Who’s Replacing Paul Azinger at NBC Golf? | The Fried Egg Golf Podcast

Our first episode of the year brings Andy and Shane Bacon together to reminisce on 2023 and make predictions for the 2024 PGA Tour Season, specifically the upgraded Pebble Beach Pro-Am format as well as who might replace Paul Azinger in the NBC Booth.

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Um I’ve got I’ve got I think that I think Pebble Beach is going to be one of the best events of the year yeah I I totally agree with you on that that’s one of my predictions is that this event is going to be we’re gonna we’re going

To be get done with that event the new format with with like 70 players no no celebrities on on the weekend and we’re going to be like why why was this event this way for the last 30 years well I mean you know you I remember so when we

Did the 2019 Us open at Pebble Beach one of my bosses at the time at Fox was not a big golfer and I remember Saturday night we Faxon and i’ got done in our booth and our booth was right by the beach club right there you know on uh on

I remember stopping by yeah yeah yeah you know it’s right there by 4 and um we walked in there was like a little bit of a get together and this boss came up to me and he was like hey man you know you guys did a great job whatever and he

Goes I got a question for you why don’t don’t they have the US Open at Pebble Beach every year and I was like well you know it’s you know I kind of wouldn’t it’s you know I knew what he was saying like he was he was kind of joking right

But I think his point was valid West Coast Prime Time viewing most beautiful Golf Course arguably in the entire world awesome venue I know you’ve got some I know you’ve got some issues in terms of the way it needs to be restored which I probably agree with most your takes

There but even in its current you know rendering it’s still amazing you know the course you know the holes you know that front nine stretch like golf fans even casual golf fans know what seven is know what eight is know what 17 is what 18

Is I mean like how many golf courses in the world does like a do a lot of fans know five holes of I would say a 10 five three andw maybe I have to say probably don’t St Andrews I don’t think people do I think maybe 17 yeah I think it’s austa

Saw Grass and um Pebble Beach pebble yeah yeah I mean it’s it’s I mean you you you might have an argument from somebody about Riviera just because there’s so much uniqueness in terms of their holes but I don’t think it probably is on the list yeah I I mean

Like I it’s hard for me to take a step but I just don’t think like a regular fan would and I think like honestly an event that’s probably a course that’s like building up towards that and it’s it’s like the final four holes but is uh Scottdale yeah yeah yeah

Yeah that’s that’s probably maybe the the the closest in terms of in the running but you know I mean this guy says to me you know why don’t you have a US Open at Pebble every year well we have an early season opportunity with

The proam and it as you and I have known for years and it’s been a running joke on social media for years the the most the most ulfie broadcast of the year was always that Saturday at the proam because they had to infuse the celebrities into the broadcast and you

Kind of failed to see what was the star which is Pebble Beach and now the star is back right it’s like and it’s like think about that field you know the recent years it’s been going up against that Saudi international field okay and it’s just been like what happened to

Pebble Beach it’s like the one of the worst fields on the PGA tour and it’s like oh now we’re gonna get the very best players in the world at peev beach on the weekend I mean that event has done a complete 180 for diard golf fans

I totally agree Andy I have a question for you let’s say this year is a crazy success right to your point do you see in the future the potential for Cypress to get back in the Roa well I think this The Limited number of of players is the biggest draw for that potentially

Happening yeah I think so too I’d heard some murmurs last year like Midsummer um just you know some light murmurs but uh it would be epic epic to have that like with modern technology that’s the thing people don’t understand Andy is what was the last time was like

In the early 90s was the last time Cypress was a part of this like drones haven’t been a part of a Cypress broadcast right I mean the tower camera HD 4K all these things on you know 15 16 17 would I mean you know you’d have that

And then you could flip over to Pebble for goodness sakes I think about how excited Nance would be too n would just be be thrown be thrown 95 listen nobody could speak better or or would know more about a golf course in terms of a host than uh than than Jim

At at Cyprus it would be epic I would be all in I would be all in all day can we give a shout out to Jim Nance by the way I I feel like he does I feel like we underappreciate how freaking good he is

At his job because we hear him so much in golf he’s I agree with this awesome he’s so good at his job well I think the thing that I think is amazing and I I don’t know exactly what his schedule is going to be now but it’s

Like the way where you can go for being the best voice on football to then like calling the NCAA Final Four and then just like effortlessly then shifting back to golf right it’s the it’s the variety it’s the ability to to be able to talk about sports multiple Sports at

An extraordinarily high level that I think is is under the radar you know beyond just like the names stats knowing that like the work that he has to put in to do that it is the ability to pay attention like he the guy has to work

