We’ve seen quite a few all–women broadcast booths recently, and now one is coming to golf. NBC announced Monday that they’ll have an all-women booth for Golf Channel’s broadcast of the Shoprite LPGA Classic this weekend. Here’s more on that from a release:
NBC Sports will utilize an all-women broadcast team to call the ShopRite LPGA Classic at the Bay Course at Seaview in Galloway, N.J., on October 1-3 on GOLF Channel, marking the first-ever all-women golf broadcast team in U.S. television history.
The commentary team will feature Cara Banks handling play-by-play duties, alongside analysts Judy Rankin and Paige Mackenzie and on-course reporters Karen Stupples and Kay Cockerill.
Tournament coverage will be produced by long-time NBC Sports and GOLF Channel producer Beth Hutter. Hutter has produced LPGA coverage for more than 15 years and recently made history as the first woman to produce the U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club and women’s golf coverage at the Tokyo Olympics.
“We’re thrilled to assemble this incredibly accomplished group of women for our broadcast of the ShopRite LPGA Classic on GOLF Channel,” said Molly Solomon, executive producer for NBC Olympics and GOLF Channel, and the first woman to serve in that role for a national sports network. “Our NBC Sports team features talented women at all levels – both on-camera and behind-the-scenes – who are essential to making our coverage a success on every platform, and we’re honored to celebrate their work as part of this broadcast.”
That NBC release further notes that they’ve had many women in lead roles on the production side this year, including Rene Hatlelid at the Indianapolis 500 and Lindsay Schanzer for the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. But it’s interesting to see them again making a step into having an all-women on-air team; they did that with a NHL game on NBCSN in 2020, but this is new and different for golf.
