While NBC Sports hasn’t announced a replacement for Paul Azinger as its lead golf analyst yet, Geoff Oglivy has been mentioned as a potential successor.
Per the Sports Business Journal, Oglivy is being tabbed as a possible successor to Azinger, who reportedly refused a pay cut to remain at NBC and left after five years in November. After a brief run at Fox, Azinger joined NBC in November 2018, replacing Johnny Miller.
SBJ reports that Oglivy could split the lead analyst job with another broadcaster, with him calling the network’s more prominent events. Brandel Chamblee, David Duval, Brad Faxon, and Paul McGinley have also been mentioned as options.
NBC is expected to make an announcement regarding plans for the role within the next week. One source said NBC could end up splitting the lead analyst role between two people, with Ogilvy handling some of the network’s bigger golf events.
That move would not be unprecedented at NBC. In the 1980s, Lee Trevino split time as lead analyst on NBC golf broadcasts with other announcers.
Other names such as current NBC/Golf Channel analysts Brandel Chamblee, David Duval and Brad Faxon have been brought up as possibilities for the position. Paul McGinley, the former European Ryder Cup captain and current analyst for Golf Channel, auditioned for the position earlier this month during the Hero World Challenge.
Chamblee, Duval, Faxon, and McGinley are already working under the NBC/Golf Channel umbrella.
Tabbing Oglivy as an analyst for high-profile events would be a potentially risky, out-of-the-box hire for NBC, but plenty of analysts have succeeded when put in similar positions. Oglivy could follow the same route if he is indeed hired for the analyst job by NBC in the coming days or weeks.
