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ESPN will rotate a series of analysts in the lead chair during PGA Championship week.
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DUUUUVAL
Availability isn’t a concern for former players turned broadcasters in most sports. In fact, the problem with most ex-pros is too much free time, not the absence of it.
The opposite is true in golf, where players can compete well into their 50s and where a whole tour exists for those good enough to have golf TV pedigree, the Champions Tour.
This week, that phenomenon will prove a challenge for ESPN, which will start a bullpen game in the lead analyst chair instead of longtime lead analyst David Duval.
Duval will take off this week from ESPN to compete in the Champions Tour’s Regions Tradition, leaving the network down a lead analyst for its second-biggest golf week of the year (behind the Masters).
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BACKUPS
Thankfully, ESPN has a deep bench of analysts to call upon for help. Geoff Ogilvy (a rumored candidate for Kevin Kisner’s NBC job), Curtis Strange and Andy North will work on a rotating basis in the lead analyst chair alongside Scott Van Pelt.
ESPN’s coverage at the PGA Championship — which includes complete first- and second-round action and morning coverage on Saturday and Sunday — has earned high marks over the last several years for its embrace of fans’ desire for more golf shots and better tech. The broadcast is operated by ESPN lead golf producer Mike McQuade, and steered by Van Pelt’s hosting skills.
In the current golf TV rights landscape, ESPN lands a distant third place in terms of on-air hours, behind both NBC and CBS. The truth, though, is that the network’s high-flying style scratches an itch for many golf fans, mirroring many of CBS’s strengths in pacing and brainy analysis.
THE BEST FORM OF FLATTERY…
McQuade’s lead analyst decision, however, mirrors one made by NBC golf head honchos Tommy Roy and Sam Flood in 2024, when the network elected to broadcast the majority of the season with a rotating tryout in the lead chair.
Eventually, NBC settled upon Kevin Kisner as the lead man, and enjoyed the rotating cast so much they stuck to it. Today, NBC’s ‘odd-even’ system divvies hole responsibilities by broadcaster to improve preparation and allow on-air talent to “eavesdrop” on golfers, providing more specific analysis.
ESPN won’t go full odd-even this weekend at the PGA. Instead, the network will rotate lead analysts based on their availability. But the network’s decision shows that NBC’s trial period from 2024 is a good solution in a pinch when analyst availability isn’t what it seems.
