The post GOLF’s Subpar: Trevor Immelman on how he found out he was replacing Nick Faldo appeared first on Golf.

The post GOLF’s Subpar: Trevor Immelman on how he found out he was replacing Nick Faldo appeared first on Golf.

Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by CBS analyst Trevor Immelman who explains how he found out he was replacing Nick Faldo in the booth.

—

Thanks to our official sponsor Dewar’s. Make sure to check out their Reserve Bar listings today: https://www.reservebar.com/collections/house-of-dewars

This week’s episode is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. If you’ve never tried FanDuel Sportsbook, what are you waiting for? Go to https://www.fanduel.com/subpar or download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started. Be sure to sign up with promo code SUBPAR so they know we sent you.

Disclaimer: 21+ and present in AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, NJ, NY, or WY. 1st online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires 14 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), Call 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (NJ, IA, IL), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY(467369) (NY), or 1-800-522-4700 (WY).

The post GOLF’s Subpar: Trevor Immelman on how he found out he was replacing Nick Faldo appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Faldo receives emotional farewell from CBS Golf team in final broadcast appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Faldo receives emotional farewell from CBS Golf team in final broadcast appeared first on Golf.

It’s a weekend of lasts on the PGA Tour. The last tournament of the 2022 regular season. The last opportunity to claw into the FedEx Cup playoffs. The last chance to lock up a PGA Tour card for the 2023 season and beyond.

It’s also a weekend of lasts for the people broadcasting the PGA Tour. The Wyndham Championship is CBS’ final broadcast of the 2022 season — the last show before a much-deserved break for one of golf TV’s two weekend warriors — which also means it’s the final broadcast for one of CBS’ most beloved teammates, Nick Faldo.

Faldo announced in June his plans to retire from the CBS Golf booth at the conclusion of the 2022 season after 16 years next to Jim Nantz, citing a desire to take time with his family and, more presciently, to quiet his travel schedule for the first time in more than four decades.

It was a surprising decision from one of golf’s preeminent voices — even to those who worked closely with him. With so many weeks on the road, golf’s television production teams are one of the sport’s tightest-knit communities. In saying goodbye to his job, Faldo was also saying goodbye to some of his closest friendships.

News

“I am honored and humbled to have worked alongside all those in ‘The Team,’ which includes my good buddies, ‘the guys’ in the now Super Tower,” Faldo said. “Leaving a full schedule of broadcasting will now provide me the ability to entertain other opportunities and partnerships.”

On Sunday at the Wyndham, the CBS Golf team serenaded Sir Nick with a going-away celebration, sharing stories, laughs and more than a few tears. Early in the afternoon, it was Ian Baker-Finch who kicked things off.

“You taught me so much, and for that I’m grateful. I’m honored to have my name sandwiched between yours on the Claret Jug — ’90, ’91, ’92 — I look at that all the time with great pleasure,” Baker-Finch said. “The last two decades we’ve been paired together many times on various TV towers around the world, and in fact the last 16 years here at CBS.”

“I’m so sad to see you go,” he said, his voice cracking. “Like all of us here at CBS are so sad. Well boy, perhaps we’ll have the chance to be paired together on the Gallatin River in Montana with a Fly Rod instead of a golf club.”

Faldo could hardly hide his emotion.

“Cheers, mate,” Faldo squeaked out as tears rolled down his face.

Then, as the broadcast reached its conclusion, it was Faldo’s closest teammate, Jim Nantz, who stepped to the podium.

“Congratulations, Sir Nick,” he said as the broadcast reached its final commercial break. “Let’s bring it home.”

“You know, folks, it’s rare for anyone to be the best in the world at one thing. But Nick, you’ve been the best in the world twice and that my friend is extraordinary,” Nantz continued as the broadcast briefly flipped through a highlight reel of Faldo’s finest moments. “The six majors, world number one ranking, and then in 2007 you join CBS and your second act as the world’s best. Thank you, Nick, for gracing this booth and our lives. Now you and Linds will go to your happy place. God bless you, Nick, thanks my friend.”

Once Nantz was done, the attention shifted back to Faldo, who could hardly form words through the tears.

“To the crew, as I affectionately and respectfully call you the workers. They put the pictures out, we do all the rattling, the easy job,” Faldo said. “Thank you all. I’m a single [inaudible], but I’ve found these three brothers. Thank you. Thank you. I’m ready.”

