“I don’t watch the news,” Kasich told Jake Tapper on on Sunday, according to Yahoo. “I basically watch the Golf Channel when I’m traveling, believe it or not.”
I forgot to mention in my Forward Presscolumn on golf's two cutting-edge talk shows that in addition to landing big "gets", the shows were likely to deliver entertaining fodder that most pre-scripted talk shows fail to produce.
Jordan Spieth's part-one sitdown with Feherty was interesting in ways I hadn't quite expected and the subsequent viewer reviews have been glowing for the season debut. (The show also drew a 325,000 avg. and was the second most-watched Feherty premiere ever). You can get a flavor of the first episode from this page of clips. The talk of Tiger has gone viral-ish because of Spieth's claim that players do not respect Tiger's greatness enough. His comments on underestimatingJason Day will appear in part two next Monday, March 14.
Following his second win in two weeks and his obvious role as Masters favorite headed to the year's first major a month from now, Adam Scott reiterated that he will stick with Stevie Williams on his bag.
This, after two wins with caddie Dave Clark, who NBC'sstellar sound team picked up a few times Sunday playing the role of forceful but comforting bagman. (Martin Kaufmannnotes the great sound work but embarrassingly suggests this was a new thing for NBC. Let it go Marty!)
Ben Everillreports on Scott putting to rest any doubts about who his Augusta bagman will be.
Englishman Clark took the job and despite helping Scott back into a rich vein of form, his time at the majors will have to wait.
"The plan is set. David is doing an amazing job and we are working very well together but you could offer Steve the job to any player in the world for Augusta and they are going to want to take him," Scott told AAP.
"His experience is amazing and we work very well together. Loot at our record the last few years."
No one can blame Scott for wanting the same looper that helped him win the 2014 Masters, but it's also hard to fathom how his game, his confidence and his comfort level on the course could be any better than it is right now. And Clark certainly has played a role in that fine form.
So who should Adam Scott have on the bag as he goes for his second Masters?
This PGA Tour Entertainment clip cuts out Clark's commentary prior to the shot:
The formula that proved successful for producer Mark Loomis at ABC will define year two of USGA golf on Fox. With the expected announced of Paul Azinger's hiring, Fox also mentioned in its press release that Brad Faxon has been promoted from 17th hole tower to the 18th hole broadcast booth, with Joe Buck playing traffic cop. The banter should be lively, funny and edgy between the three.
The full press release:
PAUL AZINGER NAMED FOX SPORTS’ LEAD GOLF ANALYST
Major Champion to Team with Seven-Time Emmy Winner Joe Buck in 18th Tower New York – Paul Azinger, winner of the 1993 PGA Championship and veteran broadcaster, has joined FOX Sports as lead analyst for its golf coverage, beginning in 2016. Azinger joins seven-time Emmy Award-winning announcer Joe Buck and analyst Brad Faxon in the 18th Tower for FOX Sports’ USGA Championship telecasts. The announcement was made today by John Entz, President, Production & Executive Producer, FOX Sports and Mark Loomis, Coordinating Producer, USGA Studio & Event Production.
"Paul is a respected and trusted voice in the golf community, and he has the credibility of being a major champion with a strong track record of experience in the broadcast booth,” Entz said. “He has been one of golf's most candid and thoughtful analysts and we are excited to add him to our team.”
A 30-year PGA Tour veteran, Azinger was a 12-time winner on the tour, highlighted by his triumph at the 1993 PGA Championship at Inverness Club. Azinger joined the tour in 1981 and hit his prime later in the decade, earning PGA Tour Player of the Year honors in 1987 and spending nearly 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1988 and 1994. He also represented the United States on five Ryder Cup teams, participating four times as a player and serving as captain of the victorious 2008 squad.
"I am honored to partner with FOX Sports and the USGA to provide analysis for the compelling slate of USGA Championships,” Azinger said. “It will especially be an honor to call our nations national championship, the U.S. Open, beginning in June at storied Oakmont Country Club."
Azinger began his broadcasting career serving as an analyst for ABC’s PGA Tour golf coverage for 2005 and 2006, quickly becoming one of the most well-respected voices in the industry. He remained at ESPN through 2015 and has called early round coverage of the U.S. Open Championship, anchored coverage of the British Open Championship and contributed to early rounds of Masters Tournament coverage.
In his new role at FOX Sports, Azinger is scheduled to broadcast the 116th U.S. Open Championship at Oakmont Country Club, the U.S. Women’s Open at Cordevalle and the U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club. He will also broadcast the 116th U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills Country Club and the 2017 Walker Cup Match at Los Angeles Country Club.
This should sharpen the announcing focus and also de-burden the Fox crew of Greg Norman's presence, despite the views of one that moving on without Norman will be tough.
When news of Norman's firing was first reported by Links, it was reported here that Azinger was the likely and inevitable choice given his excellent analysis for ABC and ESPN over the years.
Update on 2016-01-27 05:59 by Geoff
**A year removed from Fox's big USGA roll-out at the Waldorf Astoria, M. James Wardexplains why Norman was such a letdown in light of what was said in New York City last February.
The Shark was touted as the new voice—the man best able to provide the overview during the telecast given his prominent standing in the game as a top tier player for many years. The sad reality is that Greg was ill-prepared for the role. During key moments of the ’15 U.S. Open he failed to add anything of depth or meaning, often with long periods of silence and when eventually speaking only doing so in reaction to what others were saying. In short, the man who was hailed initially as a new voice had developed self-inflicted bouts of stage fright and allowed key moment after key moment to simply go unnoticed. Often when Norman did speak his contributions were fairly pedestrian in scope and limited in his overall golf knowledge of the different players—save those from his native land of Australia.
SI's Richard Deitsch talked to Jim Nantz about many topics, but left out this bit on theGreg Norman-Fox Sports breakup. However, Deitsch posted it in a notes piece.
Nantz explains how good Norman was in the booth whenever he'd finish after a round, making the parting a surprise to him.
So we don’t know what happened there. I am curious. It takes time for people to be together in any sport on the air, to be able to establish continuity and chemistry. When I interview coaches and players, sometimes you can see who is really gifted at rolling out a sound bite and saying it in a way that has never been heard before—interesting ways in making you think. I worked a lot with Greg over the years and I don’t know why they parted ways. I always had a lot of respect for what he offered when he came to his tower.
“I wish Fox well,” Nantz continued. “Unlike the NFL where everyone is broadcasting at the same time during the regular season, the golf season you hand it off. Yes, we [at CBS] have it for the most weeks but we truly want everyone to do well because when it is your week, you are in charge of trying to make the game sound interesting and advance the sport and document it. It is not the competitive craziness that people want to talk about it. I watch other people call golf events and cheer them on and text them and congratulate them when they do good work, which is all the time. It is a different vibe than you might think.”
Geoff Shackelford
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
