Tag: Trevor Immelman

Golf world reacts: Nick Faldo retires after 19 years as broadcaster

Nick Faldo retired after 19 years as a golf broadcaster. Here’s what his friends and colleagues had to say.

It’s the end of an era on the CBS broadcast.

After 16 years wearing the headset for the network, Sir Nick Faldo said goodbye from the booth during the final round of the 2022 Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Sunday. The six-time major champion, who has a deep history at Sedgefield dating back to his PGA Tour debut at the 1979 Greater Greensboro Open, was honored with a plaque behind the ninth green on the club’s Wall of Fame where he joins the likes of Charlie Sifford and Arnold Palmer.

The broadcast also featured a handful of messages from Faldo’s former and current colleagues both on and off the golf course, and it got to be pretty emotional at times. So much so that Dottie Pepper at one point joked, “Are you guys able to call this or do you want me to take it?”

Here’s how the golf world honored Sir Nick Faldo for his broadcast retirement.

Trevor Immelman to replace Nick Faldo as CBS Sports lead golf analyst beginning with 2023 PGA Tour season

“I am excited for Trevor; he will be excellent in this role and the team is incredibly well positioned for the future,” said Faldo.

It’s official. Trevor Immelman will replace Nick Faldo as lead golf analyst for CBS Sports beginning in 2023.

Immelman, 42, was confirmed in a press release just hours after Faldo announced on social media that he would retire at the end of the PGA Tour’s regular season at the Wyndham Championship in August, the site of his PGA Tour debut as a player in 1979. Faldo, who turns 65 on July 18, had served as lead analyst for 16 years.

Immelman won the 2008 Masters and is the current International Presidents Cup captain. He joined CBS Sports’ golf team in 2019, and signed a new multi-year deal that begins with the network’s 2023 season, when he assumes his duties alongside Jim Nantz in the 18th tower for the Farmers Insurance Open. Immelman has been perceived as a rising star in the CBS ranks.

“We are thrilled to name Trevor as the lead analyst for golf on CBS,” said Sean McManus, chairman of CBS Sports. “He brings the credentials and experience as a major champion, along with a unique perspective and knowledge of today’s stars, having recently competed alongside them. Trevor has developed terrific chemistry and relationships with our entire team, and we look forward to him sharing his insights, as he informs and entertains viewers for many years to come.”

Trevor Immelman has served in various roles since joining as a TV broadcaster for both NBC/Golf Channel and CBS Sports since 2019. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

A native of South Africa, Immelman won 11 times worldwide during his career, and was named the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2006. Two years later, in 2008, he won the Masters, becoming at the time only the second South African to win at Augusta National. He has also played on two President’s Cup teams (2005, 2007) and in 2019 was Vice Captain for fellow countryman Ernie Els. Immelman has also worked for Golf Channel, where he has been a lead analyst and a regular contributor to the network’s Live From coverage at The Players and all four major championships.

“I am excited for Trevor; he will be excellent in this role and the team is incredibly well positioned for the future,” Faldo said in a release.

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Internationals captain Trevor Immelman names four assistants for Presidents Cup

Trevor Immelman will captain the 2022 International squad in Charlotte.

Making his debut as captain of the International team for the upcoming Presidents Cup, Trevor Immelman can call on plenty of experience from his coaching staff.

Immelman, a South African who played in the Presidents Cup twice and was an assistant to Ernie Els in 2019, named his four vice captains Wednesday: Canadian Mike Weir, South Korean K.J. Choi, Australian Geoff Ogilvy and Colombian Camilo Villegas.

The U.S. leads the series 11-1-1. The Americans came from behind on the final day in 2019 at Royal Melbourne in Australia to win, 16-14. This year’s matches are Sept. 22-25 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Weir, who competed in the Presidents Cup five times and is one of five International players with 10 more match wins, will make his third appearance as a vice captain. He has eight PGA Tour titles, including the 2003 Masters, and one PGA Tour Champions victory.

Choi, who played in three editions of the Presidents Cup, will be making his third appearance as an assistant captain. He has won eight PGA Tour titles, including the 2011 Players Championship, and one PGA Tour Champions victory.

Ogilvy, who played in three Presidents Cups, has eight career PGA Tour victories, including the 2006 U.S. Open, and won two of Australia’s biggest titles – the 2008 Australian PGA and 2010 Australian Open.

Villegas will make his debut as an assistant. Villegas is the only player from Colombia to compete in the Presidents Cup, doing so in 2009. He’s won four times on the PGA Tour.

“The comradery that continues to grow within this team is irreplaceable,” Weir said in a release. “We can all sense the momentum that is building, and it’s been exciting to see Trevor’s incredible dedication and focus on his role. I can’t wait to see what tournament week holds for us and to be a part of the 2022 team.”