As the camera panned out, the three men surrounding Faldo gave him a standing ovation. The camera faded to black on that image — a well-deserved feat for one of golf’s great ambassadors.

The post Nick Faldo receives emotional farewell from CBS Golf team in final broadcast appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Faldo slams Saudi tour and its players; Jim Nantz feels ‘betrayal’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Nick Faldo slams Saudi tour and its players; Jim Nantz feels ‘betrayal’ appeared first on Golf.

Nick Faldo, Jim Nantz and CBS started its intro into its PGA Tour coverage with kind words about its leaderboard and the golf course they were on.

They then talked for three minutes, mostly in blunt fashion, about “a story that is also out there.”

In CBS’ first televised comments about the upstart, Saudi-backed LIV Invitational Series — which finished its first event on Saturday about an hour before the broadcast of the Canadian Open — Nantz noted the world rank (126th) and lack of recent success of Charl Schwartzel (no wins in six years), the event’s champion, then Faldo took swings at the format and the players, and Nantz said he felt ‘betrayal.” The tone could be considered both surprising, given the network’s previous silence, and anticipated, considering CBS’ long relationship with the Tour, which Nantz did disclose.

After noting that the Tour this week had suspended its members who played in the event and showing press conference clips of Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas talking of the series, Nantz asked Faldo for his “thoughts.”

“No. 1, you saw those faces, you can’t feel good being a major champion to be suspended from the Tour,” Faldo said. “We’ve got two totally different golf tournaments. One, we play for tournaments and national championships over here. And the LIV Tour is what, 54 holes and no cut, shotgun start, you know, sounds crazy. 

“And the other thing that is very noticeable is the players that have left. Obviously they’re in mid-40s, they’ve been out here on Tour, they’ve been battling away and they probably know they can’t win out here against these youngsters. So they’re taking the easy option to go over and try and win a boatload of cash.”

Nantz then noted CBS’ broadcast partnership and that “we’re proud of it,” before saying that he and others felt misled.

“But I think about — what I keep hearing from people, too, is a sense of disappointment, even a little betrayal,” Nantz said. “They’ve always been told the story — and I know it was true — that at some point in their careers the dream was to play on the PGA Tour, build a legacy, build your future financially. 

“And the Tour’s been good to them. It’s a Tour that’s come into these communities for decades and made these communities better than how they were when they first got there. I’m talking not millions; I’m talking billions of dollars into these communities.”

“I think all of the players are proud of that because you always get thanked and they say, oh, great to see you back again,” Faldo said. “You know, I’ve been out on the Tour for decades and now decades with TV as well, and you love it out there. When you’re a kid, this was your dream, to come out and compete against the best and it’s what you do.”

At this point, Nantz stopped the conversation, there was a three-second pause, and CBS showed Shane Lowry hitting a putt.  

InsideGOLF member exclusive: Join Sean Zak and Dylan Dethier at 11 a.m. Monday for a live conversation about what the first LIV Golf event was like on site, plus what the new league means for the game. Not a member? Join here for only $20/year.

The post Nick Faldo slams Saudi tour and its players; Jim Nantz feels ‘betrayal’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Jim Nantz is so fond of this Augusta hangout (and not just because it’s open late) appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Jim Nantz is so fond of this Augusta hangout (and not just because it’s open late) appeared first on Golf.

The days get long, when you’re covering the Masters. That’s not a complaint. But you do need to know which of the greater Augusta restaurants serve late, and I do. I wouldn’t call it a skill set.

One of the most reliable of the late-night Augusta restaurants is the French Market Grille West on Furys Ferry Road, about four miles from the golf course. I first started going there years ago, when the late Frank Chirkinian, the legendary CBS golf producer, still owned the place. I’ve been there dozens of times.

On Thursday, I wrote Tiger, filed too late, got in the car, made a left on Washington Road, a right on Furys Ferry and slipped on in to the restaurant at about 9:40 p.m., 20 minutes before the kitchen’s last call. I sat down and gave Ashley my dinner request about 90 seconds later. As it happened, Jim Nantz was two booths down.

News

Whenever I see Jim, which is at least several times a year, somewhere in our conversation we usually mention Chirkinian, Chirkinian’s deputy Chuck Will and various others we know/knew, love/loved, admire/admired. There’s something about Masters week — and for me there’s something about the French Market Grille — that makes you nod to the past while you are absorbed by the present and consider the future.

