Celebrities

WATCH: Somber Jim Nantz opens Farmers final-round telecast with news of Kobe Bryant’s death

Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo at the beginning of the CBS Sports broadcast of the Farmers Insurance Open.

As news started to circulate of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death on Sunday afternoon, the CBS Sports broadcast team prepared to take over the live telecast of the Farmers Insurance Open. Early round play was on Golf Channel, but it switched over to CBS at 3 p.m. ET.

Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo, per usual, led the broadcast, and Nantz opened it by telling the world — at least those who hadn’t heard yet — about the death of the NBA legend. Bryant, 41, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were two of nine people who died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., earlier on Sunday. There were no survivors.

Tiger Woods, a long-time Los Angeles Lakers fan, said he didn’t hear of the accident until after his final round, when caddie Joe LaCava told him.

Below is the text (and video) of how Nantz opened the CBS broadcast on Sunday.

“We are live at the Farmers Insurance Open just outside of San Diego, Calif., at Torrey Pines, and like you at home we are trying to get our minds around this news that has been now wildly reported, the LA Times just confirming it that these reports are true,” Nantz said. “The sports world has lost one of the great superstars of our time. The reports, again, of a helicopter crash in the last couple of hours, 140 miles north of where we are right now in Calabasas, Calif., with Kobe Bryant on board.”

Exit mobile version