Pardon the dreadful pun, but the news is true: longtime NBC lead analyst Paul Azinger is returning to golf broadcasting in 2025, taking over at least analyst for the PGA Tour Champions in place of the since-departed Lanny Wadkins.
While Azinger remains well-regarded in the industry, his return to a PGA Tour arrives as a bit of a surprise. He has been out of television since leaving NBC in a blaze of glory last December after the network elected not to renew his contract. Zinger was not a particularly popular voice among viewing audiences in his final years in the lead chair due to an overreliance on folksiness and his repeated derision of golf media (of which he was a key appointee), but his new role with the PGA Tour Champions should place him in the good graces of a generation of Tour stars he knows well, which should help to enhance some of the analytical breakdowns of recent years.
WELL THAT’S AWKWARD.
However, we cannot ignore what most recently placed Azinger in the limelight of the golf world. Several weeks after he booked his exit, Azinger lit into NBC again, criticizing a company-centric cost-saving effort by NBC Sports head of production Sam Flood and offering his analysis that the PGA Tour had effectively become a feeder tour for LIV Golf.
One assumes that Azinger explained these allegations to the PGA Tour Champions before taking the new lead job and perhaps offered an apology for his portrayals of the network he will occasionally be a part of (Golf Channel) and the golf tour that employs him.
HOME COOKIN’
Azinger’s return to the booth comes as the PGA Tour Champions begins its broadcast transition to a mostly remote setup out of the PGA Tour’s brand-new production studios in Jacksonville, Fla.
Remote broadcasts, or “remies” as they’re often referred to in the industry, are new terrain for sports TV. Proponents of the strategy say the business model brings down costs for sports leagues and broadcast networks while limiting the risk of technical failures, while opponents say that it undermines the journalistic integrity of broadcasts by removing access from players and competitive tours.
BROADCAST MOVES.
It is at the month of December when news regarding the particular broadcast moves in the golf takes place. As for major changes to the TV product right now, there is nothing that can be said but mum but it might be worth mentioning that NBC Sports play-by-play man Dan Hicks’ contract will run out at the end of the year. Finally, Flood the head of NBC’s production has said that he wants to retain the services of Hicks in NBC Sports as we move into the future. Hicks is the voice of a Gros of big properties for NBC like golf, Olympic swimming, Notre Dame footbal and tennis.