For instance, in that last category: What will the green coats do with 13, the greatest par-5 in golf — except in still conditions it’s not really a par-5 anymore?

You don’t have to apologize for being consumed with that sort of thing, come Masters week. You can wait for the loo at the French Market Grille and have that discussion with the stranger waiting in front of you.

These French Market Grille meals from long ago come to mind with a blink of the eye:

A late dinner there with my friend Jaime Diaz, after which we retired to a grass field beside the parking lot, where we hit wedge shots under the moonlight and discussed the state of the game and the states of our lives until 3:30 in the morning.

A dinner with a group of SI writers, hosted by Terry McDonell, our editor, who told us in the future we should expect to write for . . . the internet.

An early dinner with my friend Mike Donald, the former Tour player, during the second round of the 2013 Masters and watching when Tiger Woods’ third shot on 15 hit the flagstick, ricocheting off it and into the lake.

Dinners by myself (many of them), with other writers (many of them), with my friend Neil Oxman, the veteran caddie.

On his way out Thursday night, I said hi to Nantz, who introduced me to his dinner companions, his sister and brother-in-law.

We talked about Chirkinian and Chuck Will and various others. Jim drove Jack Whitaker to Chuck Will’s funeral, a half-decade ago, and they both spoke beautifully about him.

News

I’ve written this many times but mentioned it the other night to the Nantz party: Chirkinian used to describe the Masters as a play in three acts: Thursday-Friday as Act I, Saturday as Act II, Sunday as Act III, the course as the stage, the leaders as the protagonists.

Jim knew this whole bit, of course. The other two maybe did not. 

“Frank studied theater,” Jim offered, relevantly.

“I once asked Chuck to describe Frank’s golf game,” I said. Jim and I are the same age. 

Chuck and Frank logged a lot of rounds together. Chuck had game. Frank had enthusiasm and a slice.

“’Driver in the rough, Ginty out of it,’” I said, quoting Chuck.

Jim laughed. He knows all about Frank’s golf game, and all about the Ginty.

We were in Augusta, or on its outskirts, anyway.

We were in Frank’s old restaurant.

The post Why Jim Nantz is so fond of this Augusta hangout (and not just because it’s open late) appeared first on Golf.

The post Why an NFL analyst compared the Bengals’ playoff hero to ‘a young golfer’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Why an NFL analyst compared the Bengals’ playoff hero to ‘a young golfer’ appeared first on Golf.

Put Tony Romo and Jim Nantz in a room and they’re likely going to discuss golf at some point. Romo is an extremely good amateur, and Nantz, well, he’s basically the voice of the sport.

While calling the AFC Championship for CBS Sunday, the two stayed patient. This is football, after all. The PGA Tour wasn’t even playing Sunday. But with one quick note from fellow golf-sicko Jay Feely, golf suddenly made its way into two of the most important plays of the game. 

The situation: Tie game, 21-21, Bengals kicker Evan McPherson is lining up a 52-yard field goal with time ticking down in the fourth quarter. The kick was by no means a guarantee, but McPherson has been incredibly confident all playoffs. He reportedly was so confident a week earlier, against the Tennessee Titans, that he told his holder before he kicked that they “were going to the AFC Championship.” Naturally, Feely, a former kicker himself, had some thoughts. 

“He reminds me of a young golfer, he doesn’t have any battle scars yet,” Feely said. “He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, and it’s working for him.”

News

It certainly has been. McPherson had made all 10 kicks he had attempted in the playoffs to date, and he curled in that 52-yarder to put the Bengals up 24-21. 

“Jay, he didn’t have any scars coming in,” Romo said after the ball crossed through the uprights. “That was close to gaining one right there.” 

Close, but no scar. 

For those who spent Sunday under a rock, the Chiefs battled back to tie the game, as they have done so many times, forcing overtime, during which McPherson found himself in position again to win it for the Bengals. This one was much easier — from just 31 yards — but with it came a trip to the Super Bowl.

Not long after he drilled it, Nantz went back to golf, but in a very different manner.

“Shooter McPherson!” he shouted. “Fearless! And Cincinatti takes the AFC.”

Does McPherson’s heroics remind you of Shooter McGavin, the foil for Happy Gilmore? The storyline doesn’t totally track, as it’s Gilmore’s heroics that define the movie, but he does have the confident/cockiness part of McGavin down, that’s for sure. Romo, finally, chimed in with a soft note in the background, mimicking McGavin himself:

“Shooterrrrrr.”

