It was the surprise of Tuesday morning on Facebook — Sir Nick Faldo is calling it a day as the game’s most recognized television golf analyst.
He’s retiring at the end of his contract with CBS to enjoy the good life at his spread in Montana.
His announcement began:
“As a person who can appreciate the full circles that life can present, my mind goes back to the very first event I competed in on the PGA Tour in 1979, which was the GGO in Greensboro NC. Moving forward to now, I have come to the time that I am announcing my retirement from full-time broadcasting for CBS and the Golf Channel.
“This past January in Pebble Beach, my wife, Lindz Faldo, and I sat down for breakfast with CBS’s Sean McManus and informed him at that time of my intentions to finish out my contract and close out my 18th year in broadcasting and 16th year with CBS and the Golf Channel. As fate would have it, that will be on the 7th of August 2022 at the end of the GGO, now named The Wyndham Championship, to be held at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro NC, where it all began for me in the U.S. all those years ago.
“After much consideration and discussions late last year with my business manager and more privately with my wife, Lindsay, we together concluded, and I decided that I will step down from Tower 18. It was “a great run” since October 2006, when I was privileged to become the Lead Golf Analyst for CBS and to have the second best and highly coveted seat in golf, sitting next to Jim Nantz.”
The final part read:
“As an added personal note, my wife, Lindsay, and I, with our three Weimaraners have relocated to the wondrous, welcoming, and magnificent state of Montana. Lindsay and I are fortunate to have a very close and special relationship. With that, I want to spend more time with her, our dogs and assorted farm animals on our new, currently under construction farm, Faldo Farm. Once complete and the dust has settled, our wish and hope is that life on the Faldo Farm includes a future filled with visits from my children, grandchildren, Lindsay’s family and all our friends. As for me, I hope to often be found out back on the East Gallatin River, with a rod, waiters, and the local trout.
Cheers and thank you for all the wonderful years both on and off the course.”
And with that, CBS will have the tough task of finding a replacement.
So farewell to the player I first met on the putting green at Bay Hill back in 1979. He didn’t have much to say at that time — never foresaw that he’d become one of the best in the broadcasting game.
So yes, cheers, Sir Nick. Have a pint for us!
Trevor Immelman To Replace Faldo:
CBS didn’t waste much time naming the replacement for Sir Nick. Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion, has been named to replace Faldo after his final broadcast at the Wyndham Championship.
Travelers Championship Sports Some Impressive Big Names:
Yes, The Travelers is the week after a major but it’s not lacking for star quality the way most of the week-after-a-major often do.
U.S. Open runner-up — world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler heads the field along with new No. 2 Rory McIlroy, who leapfrogged Jon Rahm in the OWGR.
Other stars in the field from the world’s top 10 include Justin Thomas (no. 5), Patrick Cantlay (no. 6) and Sam Burns (no. 9). Harris English is the defending champion at TPC River Highlands.
PGA Tour Season Nears Its End:
After this week’s Travelers, there are only four more PGA Tour events on the regular schedule here in the U.S. — the John Deere, 3M, Rocket Mortgage and the Wyndham.
The Scottish Open (July 7-10) makes it’s debut as an event co-sanctioned by both the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour (sorry LIVers).
The three-event PGA Tour Playoffs will begin August 11th at the WGC St. Jude in Memphis.
Changes Coming To Fall Schedule:
The PGA Tour is working on a revamped fall schedule and may produce three or four events for top 70 players along with more “enhanced” (bigger money) events for the 2023 season.
The Tour met with players on Tuesday at The Travelers — it was standing room only with a number of topics discussed, including the LIV Series.
One player spoke afterward that Commissioner Jay Monahan said there would be “no way back” to the PGA Tour for those who choose the LIV Series.
16 Comments
baxter cepeda
Nick will be greatly missed by yours truly. I tire of all the announcer accents sometimes but anyone with that many majors can mumble British Witt to me anytime.
Trevor is fine. I like him. He’s a nice guy. Strong accent. And only one major. So it feels a bit JV compared to nick.
Since you brought up LIv, maybe nick is leaving his options open. But the chuckle of the day last nite was some article that the pga tour is trying to bite off the LIv model now, but with a laughable 100 million, which is less than one player gets for signing with LIv. Hilarious.
Meanwhile more names continue changing over. Pretty soon no one in golf will be in their “prime” because signing with LIv seems to suddenly eliminate players from being elite according to the establishment and it’s medias.
Aloha.
