Unfortunately, Johnny Miller is not making a surprise return to the television booth for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. A shame, since he’d apparently fit right in with the “partisan” style NBC is employing during the biennial match-play event between Europe and the U.S.
As NBC’s lead golf producer Tommy Roy announced on Wednesday, the network will be forgoing the conventional impartial style, encouraging the analysts not to hide their rooting interests. In the morning sessions, Terry Gannon will host alongside Notah Begay, who is representing the American side, and Nick Faldo, who is coming out of TV retirement and representing the European side. In the afternoons, Dan Hicks will take over hosting duties and Brad Faxon will represent the American side while Paul McGinley will represent the European side.
RELATED: An early look at tee times for the 2025 Ryder Cup
This is a huge change for Roy, who always preached impartiality. In fact, he used to have to correct Miller often during team events, as Miller struggled with this TV cardinal sin.
“I used to have to correct Johnny Miller quite often when he’d say ‘we have to win this hole,'” said Roy. “And I’d get him in the headset and say, ‘Oh, Johnny, not we, the Americans.'”
Translation: Johnny Miller was way ahead of his time. If you’ve noticed, much of sports television has lost its impartiality, by design. NBC is simply leaning into that for the Ryder Cup, which should only add some fuel to an already fiery competition.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
