When CBS Sports kicks off its 66th consecutive year televising the PGA Tour next week, Jim Nantz will do so in a most unusual way.
Nantz, 63, will be in his 38th season at CBS and at the helm of The Eyeâs golf coverage with a new sidekick as Trevor Immelman takes over for Nick Faldo beside him in the 18th-hole tower. But for their debut at the Farmers Insurance Open, they will start out as if in a long-distance relationship, with Immelman on site in San Diego and Nantz at a still-to-be-determined location depending on how things play out this weekend in the AFC Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs.
Itâs less than ideal and makes one wonder why Nantzâs backup, Andrew Catalon, doesnât pitch hit at Torrey Pines as he will do from time to time during the networkâs coverage of 23 tournaments during the FedEx Cup season. Good thing that Nantz is the ultimate proâs pro.
âYouâd be surprised how easy it is,â Nantz said when asked the biggest challenge to announcing a game from a remote location.
Nantz noted that this will be the third year in a row that he has relied on modern technology and call the Farmers without being on site in San Diego. In 2021, during the height of the global pandemic, the tournament fell between the AFC Championship and the Super Bowl and network executives didnât want to risk Nantz being exposed to COVID and having to miss the big game.
âSo I did it from a studio in Monterey (California). Then last year I did it from the AFC Championship game (at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City),â Nantz said. âSellers (Shy) and Steve Milton, our director, have this ability to set up a bubble for me. And I get lost and I get in trance. I feel like Iâm there. It feels so similar to me. Unless I turn around and look and realize where I actually am, I feel like Iâm sitting right behind the 18th green. So, itâs going to be fine.â
Ahead of the Masters in April, Nantz, who has called the NFL, NCAA menâs basketball and golf with equal aplomb, will call his final March Madness, and give himself as he put it, âa little bit of a chance to catch my breath.â
âIâve been on the golden hamster wheel for a long time,â Nantz said. âThere are very few people that are fortunate enough to have a major property that that they get to be a part of, two is rare, Iâve had three, as far as being the lead voice of three different properties. I canât think of anybody else. But to have two is very, itâs rare. And it still…
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