The post Why an NFL analyst compared the Bengals’ playoff hero to ‘a young golfer’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Hot Mic: Why Jim Nantz is preparing to call a tournament from a mystery location appeared first on Golf.

The post Hot Mic: Why Jim Nantz is preparing to call a tournament from a mystery location appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to another edition of the Hot Mic, GOLF’s weekly media column dedicated to the people (and stories) behind the action you watch each week.

Jim Nantz knows what he’ll be doing next week. He knows when he’ll be doing it. But as to the matter of where? Even for sports television’s everywhere-man, that’s a bit of a mystery.

CBS Sports’ lead broadcaster has had his schedule ensconced for some time now, and the week of January 23-30, 2022 is a doozy. In just seven days, Nantz will anchor two sports split across three events and four telecasts. By the time the week is out, between the NFL playoffs and the PGA Tour, he will have spent more than 12 hours on national television. Naturally, Nantz will spend one of his off days working a second gig — shooting a March Madness advertisement for Capital One on Monday alongside legendary filmmaker Spike Lee.

And, if all that wasn’t enough for a 62-year-old with one of America’s most visible day jobs, he’ll begin the seven-day marathon without an earthly clue of where he’ll end it.

Is he terrified of what’s ahead? Worse. He’s ecstatic about it.

“It’s a new challenge, so I’m excited,” Nantz said on a media call outlining CBS’s 2022 golf season. “You know, there aren’t many things you do that are all that vastly different, year-to-year. I’m pretty much accustomed to the stretch from the Final Four to the Masters — I’ve done that 36 times. So this will be something that I’ll relish the chance to do.”

A “challenge” is Nantz’s parlance for what the rest of the waking world (and surely more than one CBS employee) is calling “a logistical nightmare.” But for sports television’s most recognized voice, this challenge is also a necessary evil. With CBS’s broadcast of next week’s Farmers Insurance Open sandwiched between its coverage of the AFC Divisional Round and Conference Championship, Nantz has reached an impasse. Forced to choose between the AFC Championship game and the Farmers Insurance Open, he will instead rely upon modern technology in an effort to choose both — calling the Farmers from the home stadium of the AFC Championship game.

News

Here, in his own words, is how he plans to navigate the week.

“Well, we have the Sunday night game in Kansas City — Buffalo and Kansas City — which is an amazing matchup and a repeat of last year’s AFC Championship Game,” Nantz said. “Monday I’m in New York shooting a Capital One commercial. Tuesday, I’ll be home in Nashville — I’m swinging between Tennessee and Pebble Beach these days — and will spend some family time here. I might even have a home game. If the Titans beat Cincinnati, the game would be here. Otherwise, I’m going to be in place on Wednesday wherever the AFC Championship Game is, because the tournament’s going to start that day. So I want to watch the coverage — every minute of it on Wednesday and Thursday — and be in constant touch with [CBS Golf coordinating producer Sellers Shy] and some folks on the ground there with what storylines are beginning to develop.

Somewhere in the middle of that, we’ll have production meetings with the two AFC finalists,” he continued. “I’m gonna have to work around those schedules — it’s not like they’re going to adapt their schedules to what I’m doing. So those will be player interviews, interviews with the head coaches and coordinators, and then we will have a production meeting to set up our biggest game of the year. We just had the Super Bowl last February 7. This year it’s an NBC Super Bowl year, but the AFC Championship will be the most-watched show on the CBS television network for the calendar year 2022 — by a lot — so it’s a hugely important broadcast. I’ll be ready for it. I’m not the least bit concerned about that.”

Once the production meetings are over, Nantz will switch into golf mode, where he’ll remain for the first portion of the weekend. He’ll call the tournament remotely, utilizing a setup of monitors and equipment to get a near-instantaneous flow of video and information — a setup not entirely unlike the one he currently utilizes in the 18th tower.

“On Friday and Saturday — our two CBS broadcast days — those are 5 p.m. ET starts,” he said. “So I’m just going to go with the one-seed at the moment and say we’re going to be in Nashville because they have home field. It may not be that way, but that will be a 4 p.m. CT broadcast beginning here. I’m sure we’re going to have a check-in with Sellers at some point — I would say around 2 p.m., two hours before the broadcast — to make sure the signal is clear and everything is on time and there’s not a lag and we’re coordinated.”