Said Ogilvy: “After getting a glimpse into the future of our team in 2019, I am very excited to return as a captain’s assistant. The collection of international players has only had time to improve and that is evident when you look at guys like Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama and Joaquin Niemann, who have had tremendous success on Tour in the last year.

“I can’t wait to see what they bring to the table under Trevor’s captaincy.”

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PGA Tour says $40 million Player Impact Program ‘winners’ won’t be revealed. Twitter-verse expresses its dismay.

“We don’t have any intention on publicizing it,” said commissioner Jay Monahan.

We may never know if Jim Herman wins the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program, at least that’s the way the PGA Tour would like it.

During his State of the PGA Tour press conference in Atlanta ahead of the Tour Championship on Tuesday, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed that the Player Impact Program, which was approved this year and features a $40 million bonus pool for the most popular players, won’t conclude at the end of the FedEx Cup season on Sunday but rather run through the end of the year. Despite the program being designed to compensate players who are judged to drive fan and sponsor engagement, Monahan said, “we don’t have any intention on publicizing it.”

That seems counterintuitive but when asked for an explanation, Monahan said, “To us, it’s a program that we created, was created by our players, with our players, for our players, and that’s, that’s what we decided that we were going to do when we created it.”

The FedEx Cup, one could argue, also fits that description but the up-to-the-minute standings are recited by TV announcers almost as soon as each week’s winner holes the final putt.

Monahan noted that there are five different criteria, each weighted equally in calculating how the bonus money will be distributed among the top 10 players, with the player deemed most valuable receiving $8 million.

No player has shamelessly campaigned for a share of the $40 million quite like Herman, a 43-year-old journeyman pro who has built a Twitter following ever since he first tweeted about the PIP news a day after Golfweek broke the story on April 20: “My ship has come in!”

Twitter did not react well to the news that the megastars finishing in the money won’t be revealed.

Trevor Immelman

Colt Knost

Max Homa

Davis Love III named Presidents Cup captain for 2022

The World Golf Hall of Fame member will get his third captaincy. He was at the helm for the U.S. in the 2012 and 2016 Ryder Cups.

Davis Love III got the call again.

The member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, who counts 21 PGA Tour titles on his resume, including the 1997 PGA Championship, will lead the USA charges in the 2022 Presidents Cup, the PGA Tour announced Tuesday.

It will be the third captaincy for Love; he was at the helm for the USA in the 2012 and 2016 editions of the Ryder Cup. Love also has been a vice captain in the Presidents Cup in 2013, 2015 and 2017 and in the Ryder Cup in 2010 and 2018.

And this fall, he will be an assistant for captain Steve Stricker in the Ryder Cup.

Love’s playing card in the two events has been equally full – he played in the Presidents Cup in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2005 and in the Ryder Cup in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2004.

“My history with this event dating back to 1994 conjures up indelible memories of competition, camaraderie and sportsmanship, and I’m thrilled to be leading the top American players into Quail Hollow Club,” Love, 56, who was born in the Queen City, said in a release. “The U.S. team has been guided by some of the game’s all-time greats since 1994, and I will do my best to carry on that legacy as we look to retain the Cup.”

In Love’s first go as captain in the 2012 Ryder Cup, the Europeans stormed back from a 10-4 deficit to win 14½-13½ at Medinah north of Chicago. Four years later, Love and the U.S. avenged the crushing defeat at Hazeltine in Minnesota, winning 17-11.

As for the Presidents Cup, the U.S. has dominated the Internationals, losing just once and tying once in 13 contests. The U.S. is in possession of the Cup after playing captain Tiger Woods led the Americans to a 16-14 victory in 2019 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.

The 2022 Presidents Cup will be contested at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 23-25, an ideal setting for the Tarheel that is Love.

“He’s got player respect through and through, experience in that venue and a guy that from a leadership standpoint is more willing to listen than speak, if that makes sense. He’s a good listener. He’s the epitome of a self-less leader,” two-time major champion Zach Johnson told Golfweek. Johnson, who has played in the Ryder Cup five times and the Presidents Cup four times, was an assistant to Woods in the 2019 Presidents Cup and will join Love as an assistant this fall for the Ryder Cup.

Johnson said the decision to name Love involved many parties, including PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, the Ryder Cup committee and Tiger Woods.

“The process of getting to this point was actually quite extensive,” Johnson said. “There was a lot of discussion. For the betterment of the lineup of the Cups, for the betterment of the team, this was the best option. There were a lot of individuals involved in the process; it just got down to the point where we all felt that given where we are, Davis was the best option and to maintain what we’ve already established and get some new blood in as vice captains so we can be more selective and have more options in the future.

