SAN DIEGO – Trevor Immelman was out early on Thursday walking the South Course at Torrey Pines as the Santa Ana wind blew tumbleweed across greens and cardboard recycling bins tumbled down hills.
“It’s a perfect day if you’re a fan watching, but as a player you’re freaking out. I just watched Patrick Rodgers rinse his third in the water on 18,” Immelman said. “Kind of happy with just being in the tower this week.”
Immelman, who won twice on the PGA Tour, including the 2008 Masters, will be in the CBS Sports “super tower,” and beginning Friday becomes just the fifth person to serve as “The Eye’s” lead analyst, following in the footsteps of Ken Venturi, Lanny Wadkins and most recently Nick Faldo, who stepped down in August after 16 years in the big seat.
Faldo’s departure came as a bit of a surprise to Sean McManus, the chairman of CBS Sports, who said he had no intention of replacing Faldo until they had their annual breakfast during last year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and Faldo broke the news that he planned to retire and build a ranch in Montana.
“The first name that popped into my head was Trevor’s,” McManus said during a recent Zoom interview with Golfweek. “And I thought, you know, who can go into that booth in a seamless way? You know, he’s done television, he’s proven how good he is at television. So it really for me, listen, we thought about other people and we discussed other, you know, other possible folks to go into that slot. But no one came up to the level of Trevor. Every time I listened to him, I thought, boy, full time role working with Jim Nantz on most of our tournaments and Andrew Catalon on the others, he’s my choice.”
Nantz, who is kicking off his 38th year with CBS, has broken in new partners before, but as put it, “we’re not having to put the training wheels on here.”
Added Nantz: “I am not bringing in a new partner, I’ve got a partner who has got a tremendous amount of experience. I’ve worked with him numerous times and he is very skilled at this. He is a naturally gifted communicator, who carries himself in a way that exudes class and integrity. And there’s a high warmth quotient to the man; I think he’s going to be just such a hit for people to have in their living room.”
What as exciting day‼️
Join me in wishing my brother @TrevorImmelman all of the very best for a great first show as the Lead Analyst for @GolfonCBS.
Let’s shine Trev ⭐️
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