How the Presidents Cup became golf TV’s most star-studded event

MONTREAL — It has been said that a hundred senators look in the mirror every morning and see a president.

At the Presidents Cup, there’s something similar going on with leadership: A hundred Presidents Cup captains look in the mirror and see a TV star.

But in this case they may have a point. One needed only a few minutes at Wednesday afternoon’s Vice Captains’ press conference to see on-screen talent in action.

On the dais, from left to right, sat close to a half-dozen of golf television’s most notable voices: Ogilvy, Immelman, Leonard, Kisner. Normally, some combination of those four pro talkers is a common sight for Wednesday afternoon at a big-time event; we watch as they spill through the fairways with bright-colored inside-the-ropes lanyards and carry on playful chitchat with players, caddies and agents. But on this Wednesday, those faces and voices were wearing different hats, on-site as temporary employees of the Presidents Cup, each in their respective roles as vice-captain.

As a cold, gray afternoon bled into a gusty evening in Montreal, the four men spoke, and before long it was hard to ignore the feeling that the television voices were everywhere. There was Todd Lewis at the lectern, asking questions. And TV screens blasted the back-and-forth being recorded a few thousand feet away in NBC’s hulking broadcast facility. Soon the feeling had become a suggestion: Golf TV’s stars are everywhere at the Presidents Cup. Now only one question remained: Why is this week so important to them?

We’ll start with Trevor Immelman, the genteel voice of CBS Golf. Last time we saw him wearing the INT shield, he was weeks away from starting in his current role as lead analyst. Immelman, a well-liked but, at the time, not particularly distinguished voice, was the captain of the International side back in ’22. LIV had spent the prior summer decimating the International side, leading Immelman to select a record eight rookies to the roster. As the two sides prepared for what was expected to be a bloodbath, Immelman faced an opportunity to stand out. He delivered seven days of impassioned press conferences, struck every right note, and captained a team that proved endearingly pesky. When it was over, Immelman was a golf supernova, and he rode the wave of goodwill straight into a well-regarded opening season on CBS.

Geoff Ogilvy is no such TV star — at least not yet — but he has been the eye candy of the industry over these last 18 months. It is easy to forget that Ogilvy was the first prominent name tied to the search for NBC’s (still-vacant) lead analyst position. The former U.S. Open champ has long been regarded as one of golf’s most incisive speakers, and would be a welcome addition just about anywhere, should he decide he’d like to work a full schedule.

The problem, though, is that Ogilvy seems perfectly content keeping TV at an arm’s length, pitching in for ESPN’s Masters duty and as a guest on various other podcasts, shows and stories.

“NBC was scratching around but that doesn’t feel right at the moment,” he told Golfweek in April. “I’m not ready to commit to 20 weeks.”

Not working TV full-time gives him the freedom to work without hesitation as a vice-captain at events like this one (with the runway clear for the Australian to step into a leadership role when the Cup shifts to his local Kingston Heath in ’28). The flip side of work-life balance is that, at events like this one, Ogilvy showcases the oratory gifts that would be so well suited in the booth.

“We don’t hate the other team,” he said Wednesday, his tone bone-dry. “It … looks fun to win this tournament.”

From the other side of the dais, the remaining two members of our TV crew — Justin Leonard and Kevin Kisner — laughed. Those two won’t be interviewing for any TV jobs this weekend; as it stands now their place in the TV landscape is clear. Leonard “stepped away” from NBC in the beginning of 2023 to pursue a full-time playing schedule on the PGA Tour Champions and hasn’t been back much, while NBC has openly courted Kisner to step away from full-time PGA Tour duties to take the lead analyst job, but Kisner has rebuffed them.

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Still, their place in the vice-captaincy — a literal inner circle of men’s pro golf — spoke to a truth shared by all four men, and by each of the 24 players in the field this week: the world is watching a little bit closer this week. And when the world is watching closer, well, so are the TV cameras.

Maybe it goes without saying that part of being a golf TV star is being in the inner circle, and maybe this week reveals the stars more than it creates them. But one member of this week’s Presidents Cup actually here for television duties — Bones Mackay — sees it differently. The golf world is littered with stories of those whose careers reached a different stratosphere via team golf performance, including two members of this week’s field (Max Homa and Tom Kim).

“There’s nothing like these weeks,” Mackay said Wednesday. “The intensity is ratcheted up, it’s getting a little chippy. It’s great.”

Mackay, whose tenure on the bag overlapped with two of the golf world’s great match play showmen (Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas), has witnessed firsthand how these weeks can change lives and careers. They’ve helped to change his — leading in some indirect way to his current gig as an on-course reporter with NBC’s team.

I asked Mackay why he thought so many TV stars were in the mix this week, and he spoke about Leonard, suggesting these events are often a symbiotic relationship: put good in, get good out. Then he paused.

“From a TV perspective, they’re some of the best weeks of the year.”

Maybe in more ways than one.