When it was first announced that Fox Sports was taking over USGA rights and televising golf, it was met with befuddlement and curiosity. Fox had never televised major championship golf before and as a sport, golf doesn’t really fit in with the network’s attitude. What would golf on Fox bring – giant robots trampling around the course, glowing golf balls, Joe Buck? (Well, at least we got one out of the three.)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Fox Sports was hammered by critics and golf fans alike for their first attempt at covering the US Open last summer. The unspectacular venue of Chambers Bay didn’t do Fox Sports any favors, but the telecast certainly left a lot to be desired.
Fox is already making big changes ahead of their second year with the USGA, jettisoning lead analyst Greg Norman and replacing him with Paul Azinger. Another longtime ESPN/ABC veteran, Curtis Strange, was also added to the Fox roster as an on-course reporter and analyst.
Here’s the USGA on Fox announcing lineup for 2016 with a few more new faces including reporter Jamie Diaz of Golf World and Ken Brown of the BBC. Don’t forget that in addition to the US Open, Fox has the rights to all of the USGA’s championship events, including the US Women’s Open, US Senior Open, US Amateur, and much more:
Play by Play: Joe Buck and Shane O’Donoghue
Analysts: Paul Azinger, Mark Brooks, Jay Delsing, Brad Faxon, David Fay, Steve Flesch, Natalie Gulbis, Gil Hanse, Juli Inkster, Buddy Marucci and Scott McCarron
On-course reporters: Curtis Strange and Ken Brown
Studio Host: Holly Sonders
Interviews: Shane Bacon
Reporter: Jaime Diaz
Furthermore, Oakmont director of golf Bob Ford will provide special insights on the course for the US Open broadcast from the historic venue.
Perhaps the most notable thing to mention on the full Fox lineup outside of the Azinger-Norman switch is the absence of Fox NFL Sunday host Curt Menefee, who served as the network’s studio host for the US Open, and analyst Tom Weiskopf. Their debut in the studio went so poorly that this development was predicted by Richard Sandomir of the New York Times DURING THE TOURNAMENT last year:
Two guys we know probably won't be back on Fox's US Open coverage: Curt Menefee and Tom Weiskopf
— Richard Sandomir (@RichSandomir) June 22, 2015
So who will replace Menefee? Fox says Holly Sonders will serve as studio host, which means at least she gets to stay on the coverage after she also faced heavy criticism conducting interviews at last year’s tournament, particularly her Q&A with eventual champion Jordan Spieth.
Maybe the best thing you can say about Fox’s golf coverage is the amount of golf they show, which is a far cry from the limited coverage of The Masters on CBS and ESPN. Fox will air ten hours of coverage on Friday and Saturday and eight hours of coverage on the weekend.
The quality of that coverage will be under a microscope this year once again, though. Fox is making so many changes to their lineup (outside of Joe Buck, who will be the lead announcer for every Fox Sports event until the end of time) that it will almost be like they’re making their debut once again at Oakmont. And maybe given the feelings that came out of Chambers Bay last year, that isn’t such a bad thing.