Really hard oh so so that was my my big takeaway working with Joe Buck when I worked with him at the f during the the fox golf days was how much time he’d put in to four days of a US Open broadcast I mean you know like months in advance

He’s reading researching he had multiple researchers that were sending him information I mean this guy probably spent five months you know multiple days a week reading researching knowing everything he could about a the golf course and B the players involved it was amazing how much time he would put in

For four days of of work it was it was it made it made me understand that it was it needed I needed Elevate I’ll say that I I I’m definitely I’m not going to name names but what I will I will say that when you see the people that do the

Work it makes the people in the broadcast industry that don’t do the work so very very apparent right um it is it’s an interesting um Dynamic but like you know it requires you know people like I think Trevor M’s done like a fantastic job he’s he’s so good like but like why you

Think he’s why he’s good is because he’s putting in the work he know he’s doing the research on the players he’s keeping up on like what’s going on right and that’s a that’s a lot of work to do right it’s not just showing up and and

Reacting to golf shots on TV it is it is being so integrated and involved in the sport right yeah well I mean like Andy just like to to let people behind kind of the the you know the window for a moment is when you’re doing a broadcast you’re getting research information sent

To you pretty consistently you know I mean you’re getting like news Clips emailed to you in like a downloadable PDF or whatever you’re probably going to get you know like say at the Canadian open or something you might get 20 articles you know three weeks out 25

Articles two weeks out you know 25 30 articles week of you’re getting a lot of information sent it’s on you to read the information right I mean that’s your job in in in a sense but if you know the sport you cover the sport you follow the

Sport a lot of it is the stuff you already know so it’s very easy I’ll say to not want to read it but in the information that you’re getting sent there’s a quote here or a nugget there that and I will I can because I’ve done these jobs before when I’m watching a

Broadcast I can I could almost guarantee you that 95% of the time I could tell you if it’s a nug nugget that’s in the person’s brain or if it’s something handed to them you know if it’s a card handed to them and you can almost tell

Like are you listening to the no lineup podcast that they’re doing with X Y and Z player right are you paying attent are you listening to foreplay when they’re interviewing or they’re doing a golf segment with Sam Burns you know to get something from that that you might not

Get from an everyday article like you you’ve got to want to do it and I think the guys that are the best are the best because they obviously are very smart and very talented but it’s almost like they really want to do the work and I

Feel like Nance has just been doing this for whatever 30-some years and still wants to wants to listen and read you know I had I I don’t some a thought that crossed my mind today while I was prepping for this is that I find it a

Bit crazy that it’s January and we and we don’t know who our other golf color analyst is obviously Zinger out we just we got Kevin ker stepping in for two events for empty yeah it’s very interesting but there’s no what’s what’s going on I mean I always you and I love to

Compare stuff to other sports but I just laugh at like if if the if the Monday night football analyst chair was empty and it was like two weeks two weeks before it’s the week of it’s the week of the Season like who’s gonna be it’s like the mass singer maybe it’s Mass singer

Golf Edition you never know that was something that like just while I was thinking about this next year I kind of like irrationally got upset about was like wait how do how do we not like I think like I I don’t want to put you in

A spot so this is all my thoughts you do not have to comment um but like I think like what’s happened with NBC um Golf Channel over the last like couple years uh has been kind of like they have really kind of given the the fans the

Middle finger and this is just the latest in this whole um kind of Odyssey of of NBC and and what the last you know basically since Johnny Miller left it’s been kind of it’s felt like a a a decline here and it’s like we’re now it’s it’s January

2nd as we’re recording this and we have no clue who our golf analyst is for half the half the events what they have two of the four majors and uh and we don’t know who’s going to be calling calling the main main analyst in the broadcast Booth

Right Andy it is interesting you you did speak on something earlier about about Adam Scott and Justin Rose we were talking about that 40-some golfer that had a great career for so long it could compete and win I mean I think about Marco Mera in 98 and you know obviously

He was his whole his whole life was revitalized because you know live close to this young stud that end up being the best golfer of all time I wonder and I know OG’s name’s kind of been floated around a bit I wonder if that’s the space that’s going to take this position

Because forever it was like a 50-year-old a 52y old to 55y old that got into that world on the back end of their playing career either they tried to play Champions Tour golf and they couldn’t compete or they weren’t interested in doing that and so they got

Into TV I’ll be interested if that flip happens to late 30s early 40y old guys moving forward that it seems like it’s happening a bit in terms of like digital broadcast and ESPN plus PJ Tour live those types of things but I’m wondering if we will get the Superstar

Level person that feels like like you know Justin Rose could do that job tomorrow right so like how much longer does Justin Rose want to battle ludvig and addc and you know the and the Brothers you know on a week- toe basis on the PGA tour you’re going to make more money

Playing golf but maybe life’s a little less stressful if you get to sit in the booth and and chat about it and talk about it obviously knowing all these guys I mean it’s just it feels like it’s a little bit of a transition period in

Terms of what golf and and TV is going to look like kind of moving forward yeah I I think there’s also like this aspect of you know the money right the the amount of money that these guys have made is just so much different I mean you get somebody like Johnny Miller

Because they didn’t make like retire like you know totally live lavishly re like however you want to live money when they played professional golf they made a lot of money I’m not trying to Discount that they you know but there there was a certain um need to work um

To maintain a certain level of lifestyle and it’s like now these guys it’s like I was just looking scrolling around here at like the the most Justin what’s Justin Rose like career money I mean it’s got to be like 50 million 40 million 60 million I mean just on the PJ

Tour that’s a you know the the the career money list is probably the the place to go for this but but yeah the uh um you know like that’s an aspect of this and and maybe you know it’s always been this major this all-time great like

You think about falo you think about um Johnny Miller you know is the shift now like is it going to become okay if somebody didn’t win a major if they weren’t a perennial top 10 player and I think honestly that might push the the level of um of broadcasting up because it’s going

To be somebody that’s that wants to do the work right well I mean like like Andy who’s been who’s been the most popular hottest topic person in sports broadcasting in the last five years like what’s the name that comes to mind Romo Romo I mean it’s Tony Romo for sure

Right Tony Romo is not a career NFL quarterback Hall of Famer Super Bowl winner any of that right Tony Romo can talk ball he knows ball he’s sat there and he’s played ball we’ve seen him do extraordinary things on the football field we’ve also seen him do not great

Things on the football field especially in big moments I mean toon Romo in theory should have broken this mold already I mean should have said well Romo can do it in football like why can’t I me think about how great Greg Olsen’s been Greg Olen is

You know Olson’s great Colt no is great Smiley’s been extremely interesting to listen to like these are not guys that were winning major championships you know I mean Colt knows one an amiter which I think is an incredible thing to have on your resume right but Colt’s

Great on course because he knows the players he’s well spoken he’s funny he’s entertaining he does the work he does the work he does the work Smiley’s great in his position because these guys he’s talking about are his buddies if he has a question to ask Jordan spe you know

What he can do he can text Jordan spe a question and then he can relay that now that’s not the only skill set needed in that position but it’s very important to have and I would not be surprised if you continue to see Smiley move up in the

Ranks because of the unique place he’s in in the game right now he’s young he’s well spoken he’s good at his job and and more importantly than all that stuff he knows all the guys because he played against them all right I’m going to Rattle some names off just so you know

Uh Rose made 62 million so far and is that just PJ tour just PJ tour so he’s probably made 40 million on the on the Euro maybe not 40 probably maybe 20 probably 15 I would guess yeah I don’t even know if that’s a website by the way is the D World Tour

Have official bu well I think it’s still europeantour.com yeah yeah it is it is I always laugh that so here I just throw some names at you and you tell me if you’re excited about any of these in the booth and by the way I just want to let

Let everybody know this this is not a knock on who you are this is just us are we are we fired up to hear you are we excited to oh by the way Rose has made 30 million on the DP World Tour my God yeah so there you go that’s 100 million

Buck in golf Zack Johnson I I know I mean again this is not a knock on who you are this isn’t anything like that it’s just simply this is a hard job I mean it’s one person two two people in the world do this job yeah for you have

To occupy air for six hours not e it’s not an easy position um dl3 we already tried um let’s see styn I love styn but I don’t know if he’d he might be okay actually I’m I’m I’m like like I’m like a maybe I mean I think he could be good

Just again is is he gonna my my question to these guys I always ask is are you willing to be critical which it takes a little bit of time for these guys to get to that position uh David Toms I I just again I just don’t think it’s a

Position for him no Brant snaker don’t think it’s a position for him um Luke Donald I I think he’s great I don’t think it’s a position for him may maybe I I’m I’m a maybe on Luke I’mma maybe on Luke all right uh Rory satini you think

They’re gonna let him get in the booth I would say this could could potentially be awesome could be awful don’t know don’t think there’s a I don’t think he’s a five out of 10 I think he’s either a 10 out of 10 throwing heaters like

Johnny or he’s got two days of the job I’m on the career money list now we’ve entered the Ryan Moore Ryan Palmer yeah Charlie hoffen Zone yeah I mean that but that’s the problem Andy like that’s what you said is is the this is the group you’re gonna probably have to pick from

