three-year term (2024-26). The current Player Directors are Peter Malnati (2023-25), Rory McIlroy (2022-24), Webb Simpson (2023-25) and Patrick Cantlay (2023).
The release comes less than 24 hours after Paul Azinger said serving on the PAC – a group of players who advise and consult the PGA Tour Policy Board and Commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the Tour – was “a colossal of waste time” during the Sony Open in Hawaii broadcast.
Meet the players serving on the PAC in 2023 (alphabetical order):
Ryan Armour
Sam Burns
Corey Conners
Rickie Fowler
Brice Garnett
Brian Harman
Max Homa
Mackenzie Hughes
Shane Lowry
Maverick McNealy
Keith Mitchell
Henrik Norlander
Scottie Scheffler
Adam Scott
Kevin Streelman
Will Zalatoris
Streelman was up for chairman role in 2021 but McIlroy prevailed in that vote.
During his press conference ahead of the debut of LIV Golf on Thursday, Phil Mickelson was asked how he thought winning the U.S. Open next week would compare with his win at the 2021 PGA Championship.
“I don’t know how others will receive it but I would be quite favorable with it,” Mickelson said.
Laughter ensued.
But during an NBC/Golf Channel media call to preview the 2022 U.S. Open, lead analyst Paul Azinger said he won’t be holding his breath for Lefty to be in contention.
“If he does get in contention, it would be a miracle, I really think,” Azinger said. “A minor miracle that that guy could get in contention with all that’s been going on. But we’ll cover it fairly, I’ll tell you that.”
The question of how Mickelson, a six-time bridesmaid but never a bride at the U.S. Open, will be received after his defection from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf and his controversial comments in February that led to take four months off from professional golf drew a variety of responses from the NBC-Golf Channel broadcasters.
“It’s a major disruption to the sport,” Azinger said. “I predict that, if Phil’s missing the cut, like on Friday afternoon or something, it can get pretty rough on him, though. I just think — this is a big step these guys have made. They’ve changed the game forever probably. …
“I think the response will be mostly positive because he has been a fan favorite for so many years. But that Boston crowd, they’re going to let you know how they feel. …
“I’m really more curious where his game is, just because he hasn’t played competitively in so long. U.S. Open tests with a thick rough, he’s had a lot of success at U.S. Opens, and certainly it would be a remarkable story if he does get in contention, but it’s going to require very sharp skills and skills that Phil Mickelson doesn’t always shine with as far as hitting fairways and being extremely strategic in that sense.”
Phil Mickelson approaches the 1st hole during the first round of the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational at The Centurion Club near London. (Photo: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
Azinger’s partner in the booth, Dan Hicks, said Mickelson making a run at completing the career Grand Slam would be “something you can’t take your eyes off of if he plays well.”
“I think if Phil gets in contention, he’ll be cheered on very enthusiastically,” Hicks added. “I think it’s just a natural reaction in sport because people know he’s been chasing this U.S. Open forever. It’s the final piece of a grand slam puzzle. It would be an unbelievable story, with everything that’s happened with him in the last several months. I think, if there was any negative kind of reaction, that would be totally drowned out by people watching what was happening in front of him.
“So I think it’s in large part due to how he plays. And let’s face it, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are the two biggest — you never know what they’re going to do. Look at what Tiger’s done. I would not be surprised if Phil gets there next week and hangs around the leaderboard. He lives for that kind of thing, no pun intended. He lives for weeks like next week. He absolutely. … that’s been his whole DNA his entire career.”
“I think Dan brings up a great point,” Notah Begay III said. “We’ve had athletes throughout history end up in jail and do things that were extremely controversial, but if they have success in their respective sport on the field, the public seems to be very forgiving with regard to that. I mean, look at Tiger Woods’ struggles off the golf course a number of times, and all seemed to be forgotten when he became the Masters champion back in 2019.
“I think this is a slightly different take on the whole thing. Those were personal choices that athletes made that had an adverse effect on their lives. Phil’s choices have kind of fractured the locker room, so to speak, and lent itself to sort of more deeper ethical thought as to how athletes do utilize their time to support various types of initiatives related to the promotion of different ventures that have ties to things that not everybody agrees should be promoted. So, that’s the first thing to overcome is there are going to be people in the locker room that don’t agree wholeheartedly with what is happening now with the Saudi or the LIV Tour.
“Also, Phil’s always been one of the favorites amongst spectators, and he feeds off of that energy. That might not be the case starting out. Now, I agree with Dan, if he does get in contention Saturday, Sunday, I think that will all shift back behind Phil. But initially starting, not everybody there is going to be a hundred percent supportive. As Justin stated, they will speak their mind, and that’s going to depend on whether Phil can sort of fight through all that and let his game do the talking. The fact that he’s been on the shelf for the better part of the beginning of this whole year, I just don’t see that happening.”