Nantz will have regular contact with Shy and the rest of the CBS production team from his location, which will be somewhere near the following day’s AFC Championship broadcast.

“I will be at the stadium,” Nantz said. “In all likelihood, I’m not going to be directly in the broadcast booth where we’ll call the game on Sunday, but we’ll probably be in a production truck right inside the stadium. And away we go…”

Away we go indeed, and not only on Nantz’s nomadic week. Monday’s call found the famed broadcaster in an introspective light, remarking upon the passage of time as he enters his 36th season at the helm of CBS’s golf coverage.

Whatever the misgivings, Nantz still loves his job, and at the core of that devotion is golf. It was the first sport that captured his heart, and, after an introduction to legendary CBS Golf producer Frank Chirkinian, the one that jumpstarted his career.

“I find after all these years that the anticipation of the next season is something that is part of your life,” Nantz said wistfully. “I think we can all relate to that — at the end of the school year, at the end of the fall semester, or whatever it might be in my world. I get to the end of certain seasons and I can’t wait for the next one to begin. But my longing for golf to come back into my life again is the one that I feel the most. I didn’t want to miss being a part of it with my teammates.”

It all helps to explain some of why Nantz is willing to endure the chaos of next week. Even four decades later, it’s still fun for him.

Wherever “it” is.

The post Hot Mic: Why Jim Nantz is preparing to call a tournament from a mystery location appeared first on Golf.

The post Hot Mic: David Feherty remembers wildest moments, Colt Knost promoted appeared first on Golf.

The post Hot Mic: David Feherty remembers wildest moments, Colt Knost promoted appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to another edition of the Hot Mic, GOLF’s weekly media column dedicated to the people (and stories) behind the action you watch each week.

If nothing else, the Hot Mic prides itself on sharing the stories of golf’s great storytellers.

It should come as no surprise, then, that this column has spent a considerable amount of time discussing one David Feherty. Feherty is not only one of golf’s best storytellers, he’s one of the sport’s most enjoyable figures — a gifted entertainer with a keen sense of comedic timing.

These are the skills that have served Feherty well (and at times, too well) during his broadcast career. They are the skills that have turned him into a golf television mainstay and a beloved member of NBC and SiriusXM’s golf coverage.

News

So, when the Hot Mic was granted the opportunity to speak with the man himself at a recent charity event for the Generational Group, we figured the best use of our time with Feherty would be to let him do what he does best. Over the span of a few minutes, we challenged Feherty to share his best stories with us from a career in golf. Below is a collection of some of our favorites from our conversation, including his (hungover) best round ever, and his most embarrassing shot. You can check out the full video above.

(Ed. Note: A special hat tip to GOLF’s Tiffani Lynch, who conducted the interview with Feherty … and managed not to laugh audibly.)

David Feherty’s best round of golf ever:

“It was under a monumental hangover, I’m not proud of that part of it. It was on the eastern coast of Spain, the Catalan Open. I thought that I was going to miss the cut, so I went out with a friend of mine, and we kinda tied one on. Got in around 3/4 in the morning, and noticed I was first on the draw sheet the following morning.”

“I got in the shower and got changed and went back out almost immediately and shot 61. I went from just making the cut to tied for second, so I behaved myself the following evening and then shot 75 the next day. Serves me right.”

His most embarrassing shot:

“I remember the first time I played with Seve. Seve was one of those guys he was a nightmare to play with. He was always jingling his change and moving his feet around. So I moved it over to the part of the tee where I couldn’t see his feet from underneath the bill of cap, and I clean-shanked a four-iron. I’m on my follow through and I’ve just realized that I’ve shanked it. And Seve is right here, just about to hit his shot. And the ball goes right into a tree just short of the 17th green and vanished. So the ball lands on the tee behind us. Seve turns me and says, ‘I’m sorry, you’re away.”

“So that was fairly embarrassing.”

His best fan interaction as a broadcaster:

“I was working for CBS at the time and I was following Rory McIlroy at the PGA Championship. We’d had a torrential downpour, there was a fan, a big fella, and I’m walking past him and his feet went out from underneath him. He slid the whole way down the bank and landed right in front of me to where I had to step over him. He looked at me and he said, ‘Feherty!!!!!’ He didn’t even spill his beer, which I thought was a magnificent athletic achievement apart from anything else.”