Tom Edrington
Baxter: Performance by LIV signees in first three majors: Masters — 1 T0 (Schwartzel); PGA — 1 T9 (Abe) U.S. Open: No top 10s. Yeah, that LIV is full of has-beens and guys whose games are rapidly fading….truth be known, I’d advise Rickie to join the LIV money grab. Brooks got boat-run by a college kid on Sunday. Hate to see Sir Nick go…..not a big fan of Trevor — one significant win — blah
baxter cepeda
Don’t get me started on basically no LIv players getting that nice light wind early wave Thursday.
LIv players are mostly not playing their best. But they are not has beens Tom. You can’t be a has been in the top
50. Those are the people that go to the masters based on the rankings.
Tom Edrington
None of them has been CLIMBING in the world rankings, they’ve all been going the other was and THAT IS THE FACT — give me the name of ONE LIV player who is moving up in the world rankings…..if you can, you’re the next Harry Potter…
baxter cepeda
They will soon enough. No doubt LIv is benefitting from this incredibly strong contingent of players not being at their best. But they will.
They have arguably the top amateur. That kid is going to climb as soon as LIv gets its world rank points.
Tom Edrington
Baxter — don’t bet on them getting those ranking points — tell me the makeup of the committee — bet you cannot — well here’s who is on it — Monahan, Keith Pelley (DPWT), Mike Whan (USGA), Seth Waugh (PGA of America), Will Jones, exec. director ANGC and Keith Waters (DPWT)….OWGR requires events to be 72 holes and a minimum 12-month trial period, just for starters….
baxter cepeda
Ridiculous committee. Pelley and Monahan are obvious conflicts of interest. But honestly the Whans and Waughs and Waters should not be a problem for LIv to get its points IMO. These guys understand the money coming in. And Again, this committee would lose all types of credibility if they picked sides.
Many of the top 50 best players in the world are there. Something will have to give. They cannot be denied.
I’m not betting on it, but I’m definitely expecting it.
Tom Edrington
I’m tempted to edit your comment to make it accurate and read: “not many of the top 50” And don’t bet on Whan and Waugh going against the Tour, same for DP World guys.
baxter cepeda
Lol. You have entered the censoring Dark side a bit.
But I’ll give that to you. It’s not officially many just yet. They are Still trickling in like a Hawaiian backyard party. But pretty soon all the uncles gonna show up brah.
Again, the credibility of the OWGR are at stake. Already having this committee is an issue. If they block LIv, golf would then have a serious problem.
Right now golf has a great thing happening with countless opportunities moving forward. But if the owgr choose to help their friends despite obvious evidence of a strong tour, even I don’t know what’s gonna happen with golf at that point. It’s really a must that LIv get points at this point already. And that argument will only get stronger as Kimo and Tito and the whole hang show up.
Tom Edrington
To sanction an “exhibition” that’s 54-holes would be a blow to its credibilty…..no DID NOT edit, I”m not like the Saudis, who don’t want free speech and tough questions at the LIV pressers and remove those who ask them. So you have nine in the top 50, there are a bunch not even in the top 500!!! Some not even ranked!! What’s Chase Koepka’s ranking?
baxter cepeda
Trickle Tom.
The 72 hole thing is ridiculous. Who says it has to be 72. It can be 36. It can be all kinds of match play. It can be combos. It can be anything. That’s a whole other issue with the owgr. They really are the ones stagnating more interesting and creative formats for golf…they really need to change with the times also. Even Monahan is trying to catch up.
Also most tournaments on the pga tour start on 2 nines. Sometimes as many as 6 nines or more as I’m the atnt. I really have little problem with shotgun starts. And the final groups in LIv all tee off on 1 the final day.
All these things are really not something that should deter world ranking points.
Tom Edrington
Nope, OWGR require tournaments to be 72 holes; Match play is even more than that for the guys who go to the finals. Rankings are not going to happen….
baxter cepeda
Tigers tournament is LiV
Holes and it gets owgr points.
Tom Edrington
Tiger’s got major influence, Baxter — that’s why those renegades offered him a billion dollars. And it looks like the DP World hierarchy is lining up with the PGA Tour. Plead all you want, it’s not gonna happen for Greg and the Saudis. And once again, check your facts, the Hero World Challenge is 72 holes
baxter cepeda
Fair enough. It’s more that tigers tournament has less guys gather to compete than we get at out local muni out in the middle of nowhere.
I am reading in SI.com that the sunshine tour has scheduled 54 hole events. And rain delay 64 hole events get points.
There’s precedent on the few things LIv arguably falls short on. And an official said they meet almost all the standards.
Tom Edrington
And how many from the world’s top 10? Typically a LOT. You have your belief that the LIV will get world ranking points, I believe they won’t. We will wait and see who’s right.