Paul Azinger announces surprise return to golf broadcasting

Guess who’s back? Back again?

Zinger’s back, show a friend.

Pardon the dreadful pun, but the news is true: longtime NBC lead expert Paul Azinger is returning to play broadcasting successful 2025, taking complete astatine slightest expert for the PGA Tour Champions successful spot of the since-departed Lanny Wadkins. Golfweek’s Adam Schupak was first connected the news.

WELCOME BACK?

While Azinger remains well-regarded successful the industry, his return to a PGA Tour arrives arsenic a spot of a surprise. He has been retired of tv since leaving NBC successful a blaze of glory past December aft the web elected not to renew his contract. Zinger was not a peculiarly celebrated sound among viewing audiences successful his last years successful the lead chair owed to an overreliance connected folksiness and his repeated derision of play media (of which he was a cardinal appointee), but his caller domiciled pinch the PGA Tour Champions should spot him successful the bully graces of a procreation of Tour stars he knows well, which should thief to heighten immoderate of the analytical breakdowns of caller years.

WELL THAT’S AWKWARD

We should not hide the events that astir precocious brought Azinger into the play spotlight. A fewer weeks aft his departure was finalized, Azinger torched his bridges astatine NBC, unloading connected his erstwhile employer’s “cost-cutting” ways, calling NBC Sports caput of accumulation Sam Flood a “real a-hole” and asserting his sentiment that the PGA Tour had go a “qualifier” for LIV Golf.

One imagines that Azinger addressed these allegations pinch the PGA Tour Champions earlier accepting the caller lead job, and possibly apologized for his characterizations of the web he will now occasionally broadcast for (Golf Channel) and the play circuit that signs his paychecks.

HOME COOKIN’

Azinger’s return to the booth comes arsenic the PGA Tour Champions originates its broadcast modulation to a mostly distant setup retired of the PGA Tour’s brand-new accumulation studios successful Jacksonville, Fla.

Remote broadcasts, aliases “remies” arsenic they’re often referred to successful the industry, are caller terrain for sports TV. Proponents of the strategy opportunity the business exemplary brings down costs for sports leagues and broadcast networks while limiting the consequence of method failures, while opponents opportunity that it undermines the journalistic integrity of broadcasts by removing entree from players and competitory tours.

LANNY’S SWAN SONG

Azinger will switch Lanny Wadkins, besides a erstwhile awesome web lead expert (CBS) and besides lead expert of the PGA Tour Champions. Wadkins said the displacement to distant broadcasts was portion of his determination to measurement distant from the game

“I deliberation that telecast is going to beryllium losing thing for each the positives that they tin travel up with,” Wadkins told Golfweek. “I deliberation the individual relationship pinch the players is 1 of the champion things you tin do. I know, for example, erstwhile I telephone the tourney successful Hawaii, I person meal each greeting pinch various players and you get them successful a surrounding for illustration that you’re capable to get much info from them connected what’s going connected pinch their games, who they’re moving with, really they’re hitting it, and what they’re trying to achieve, everything else.”

BROADCAST MOVES

December is the clip of twelvemonth erstwhile broadcast moves are announced successful the play world. Mum is the connection connected important shakeups to the TV merchandise arsenic of now, but it’s worthy noting that NBC Sports play-by-play man Dan Hicks’ statement is group to expire astatine the extremity of the year. Flood, the caput of NBC’s production, has stated his desire to support Hicks connected the NBC Sports roster headed into the future. Hicks is the sound of a big of large properties for NBC, including golf, Olympic swimming, Notre Dame shot and tennis.