News and notes

CBS Promotes Colt Knost

The Big Gravy himself, Colt Knost, announced Tuesday he is expanding his on-course reporting role with CBS in the new year. The move, which will elevate his live TV coverage into a more full-time role, comes as no surprise to keen viewers. Knost has been one of golf television’s great success stories over the last year. A sharp analytical mind and jocular on-air personality, Knost’s media ventures (including his podcast for GOLF, Subpar) have given him a burgeoning second golf career (and we’d imagine it doesn’t hurt to come recommended by Justin Thomas).

Jim Nantz heads to the hall

Speaking of talented storytellers — a hearty congratulations to the don of golf television, Jim Nantz, for being named to the National Sports Media Association hall of fame last weekend. Nantz, who has been with CBS since the 80s (!), returns for another year on the network’s PGA Tour coverage in 2022.

The post Hot Mic: David Feherty remembers wildest moments, Colt Knost promoted appeared first on Golf.

The post Jim Nantz’ call of Phil Mickelson’s win was just four words, and it was perfect appeared first on Golf.

The post Jim Nantz’ call of Phil Mickelson’s win was just four words, and it was perfect appeared first on Golf.

When Phil Mickelson had left all of six inches between him to and a par to finish his epic PGA Championship victory, you had to be on the edge of your seat. 

Not only was one of the greatest players of all-time capping off an historic performance at one of the toughest courses on the planet; we were also going to hear a legendary sports broadcaster choose a few important words to marry with the moment.

It’s not easy, but Jim Nantz was the man for the job. He’s made a career of covering the biggest moments in golf, and many of those moments have now become synonymous with his voice and his word choice. Nantz was even there for Mickelson’s first major win at the Masters in 2004.

“Is it his time? Yes!” Nantz said at the time. Seventeen years later, he was on hand for CBS to do the job again.

With all the context of Mickelson’s recent slump, that he broke the record for oldest major winner, the result was simply perfect: “Phil defeats Father Time.”

Phil defeats Father Time. It feels perfect every time you say it. A little alliteration. Everything wrapped up in four words. Subject, context, everything is there. Phil defeats Father Time. Add it to the list of memorable Nantz calls. It’s easily one of the best. 

Check out the entire sequence below.

The post Jim Nantz’ call of Phil Mickelson’s win was just four words, and it was perfect appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Greatest stretch of golf ever’? Jim Nantz takes stock halfway through golf’s golden year appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Greatest stretch of golf ever’? Jim Nantz takes stock halfway through golf’s golden year appeared first on Golf.

Even on pre-major championship media calls, Jim Nantz is, well, Jim Nantz.

It’s as if the good folks at CBS zapped him out of your television screen and into Zoom — minus the suit and tie. He speaks in that famous voice. He tells stories. He’s affable and engaged.

Jim Nantz is a professional talker, and as such, he rarely speaks out of turn. When he does speak out of turn, it’s for a reason. Like before last year’s PGA Championship, when Nantz darn-near interrupted his boss — CBS Chairman Sean McManus — to share his call-to-action with golf media.

“No other sport can say this right now except for us: We are about to enter the greatest stretch of golf in the history of the game,” Nantz said. “Starting on Thursday, in an 11-month stretch, we are going to have seven major championships. We are going to have the playoffs. That includes two Masters, two PGA Championships, the Players Championship. That’s a big story to tell. It’s a big headline.”

Phew. Those were big words. They still are big words. The greatest stretch of golf ever.

Now, four major championships and nine months later, Nantz’s colorful proclamation seems to have taken a different hue. We’ve had three first-time major-winners, a record-breaking 72-hole score at the Masters and Bryson’s major championship coronation. But ahead of the fifth — this week’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island — it’s fair to wonder whether the first half of the greatest stretch ever has delivered on its promise.

News

Sure, we’ve gotten a few interesting storylines, but without fans and, in the case of the fall majors, traditional course setups, golf’s biggest tournaments have seemingly lacked their typical zap.

For his part, Nantz’s opinion is unchanged.

“If you circle back to that call that we had prior to Harding, we got into a discussion point about this stretch of golf over the next 11 months. I said I thought it was the greatest stretch of major championship golf, and you could argue in the history of the game,” Nantz recalled. “I wasn’t trying to pump anything up. It was not about hyperbole here, it was just about pure numbers of having seven majors in an 11-month stretch, it’s unprecedented.”

If his proclamation was purely arithmetic, it’s hard to argue with the logic. There will be more major championships in this 11-month stretch than any in the history of the game — to say nothing of an Olympic competition and Ryder Cup lurking on the horizon. And, Nantz wonders, is it possible we’re undervaluing the quality of the golf we’ve already seen?

