To Jim Nantz’s sundry roles — golf announcer, basketball play-caller, host, emcee, Pebble Beach ambassador — you can add more title: LIV Golf roast master.
At the Masters last month, the legendary CBS Sports broadcaster perked ears when describing Brooks Koepka’s actions on the 15th hole during the third round. When Koepka’s second shot came to rest on the strip of fairway designated for patrons, Nantz deadpanned:
“There he is right on the CW.” He paused for effect then added, “The crosswalk.”
Jim Nantz drops apparent LIV Golf dig during Masters, sets social media ablaze
Tapped-in viewers would have known Koepka plays for LIV Golf, and LIV Golf is broadcast on the CW Network. They also might have known that Nantz has not spoken warmly of the upstart league. In the early days of LIV’s formation last year, Nantz, on CBS’s Canadian Open telecast, said of players who had signed with LIV, “…what I keep hearing from people, too, is a sense of disappointment, even a little betrayal.”
On Thursday at the PGA Championship, Nantz was back at again, dropping another subtle LIV zinger. As LIV pro Dustin Johnson got loose on the first tee, Nantz said of Johnson, “Not sure if you had a chance to see it, but he was the winner last week in Tulsa, in a playoff over Cam Smith.”
On its face, that might sound like an innocuous comment, but it, in fact, has layers. That’s because golf fans did not get a chance to see the playoff — at least not on TV. When the Tulsa event stretched into bonus golf Sunday evening, in many major markets across the U.S. the CW elected to instead air its regularly scheduled programming, meaning any viewers who wanted to see the tournament’s conclusion had to jump over to the LIVGolf+ or CW apps.
That strategic decision, it appears, did not escape Nantz.
You can check out the clip here: