Golf on ESPN

American TV series or program

Golf on ESPN

Created by| ESPN
Country of origin| United States
No. of episodes| N/A
Production
Running time| 180 minutes or until tournament ends
Release
Original network| ESPN
ESPN2
ESPN on ABC
ESPNews
Original release| 1979 (1979) –
present

Golf coverage on ESPN has been a regular feature of the cable sports channels' programming since soon after ESPN's launch in the United States in 1979.

Although ESPN no longer owns any share of the rights to the week-to-week events on the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, or Champions Tour, it is the cable rightsholder for two of the men's majors as of 2020 — the Masters Tournament (since 2008) and the PGA Championship (since 2020). In both cases, the telecasts are produced in association with CBS Sports (which serves as the U.S. broadcast television rightsholder for both tournaments) and have incorporated talent from the network's own golf telecasts.

## Coverage history since 2010[edit]

Continued from PGA Tour on ABC

Prior to 2007, ESPN and ABC shared some announcers, but the main ABC coverage team did not generally work on ESPN except for events that ABC had weekend rights to, in which case the full ABC team would work on ESPN's weekday telecasts. After losing PGA Tour rights following the 2006 season, what remained of ESPN and ABC's coverage team's merged, as did the production, with all ABC broadcasts being branded as ESPN broadcasts as part of ESPN on ABC. History of the ESPN golf team during the period when some telecasts were still shown on ABC (2007-2009) can be found at the PGA Tour on ABC article.

### 2010–present[edit]

In 2010, all coverage was moved to ESPN, with highlight presentations being shown on ABC during the afternoons on Open Championship weekend. This meant that in 2010, for regular men's golf, ESPN showed The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the Ryder Cup.

ESPN revamped its coverage team in 2010 as well. Mike Tirico and Paul Azinger remained the lead booth announcers. Curtis Strange returned as a hole announcer, while Scott Van Pelt moved from the studio host position to become a hole announcer as well. Sean McDonough joined the coverage team as another hole announcer. Andy North, Judy Rankin and Billy Kratzert all returned as on-course reporters. Terry Gannon moved from a hole announcer role to the role of studio host during live coverage, for highlight updates. Tom Weiskopf, who had been a hole announcer, became an analyst for holes Van Pelt was assigned to, and was joined by Peter Alliss in this role for one hour per day at the Open Championship. At the Ryder Cup, Alliss took Van Pelt's place as a hole announcer, while Van Pelt and Weiskopf worked on the studio set. Tom Rinaldi remained the lead interviewer and essayist.

In 2011, Olin Browne joined as an additional on-course reporter. Alliss began to only appear as a guest at the Open Championship, still for one hour per day, and still working as Van Pelt's analyst. In 2012, Gannon's role was eliminated and he joined NBC Sports and the Golf Channel.

2012 would also be ESPN's final Ryder Cup. The network traded its Friday rights to the 2014 event back to NBC for additional Premier League highlights. NBC then signed a rights deal covering the 2016–2030 editions of the event, ending ESPN's chances of a comeback.

Several changes occurred in 2013. Dottie Pepper replaced Browne as an on-course reporter. Weiskopf was moved to a position in which he would appear once during the telecast to discuss the architecture of the course and how it would affect play, as he is a noted course designer. Alliss also had his guest role cut to only Thursday and Friday coverage of the Open Championship. However, his role as an analyst for holes Van Pelt is assigned to is unchanged for those days.

In 2015, Weiskopf left to be a studio analyst for Fox Sports' coverage of USGA tournaments.

From 2008–2014, guest analysts were used during the Open Championship, in various roles, usually for a few hours each day scheduled around their own play in the event. Tom Watson fulfilled this role from 2008 to 2010 and David Duval performed this duty from 2011 through 2014.

The 2015 Open Championship was the final event covered by the full ESPN/ABC team, nine years after first losing rights to the PGA Tour. Several members of the team did cover one more event, the LPGA's CME Group Tour Championship in December 2015.

Since 2008, ESPN has carried early-round coverage of the Masters Tournament, which remained the only major professional golf event still carried by ESPN until 2020. This coverage is co-produced by CBS Sports as part of its presentation of the event, and largely features its personalities, joined by an ESPN studio host (initially Mike Tirico before his departure for NBC, and later Scott Van Pelt).[1][2][3]

In October 2018, it was announced that early-round and weekend morning coverage of the PGA Championship would move from TNT to ESPN beginning 2020, with ESPN+ holding rights to stream supplemental coverage prior to ESPN's broadcast window, and during CBS weekend windows.[4] As with the Masters, the coverage is co-produced by CBS Sports with the involvement of personalities from both networks.[5]

For the 2022 PGA Championship, ESPN announced that it would air a secondary broadcast modeled after its Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli broadcasts for Monday Night Football, which will feature ESPN's new lead NFL commentator Joe Buck (in his first on-air appearance at ESPN after leaving Fox—where he had also briefly served as a golf commentator), ESPN golf analyst Michael Collins, and various celebrity guests (such as Buck's NFL partner Troy Aikman, Fred Couples, Ken Griffey Jr., J. J. Watt, and Peyton and Eli Manning—who will produce the broadcast, among others). It will serve as the opening hour of ESPN's coverage for each round of the tournament, after which it will air on ESPN2 (first and second rounds) or ESPN+ (third and final rounds).[6][7][8]

## Tournaments[edit]

[9]

### Current[edit]

[10]

* PGA Tour
* The Masters,[11] first two rounds (2008-present)
* PGA Championship, first two rounds and early weekend coverage (1982–1990, 2020-present)[12]
* PGA Tour Live: Live coverage of 35 tournaments on ESPN+.[13]
* Amateur events
* Latin America Amateur Championship, all four rounds (2015-present)
* Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, all four rounds (2013-present)

### Former[edit]

[14]

* PGA Tour
* Regular season events from 1984-2006
* U.S. Open,[15] first two rounds (1982-2014)
* The Open Championship,[16] first two rounds (1982-2002), all four rounds (2010-2015)
* World Golf Championships (1999-2006)
* Tour Championship (1991-2006)
* LPGA
* Regular season events from 1979-2009
* Kraft Nabisco Championship, first two rounds (1983-2005), first three rounds (2006-2010)
* U.S. Women's Open, first two rounds (1982-2014)
* Women's British Open, first two rounds (1982-2002), all four rounds (2010-2015)
* CME Group Tour Championship, final round (aired on ABC, see ESPN on ABC) (2015-2018)[17][18][19][20]
* Champions Tour
* Regular season events from 1982-2000
* The Tradition, first two rounds (1998-2002)
* Senior PGA Championship, first two rounds (1997-2005)
* U.S. Senior Open, first two rounds (1986-2014)
* Senior Players Championship, first two rounds (1999-2002)
* Senior Open Championship, first two rounds (1982-2002), all four rounds (2010-2015)
* Senior Tour Championship (1997-2000)
* Ryder Cup[21] (2008, 2010 and 2012)
* Presidents Cup[22] (1994, 1996 and 1998)

## Announcers[edit]

Main article: List of ESPN/ABC golf commentators

Scott Van Pelt is currently the lead golf host for ESPN.

## References[edit]

1. ^ Sandomir, Richard (11 October 2007). "ESPN Replaces USA as Early-Round Home of the Masters". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
2. ^ "ESPN will show first two rounds of 2008 Masters tournament". ESPN. October 10, 2007. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
3. ^ "2018 Masters broadcast will use shot tracer technology". Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
4. ^ Ourand, John; Lombardo, John (October 10, 2018). "PGA Championship Leaving TNT For ESPN In '20, Re-Ups With CBS". Sports Business Daily. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
5. ^ Kerschbaumer, Ken (6 August 2020). "ESPN Tees Up Expansive PGA Championship Coverage". Sports Video Group. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
6. ^ "Joe Buck reportedly set for ESPN debut hosting PGA Championship alternate feed". Awful Announcing. 2022-05-05. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
7. ^ "Charles Barkley, Troy Aikman, and the Mannings will join Joe Buck's PGA Championship broadcast". Awful Announcing. 2022-05-10. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
8. ^ "Thursday's Joe Buck PGA Championship broadcast will feature Peyton, Eli, Scott Van Pelt, Ken Griffey Jr. and more". Awful Announcing. 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
9. ^ "Golf on ESPN Fact Sheet - ESPN Press Room U.S."
10. ^ "History of Golf on ESPN - ESPN Press Room U.S."
11. ^ "History of the Masters golf tournament on TV (1956-present)". Classic Sports TV and Media. April 9, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
12. ^ "History of PGA Championship TV coverage (1958-present)". Classic Sports TV and Media. 5 August 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
13. ^ "ESPN+ takes over PGA Tour Live in January with vastly expanded coverage". Awful Announcing. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
14. ^ "History of Golf on ESPN - ESPN Press Room U.S."
15. ^ "History of US Open golf TV coverage (1954-present)". Classic Sports TV and Media. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
16. ^ "History of British Open on US TV (1962-present)". Classic Sports TV and Media. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
17. ^ "Final round of CME Group Tour Championship to air live on ABC | LPGA | Ladies Professional Golf Association".
18. ^ CMEGroup Tour Champ. [@CMEGroupLPGA] (20 November 2016). "Tune in now on @ABCNetwork to watch the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship! #RaceToCMEGlobe #CMEGroupLPGA" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
19. ^ "TV Blog: LPGA shift to ABC good for business, bad for viewers". 20 November 2017.
20. ^ "LPGA Season Ends Sunday with Live Telecast on ABC; $1 Million Bonus on Line - ESPN Press Room U.S." 13 November 2018.
21. ^ "Chronology of Ryder Cup coverage on American television". Classic Sports TV and Media. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
22. ^ "Classic TV Sports: History of Presidents Cup TV coverage (1994-present)". Archived from the original on 2018-03-12.

