[PHOTO: Ben Jared]
For those who have missed Paul Azinger’s voice and off-the-cuff opinions since NBC Sports didn’t renew his contract at the end of 2023, he’s on his way back to the booth. The 12-time PGA Tour winner and past Ryder Cup captain told Golfweek on Monday that he will do part-time work on Golf Channel for 10-12 PGA Tour Champions tournaments in 2025. Azinger said he has a one-year deal – not with NBC Sports, but PGA Tour Entertainment, which controls the talent for the senior circuit.
“It’s not like a full-time gig or anything, which I don’t want. 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. “I’ll just be as candid as I can and enjoy it.”
Azinger, 64, is replacing Champions tour lead Lanny Wadkins, who announced his retirement last week. When Azinger is off, Peter Jacobsen and John Cook will split time as the lead analysts, Golfweek reported. Cook will still do his on-course reporting when he’s not in the lead chair.
“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,” PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady told Golfweek.
Azinger returns to the NBC Sports fold after an acrimonious parting late last year. After being cut, Azinger told numerous media outlets that he expected to work the 2024 season as usual and then talk about being extended for four more years. Azinger said an initial offer by NBC was put forth, but when his agent spoke of a counter-offer, the network said it was “moving on”.
NBC never identified a permanent replacement for Azinger this year, rotating numerous players in the analyst role.
Initially, Azinger responded with appreciation for his five years spent in the analyst’s chair. But in an interview with Golfweek last March, he lamented the state of professional golf and the way his time at NBC came to an end. “I wish it could have ended up better for me,” he said. “I was ready to keep going, and I thought we were negotiating in good faith.
“I don’t want to get in too much hot water and make big headlines or anything, but the best players aren’t on the PGA Tour,” Azinger said in the same interview. “They’re scattered all over the place, and that’s a sad day that’s similar to what happened in tennis. The best players are going to be at the four majors, just like tennis, and it’s unfolding right before our eyes.”
Nearly a year after being fired, Azinger seems to have reconciled with at least some of the NBC and tour brain trust.
“I hope that that’s water under the bridge and that everyone just moves on. I know Paul wants to move on, and we want to move on,” Brady told Golfweek on Monday.
Azinger, whose dozen wins included the 1993 PGA Championship, played only four events on the Champions tour, all in 2010. Still, he suggested in March that he’d be up for broadcasting for the circuit. “I’d rather call the senior tour than the PGA Tour, to tell you the truth. I’m over the PGA Tour,” Azinger told Golfweek. “To call the best senior players in the world, at least they’re the best.”
