[PHOTO: Michael Reaves]
Kevin Kisner already is getting positive reviews for his first foray in the broadcast booth with NBC Sports at this week’s Sentry tournament. So far, “Kis” has used his Georgia twang and offbeat thoughts to brighten up the broadcast. (Though we have to say that his much-touted walk-and-talk interview with Brendon Todd during the third round was a bit of a dud.)
The fear with these guys fresh off the tour (and in Kisner’s case, he’s still playing) is that they simply won’t dare criticise their peers beyond something that is completely obvious to the rest of us. Well, Kis already did himself proud by giving Jordan Spieth a good-natured needle about the Texan’s laborious putting routine.
Relax, mules: Kapalua proves the tour remains open to everybody
In contention, Spieth spent a long time lining up a roll of no more than three feet for birdie on the par-5 15th hole at Kapalua. A 4 would get him to 18-under and close to the lead. “If I was going to help him,” Kisner observed, “I’d tell him to speed it up on these and just knock it in. He knows how to make these.”
Sure enough, Spieth, who went back to his habit of looking at the hole instead of the ball, missed the putt, with the ball catching the right edge and spinning off the back of the cup. A mic caught Spieth lamenting, “Hill to the right, grain and wind to the left… ”
“It’s 3 feet Jordan, just knock it in bud.”—Kevin Kisner.
Finally somebody just said it pic.twitter.com/fvPJZMw8g9
— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) January 6, 2024
To which Kisner quipped: “That’s three feet Jordan; just knock it in, bud.”
Funny, and so true, and Kisner got plenty of love for it on Golf X (formerly Golf Twitter).
“We needed this. Brings back the lost flavour of Johnny Miller.” Another: “I heard this live. Kis is hysterical.”
It’s only a start, but if this was appetiser, it’s not a bad beginning.