Preceded by

USA

|  Masters Tournament cable television broadcaster
2008 \-  | Succeeded by

Incumbent

|
|

Preceded by

First
TNT

|  PGA Championship cable television broadcaster
1982 \- 1990
2020 \-  | Succeeded by

TNT
Incumbent

Preceded by

ABC

|  The Open Championship American television broadcaster
2010 \- 2015 | Succeeded by

NBC

Preceded by

First

|  U.S. Open (golf) cable television broadcaster
1982 \- 2014 | Succeeded by

Fox Sports 1

* v
* t
* e

ESPN Inc.

Executives|

* George Bodenheimer
* Edwin Durso
* Chuck Pagano
* Norby Williamson
* James Pitaro

U.S. networks|

| Streaming|

* ESPN+
* ESPN3

|

Linear TV|

* ESPN
* ESPN2
* ESPNU
* ESPNews
* Deportes
* ACC Network
* SEC Network
* Longhorn Network

Part-time|

* ACC Network Xtra
* ESPN on ABC
* College Extra
* SEC Network +

Radio|

* ESPN Radio
* Deportes
* Xtra

International|

| Japan|

* J Sports (3%)

|

Latin America|

| Panregional|

* ESPN (Latin America)

|

Brazil|

* ESPN (Brazil)

Caribbean|

* ESPN Caribbean

Netherlands|

* ESPN (Netherlands)

Oceania|

* ESPN Australia

Sub-Saharan Africa|

* ESPN Africa

Co-owned Canadian
sports networks|

* TSN
* 1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* RDS
* RDS2
* RDS Info
* ESPN Classic Canada

Ventures|

* ESPN.com
* ESPN Deportes.com
* ESPN Broadband
* ESPN Events
* ESPN Films
* ESPN Deportes La Revista
* ESPN Books
* ESPY Awards
* ESPN Integration
* ESPN PPV

Defunct ventures|

* Arena Football League (minority stake, 2006–2009)
* ESPN 3D (2010–2013)
* ESPN America (2002–2013)
* ESPN Classic (U.S.) (1995–2021)
* ESPN Classic (UK) (2006–2013)
* ESPN Full Court (2007–2015)
* ESPN GamePlan (1992–2015)
* ESPN Goal Line & Bases Loaded (2010–2020)
* Grantland (2011–2015)
* ESPN HS (1997–2012)
* ESPN The Magazine (1998–2019)
* ESPN MVP (2005–2006)
* ESPNscrum (2007–2015)
* ESPN Star Sports (equity stake, 1996–2012; incl. ESPN Asia [1995–2013])
* ESPN5 (2017–2020)
* WatchESPN (2011–2019)
* Sony ESPN (2016–2020)
* ESPN West

Sports broadcasting rights|

* CFL on TSN
* ESPN College Basketball
* ESPN College Football
* ESPN Major League Baseball
* KayRod Cast
* FCS Kickoff
* Golf on ESPN
* High School Showcase
* MLS Soccer Sunday
* Monday Night Football
* Manningcast
* NBA on ESPN
* NBA in Stephen A's World
* NHL on ESPN
* Soccer on ESPN
* Tennis on ESPN
* WNBA on ESPN
* Other events

Other properties|

* Andscape
* ESPNcricinfo
* Jayski's Silly Season Site
* ESPN FC
* Scouts Inc.
* TrueHoop

Notable personalities|

* Current personalities
* Former personalities
* ESPNews personalities
* ESPNU personalities
* ESPN Radio personalities
* Presidents of ESPN

Miscellaneous|

* History
* Programs
* Criticism
* This is SportsCenter
* ESPN Armory
* ESPN Zone
* ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
* ESPN BottomLine
* X Games
* Fox Sports International

Owners: Walt Disney Company (80%); Hearst Communications (20%)

* v
* t
* e

Golf on US television

Broadcast television partners|

* ABC
* CBS
* Fox
* NBC

Cable television partners|

* ESPN
* Fox Sports 1
* Golf Channel
* TNT
* USA

Golf Channel|

* The Big Break
* Feherty
* Fore Inventors Only
* Golf Central
* Highway 18
* Live From...
* Shell's Wonderful World of Golf

Radio partners|

* ESPN Radio
* SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio
* Westwood One

Personalities by network|

* ESPN/ABC
* CBS
* Fox
* Golf Channel
* NBC
* TNT
* USA

| Major championships|

* Masters Tournament
* Open Championship
* PGA Championship
* U.S. Open

|

Team events|

* Presidents Cup
* Ryder Cup

Specialty/miscellaneous programs|

* Dan Doh!!
* Défi mini-putt
* The Golf Show
* The Match
* Monday Night Golf
* The Scottish Golf Show
* Wandering Golfer

Related articles|

* Television contract history
* Back9Network
* "Love's Theme"

* v
* t
* e

Golf on ESPN

Masters Tournaments|

* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023

PGA Championship|

* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023

U.S. Open|

* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014

| U.S. Women's Open|

* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014

|

Open Championship|

* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015

| Women's British Open|

* 2001
* 2002
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015

|

Presidents Cup|

* 1994
* 1996
* 1998

Ryder Cup|

* 2008
* 2010
* 2012

Misc. events|

| CME Group Tour Championship|

* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018

|

Kraft Nabisco Championship|

* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989
* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010

Related articles|

* Commentators
* Television contract history
* PGA Tour on television
* PGA Tour on ABC

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