“Throw in the ties to North Carolina and that neck of the woods. He’s a Tarheel at heart. Things just kind of lined up.”

South African and 2008 Masters champion Trevor Immelmann, who was named captain of the 2022 Internationals squad in April 2020, played in two editions of the Presidents Cup and was an assistant to Ernie Els in the 2019 Presidents Cup.

He told Golfweek a formidable team anchored by Love awaits.

“He’s so accomplished in the game,” Immelman said. “On the course his results speak for themselves and the longevity he’s had at the highest level is really fantastic. He’s one of the nicest guys you would ever wish to meet. Just a tremendous man. The charitable work he’s involved in with his family is tremendous. I have nothing but respect and admiration for Davis.

“He’s been captain of a couple of Ryder Cups, both emotional ones with obviously the first one with a bit of a mishap Sunday at Medinah, but then made amends for it the second time. Now he gets a shot at the Presidents Cup.

“I just hope when the fall of 2022 rolls around we will be able to have full capacity. Davis is popular wherever he goes, but to be in that role in Charlotte, a lot of people will be out there rooting for him. And the better the atmosphere, the better the event. I’m extremely happy for him to get this opportunity.”

Love was a three-time All-America at the University of North Carolina.

“The Carolinas mean so much to me and my family, and it’s humbling to know that I will return to Charlotte in this new role to help carry on the rich sports tradition the Queen City has developed through the years,” Love said. “Quail Hollow is one of the best tests of golf we see all year on the PGA Tour, and it will be a perfect venue for a match-play event given the variation of challenges it presents. I think you will see players taking on a number of risk-reward shots throughout the week, presenting an exciting environment for fans onsite and watching around the world.”

Quail Hollow Club has hosted the Wells Fargo Championship since 2003 and was the venue for the PGA Championship won by Justin Thomas in 2017.

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Watch: Mark Hubbard invents a putting stroke you’ve got to see to believe

We’re not sure what Mark Hubbard was thinking on this putting stroke but you’ve got to see it to believe it.

Never underestimate the creativity of a desperate putter.

But as Golf Channel’s Trevor Immelman so aptly put it, Mark Hubbard went “next level” on Friday at the American Express. The 31-year-old Colorado native was having a forgettable round of 76 that would send him packing for the weekend, so, why not try something, well, a little different.

And different this was.

Hubbard extended his right arm and wrapped his pinky finger around the lower portion of his shaft for support on his 10-foot putt.

“What in the heck was that?” Golf Channel’s Curt Byrum said.

“He can’t believe he missed it,” Immelman said.

This is a video you have to see to believe. Words don’t do it justice, but wonderful analysis from Immelman. And even the judge from the former Soviet Union would have given Hubbard at least a 9 for creativity.

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Masters champions weigh in on move to November

What do Masters champions like Jack and Gentle Ben think about the Masters moving to November? We’ve got answers.

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The 84th Masters, if contested as now scheduled on Nov. 9-15, truly will be a tradition unlike any other. The Masters has been played in April every year apart from the inaugural event in 1934, which ended in late March. How will Augusta National play differently than it typically does in April? Who will it favor? Well, several Masters champions have weighed in with insights and perspective that only those who have mastered its fairways and greens could know. We asked Freddie, Gentle Ben, the Golden Bear and more.

Masters Champions

Fred Couples, 1992

Fred Couples getting help putting on the green jacket from 1991 masters champion Ian Woosnam. Couples won the tournament at -13 under par. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

I’ve only gone to Augusta once other than getting in there on the Sunday before the Masters and it was the end of November. We teed off at 8 a.m. and I hit driver, 2 iron into the first green. The next day it was cold and windy and I needed a rescue. So, I’m not sure what the weather will be like in early November, but I will say this, the greens were unreal and as good as any Masters I ever played. The fairways were a little thin, but we’re talking Augusta, usually it’s an 11 out of a 10 when we play. I don’t think it will touch 70 degrees, so it will play extremely long and be a unique situation.

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Presidents Cup captain Trevor Immelman is the man with the plan for International Team

Ernie Els has passed the baton to fellow South African Trevor Immelman ensuring continuity for the International side moving forward.

Melville Fuller, a former chief justice of the United States, once said, “Without continuity men would become like flies in summer.”

As far as we know, Fuller wasn’t speaking about the International Team for the Presidents Cup, but he might as well have been. On Tuesday, South African Trevor Immelman was named 2021 Presidents Cup captain for the International squad when the biennial competition is held at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.

This was a vote for team continuity as Ernie Els passed the baton to Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion, who served as understudy at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne. What Els did to breathe new life into the matches can’t be underscored enough. He created “a family dynamic” and gave the team “an identity,” Immelman said.