“You look at what’s happened,” he said. “We’ve not had a repeat winner through the first four. But I mean, we’ve had tremendous storylines and really highly predictable players. So from Morikawa to DeChambeau, DJ to Matsuyama at Augusta, it has been really, I think, a good time for the game during a very difficult backdrop.”

There’s no question that golf has seen a resurgence over the last 12 months, but the question remains: how much of that, if any, is due to the professional game? Television ratings, admittedly a fickle metric in the digital age, tell some of the story.

Tour ratings have jumped steadily in 2021, but the majors tell a different story. The Masters didn’t rebound nearly as much in April as some prognosticators expected after a dreadful November performance, and the U.S. Open suffered ratings losses even in a DeChambeau win. Just about the only success story was that original PGA Championship, which saw modest gains year-over-year.

To that end, Nantz makes a compelling argument: maybe the first handful of majors in this unprecedented stretch have lacked juice, but with fans returning and four major champions crowned, could they be the perfect table-setter for the three tournaments still to come?

“I think this is a really neat stretch,” Nantz said. “One of these majors, is somebody is going to double up during that 11-month window, is one of those four (winners) able to get a second leg? I’m anxious to see.”

The pressure’s on, Kiawah.

The post ‘Greatest stretch of golf ever’? Jim Nantz takes stock halfway through golf’s golden year appeared first on Golf.

The post The incredible story of Jim Nantz’s first round at Augusta National appeared first on Golf.

The post The incredible story of Jim Nantz’s first round at Augusta National appeared first on Golf.

On Sunday, Jim Nantz quietly celebrated an anniversary in front of nine million people. With Hideki Matsuyama’s putt on the 18th hole at Augusta National, Nantz officially completed the 35th of what he hopes will be 50 Masters at CBS.

After three decades, Nantz has become synonymous with the tournament he calls every April — a fact reflected by the hefty new contract handed down to him by CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus. At this stage, Nantz’s dulcet tones at Augusta are “a tradition unlike any other” in itself. A tradition that, it appears, began in the least believable way imaginable.

The story begins in 1986, where a 26-year-old Nantz was summoned to shoot promos ahead of his first-ever Masters by legendary CBS Golf producer Frank Chirkinian.

Features

“My first time stepping foot on the grounds of Augusta was in early March of 1986,” Nantz said. “He felt like maybe it would be a good idea to introduce me to the golf audience a little bit, even though they’re watching the NCAA Tournament, familiarize that this kid’s gonna be part of the Masters broadcast, since I’d only, at that point, been to two tournaments.”

Producer and broadcaster made it on-site together ahead of the promotional shoot, which gave Nantz time to wander the grounds for the first time. But the other members of the shoot ran into a bit of an issue.

“When I got to Augusta, of course, I was just in awe that I was actually there,” Nantz laughed. “The camera crew that was coming to shoot the promos missed their connection in Atlanta. So suddenly, there was some chaos, and Frank said, ‘Well, kid, I guess you’re just gonna have to go play until they get here.'”

Dumbfounded, Nantz looked down.

“I’m in a shirt and tie, and I’ve got no clubs or anything,” Nantz said. “[Chirkinian] goes, ‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of that kinda detail. Just sit back and shut up, and get ready, you’re gonna be playin’ here in a few minutes.’ Right, next thing you know, he found a member that had an opening in their group, got me some clubs and bought me some golf shoes.”

Mere minutes after walking on the grounds for the first time, Nantz stood on the first tee at Augusta National living every golfer’s wildest dream. There was just one problem: the production crew was on its way.

“All the while, I’m kinda looking over my shoulder, waiting for this crew to show up,” Nantz said. “I just hit my tee shot at 13 when I saw Frank comin’ over the hill in a cart. And he said, ‘Get in the cart, they’re here.’ And at the time, I was, like, three over through 12, and I was in a good position off the tee at 13. Seeing it for the first time, I wanted to keep playing.”

Ultimately, Chirkinian won out. Nantz was yanked off the course before he could finish Amen Corner — but not before he’d put his own mark on Masters history.

“So that was it,” Nantz said. “That was actually the first time — that day, I ever uttered the phrase, ‘A tradition unlike any other.'”

The post The incredible story of Jim Nantz’s first round at Augusta National appeared first on Golf.