Jun 22, 2018; Cromwell, CT, USA; Smylie Kaufman reacts after his tee shot on the 18th hole during the second round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
By Brandon Contes on

Golf broadcasts are used to dealing with hot-mic profanity from the golfers, but Smylie Kaufman graced us with the rare announcer F-bomb.

During NBC’s coverage of the Open Championship on USA Network Friday afternoon, play-by-play announcer Dan Hicks sent it to on-course reporter Smylie Kaufman as Jon Rahm was putting for a long birdie.


“This is one of the more difficult holes today, this hole location…” said Kaufman. And as challenging as the hole may have been for Rahm and the other golfers, it must have been equally difficult for Kaufman. Because the next thing he said was a hushed, but audible “what the f***?”

About 15 minutes later, Mike Tirico was tasked with issuing an apology for Kaufman and NBC, where he appeared to blame the foreign headsets at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, which apparently don’t work quite the same as the ones back home in the United States.


“Earlier we had some technical issues with our microphones,” Tirico said. “When you come over here, our on-course reporter, sometimes the headsets don’t work the same way they do back home. Because of that, it led to some language getting through on the air that shouldn’t have gotten through. So, we just want take the time to apologize for that comment getting through back home.”

An apology would have sufficed, even without the explanation. But maybe Tirico is right and the F-bomb really was due to those foreign headsets. They drive on the opposite side of the road in Ireland; perhaps they put the mute button on the opposite side of their headsets.

For his part Kaufman offered an apology on social media afterward.

About Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com

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