“We felt that over the years that might have been something that was missing,” he said. “It’s a pretty big hurdle to try and overcome when you have players coming from seven, eight, nine different countries, different cultures, different languages. It’s a big hurdle for us to have to overcome that particular week.”

True continuity, one could argue, would have been Els coming back for a second tour of duty. Instead he’s throwing his efforts behind a bigger and more personal cause: Els for Autism, a disease his son, Ben, suffers from, and this is the best use of his time. What Els did was create a blueprint for Immelman and future captains – whether it be Canadian Mike Weir, Korea’s K.J. Choi, or Australians Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott.

“What he has created for our team, I think, is going to be so massive, not just in Charlotte but I’m talking about three, four, five, six Presidents Cups down the road,” Immelman said. “I think what Ernie did for our team, giving us something to build off of, we sure are hoping that that is going to be some kind of turning point for our team to where we can find a way to finally win this Cup again.”

While no one on the International Team, especially Els, was celebrating a moral victory in holding the lead entering Sunday’s singles before the U.S. rallied for a 16-14 victory at Royal Melbourne, Els and Co. believe they have put an end to a lopsided competition (the U.S. leads 11-1-1 in 13 matches). Someday, Els may be remembered as the International team’s version of Tony Jacklin, who accepted the European Ryder Cup captain’s role in 1983 and two years later became the inspirational leader of its first triumph in 28 years. That win ignited an intense rivalry.

“My relationship with Trevor goes way back and I have always had the utmost respect for him as a player and a person,” Els said. “Trevor was an invaluable member of our team and completely bought into what we were trying to do at Royal Melbourne, so it is gratifying to see him take this next step and lead the International Team.”

Els met Immelman when he was 6 or 7 and handed Immelman a golf trophy at age 12. They are the best of friends, and Immelman, who was a teammate of Els on the International side in defeat in 2005 and 2007, considered it an honor to jump back into the fold as one of Els’s lieutenants.

“When he picked me as an assistant captain, I had no designs at all or even thoughts of possibly being a captain one day. I was just so focused on trying to help him,” Immelman said. “It just sort of organically came about.”

Immelman, 40, had his playing career curtailed by injuries, but he’s still active on the PGA Tour as a TV commentator for CBS and studio analyst for Golf Channel. He plays just enough on the PGA Tour as a two-time past champion to be active and familiar with all the players. That knowledge, as well as prior experience working with Els and as captain of the Junior Presidents Cup International team in 2017, will serve him well.

The fact remains that the U.S. side likely will be loaded again — don’t forget that Brooks Koepka was sidelined — and competing at a course they play every year during the Wells Fargo Championship (and in 2017, the PGA Championship). This will be the true test for the International sides much ballyhooed blueprint, just as playing away in France in 2018 exposed holes in Team USA’s master plan for regaining supremacy in the Ryder Cup. Is Immelman the right man for the job? Time will tell, but at least it’s good to know that his father thinks so.

“He’s been a leader ever since he was a young kid,” said Johan Immelman. “He always rose to the occasion.”

That’s a trait shared with Els. Sounds like the International Team has found some continuity.

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Forecaddie: Trevor Immelman to be named 2021 International Team Presidents Cup Captain

South Africa’s Trevor Immelman is expected to replace countryman Ernie Els as captain of the International Team for the 2021 Presidents Cup.

The next International Team Presidents Cup captain will hail from South Africa. Only it won’t be Ernie Els returning for a second tour of duty. Instead, Trevor Immelman, one of his assistant captains from 2019’s match at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia, will assume the helm and try to end the International team’s losing streak, which dates to 1998. (The teams played to a draw in South Africa in 2003.)

The Man out Front heard rumors for some time that Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion and primarily a television commentator for CBS Sports these days, was next in line for the job if Els decided not to return to the post.

At the Players Championship in March, Australian Adam Scott, a stalwart of the International side on nine straight Presidents Cup teams, came up to Immelman on the practice tee and congratulated him on getting the post.

Immelman, who turned 40 in December, will be the youngest man to captain either side. His playing career was plagued by injuries in recent years, especially to his wrists. In two Presidents Cup appearances in 2005 and 2007, he compiled a 1-6-1 record.

Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, puts the green jacket on 2008 champion Trevor Immelman at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: C. Aluka Berry/The State/MCT via Getty)

Efforts to reach Immelman by phone were unsuccessful. The PGA Tour is expected to make Immelman’s post official on Tuesday during a conference call scheduled for 10 a.m.

The Presidents Cup is scheduled for Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2021, at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Immelman is quite familiar with the Queen City from competing in the Wells Fargo Championship, where he once finished second, losing a sudden-death playoff in 2006 to Jim Furyk, and from visiting his parents, who formerly resided there.