Because Phil’s not doing the job like like J like Jordan Speed Hunter Mayan might be that might be the guy maybe that’s the guy honestly Hunter Mayan might be it let’s see he’s really good on TV he’s been a real I’ve really enjoyed listening to

Him when he’s done TV he’s 41 years old he was a top five player top five player played on Ryder cups contended top 10 in every major he played in um at some point in his career won some big events was a was an excellent and no and again

Like knows the problem is all the guys he knows and I’m not saying he’s not friends with young guys but all the guys he knows are probably in that group that he would in theory be competing against right like that’s the hard part of this is you’ve

Got to be able to connect with a 22y old guy that’s playing Tour golf which in which means you’ve got to care to try to connect with him um which I think again to your point about what we started with Trevor Trevor is so good at that like

Trevor goes out of his way to approach young players and talk to young players and once the know I’m not trying to be your best buddy but I presid the president’s Captain is a big part of that too I have to imagine right like forced him to be out there we we somehow

Deviated from talking about what we’re excited about in 2024 to who’s going to be the next great broadcaster um but I actually think I’ll say this Andy I think it’s a great thing to bring up because like you said this week in theory we don’t necessarily know

Who’s do we know who’s sitting there is Isner doing this week kissner could be amazing K might be amazing he pres pres Cup team like three years ago Andy Andy’s not going to get the job he have a coughing fit in the booth um but you know like the the choice of

Having young kids trust me I know my my daughter C into my mouth yesterday directly into my mouth as she sat my laugh and then she was like gave me the sweetest look and you’re like I don’t know what am I supposed to do here um

That’s the the worst is when they cough and you literally feel the cough go into your mouth you’re like that was a direct h there you go thank you so much yeah now is my my question I guess would be you looked at career money I guess

Another way I’d look at this and I might do a little digg in tonight is is there like a group of like Smiley where they’re young and it just didn’t work out like the game maybe didn’t work out and is there is there anybody in that world that you feel like could be

Excellent at this position because again it feels like it’s probably the way to go is to try to find somebody very young and very talented it’s just not it’s way easier said than done I think the other crazy thing about this situation here and this is this is NBC golf channels own

Doing they had nobody in the pipeline right like Smiley’s like the the one but it’s like Smiley’s been doing this for two years and I I don’t like I just don’t think like that you can go from where he is now to being the lead chair

Right away way but like in maybe 5 years 10 years 5 years from now he might be ready for that right but like the fact that they didn’t have anybody else that was even like you know we got somebody that’s never called golf going into the booth for the first two

Tournaments of the year and I think kizner is going to be really good at it but like is he going to be so is is he done playing like that would be my my question like um but he fits the he fits the vein of what’s probably realistic of

Career achievements at this point that would want to do the booth job that like versus you’re not getting the Nick Faldo of this year you’re not Brooks Kea isn’t going into the booth right Jordan Justin Max these guys aren’t I mean unless they really want to do it Max could do it

Yeah but I bet again Andy like like you’re GNA go to Max H and go hey you want to do this job you’re G to make 10 15 years I I mean maybe but I just like you’re G to make a a 50th or a 20th of

What you made as a player and yet you’re gonna have to travel the same amount you’re GNA stay in worse places you know it’s like I think it’s a great in theory it’s an awesome idea that one of these guys would be excellent at the job but

In reality once they see the week- toe grind how much work they got to put in how it’s not as easy as everybody thinks it is how much travel’s involved how they’ve got to get there on a Tuesday day for a Thursday golf tournament you know in fly out Sunday night or whatever

The case may be I think you were right when you said it’s unrealistic to assume that Nick FDO or Johnny Miller 2.0 is ever gonna exist again in golf space in terms of broadcasting because if we’ve learned anything it’s that we’re cutting money away from this stuff versus

Putting more money into it and you’re gonna go to you know one of these 2083 32 year old guys that are making 20 million a year go we’ll pay you a million a year to do this job I mean they’re they’re going to be like we make

I make a million a year just leaving my money in the bank you know yeah um all right wait we’ve devolved here I actually I thought it listen I thought I thought it was a great I thought it was a great conversation to have and I think

It is important because I’m sure golf fans are thinking at least something similar to what you brought up is this is an important position especially early in the season when you’ve got these Monumental golf tournaments that are going to take over sports TV when football ends and the playoffs go away

And you’ve kind of got Riv floating around and you’ve got these great tournaments I know ri’s a CBS property but you know you’ve got these great golf tournaments and maybe it’ll be kizner and I if it is I mean I hope he’s who he is you know away from the mic because

Kevin kizner is extremely entertaining he’s a great listen and he’s somebody I think that could crush the job if he wants to do it