Almost a year to the day his time with NBC Sports ended, Paul Azinger is returning to the broadcasting booth.
Golfweek is reporting that the 12-time PGA Tour champion will replace Lanny Wadkins as the lead analyst on Golf Channel’s coverage of PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour) for 10-12 tournaments next season on a one-year deal.
“It’s not like a full-time gig or anything, which I don’t want, but to be able to go in there and part-time some golf, some really great golf, it’ll be kind of fun,” Azinger told Golfweek on Monday. “I’ll just be as candid as I can and enjoy it.”
Wadkins announced his retirement Friday.
Azinger will split time in the analyst chair with Peter Jacobsen and John Cook, the latter of whom will serve as an on-site walking reporter when not in the booth.
“Paul brings a lot of credibility to that seat and has a lot of creative ideas that we think can just add to our overall telecast,” Miller Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions, told Golfweek. “It’s hard to replace a Hall of Famer like Lanny week in and week out, but, I think Paul will be tremendous for us.”
NBC hired Azinger to replace longtime analyst Johnny Miller in 2018, and after five years with the network, his contract was not renewed last November. The 64-year-old has since said he was stunned to learn that NBC wasn’t going to renew his deal.
“You know, it wasn’t a conversation with me, like, ‘What do you need Zinger? What do we need to do? Here’s our situation. You know, this is why we need you to accept this deal.’ There was no reason, it just was it’s complicated, it’s complicated. I was like, ‘How complicated can it be, bud?’ It’s money,” he told Golfweek earlier this year.
Azinger said that he hopes this new role means he’ll get the chance to call Tiger Woods once more, if and when he joins the PGA Tour Champions after turning 50.
“I hope he does,” Azinger said. “He says he will. I mean, if I could do five or six or seven of Tiger’s events, I would be thrilled. I’ll be thrilled anyway. Trust me, it’s gonna be good fun.”
[GolfWeek]
