Trevor Immelman marks the largest change for CBS Golf main as much as 2023, as he takes over the lead announcer’s chair following the departure of Nick Faldo.
GT
It is a chilly Sunday in early December, and the CBS Sports activities NFL sales space is abuzz.
Jim Nantz and Tony Romo — CBS’ “A-Group” — put together to name the season’s recreation at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium. Nantz and Romo have referred to as loads of large video games collectively, however they’re going to ultimately be taught that this afternoon’s Chiefs-Bengals recreation is best than even their wildest regular-season goals: the halftime sequel to the twenty second AFC Championship, and half of the AFC Championship Sport. prefix. As the 2 males put together to air, there’s a quiet urgency. It is a huge second for CBS in a recreation that guarantees to be a rankings monster.
Quickly after, the producer counts the 2 males within the sales space. It is time to go. Romo and Nantz alternate just a few final phrases and return to the digicam.
A number of ft away, a well-known face places a headset to his ears. it is a Trevor Immelman.
Immelman, who was promoted simply months earlier by CBS’s golf crew, is technically not supposed till you’re right here. The kiosk is a cramped and crowded house. The very last thing a stage supervisor wants is one other physique on his means. However after just a few months of harassing Nantz, the previous Masters champion and present golf announcer bought an invitation.
James Colgan
His position this week is straightforward: to fly on the wall. To absorb as a lot of what is going on on as doable and make it acquainted, in order that when the identical expertise comes his means, it appears like second nature.
This final half is of nice significance to Immelmann, largely due to the identical expertise he Coming his means in only a few months. From the nook of the printed sales space, he watched intently because the opening kickoff kicked off.
Clearly, one of the best ways to organize for all times subsequent to Jim Nantz is to only get up little bit steer clear of him
Immelman is the large change of 2023 at Golf TV, and his tenure will start on the Farmers Insurance coverage Open this week which can run from Wednesday by way of Saturday for the second yr in a row. On in the present day’s Sizzling Mic, we kicked off the 2023 CBS Golf season by sharing a few of the different modifications, together with Immelman’s, you could count on from The Eye within the new yr.
6 attention-grabbing modifications coming to CBS Golf in 2023
1. Trevor Immelman enters the driving seat
“That is Trevor’s mannequin,” Nantz advised me, telling the story of Immelman’s go to to the Bengals-Chiefs. “Each fall he needed to come back over and hang around with the NFL crew. So in Cincinnati he was with us within the sales space, standing subsequent to us and sporting a headset. Simply watching and listening to how Tony and I talk on air. That is simply typical Trevor. He is an exceptionally well-groomed man.” And exceptionally considerate. He by no means misses a factor, and I am keen to take care of him.”
And roll with it, Nantes will. After years working as an analyst in a wide range of roles throughout golf tv, Immelman will ascend to the chief analyst chair at CBS Golf, turning into—as CBS Sports activities president Sean McManus admits—solely the fifth man to earn that distinction for the reason that Fifties. The 2008 Masters champion will change Nick Faldo, who retired from the grid on the conclusion of the 2022 season.
Golf is a proud custom at CBS. uncommon rotation. It is the type of place folks retire from. These jobs open from time to time as Haley’s Comet does the rounds. All of that is seemingly why Immelman discovered himself in Cincinnati in early December.
“By no means. I am nervous,” says Immelmann. “I do not need to let my teammates down, particularly the man sitting subsequent to me.”
“I am nervous as hell, fairly frankly,” McManus rebukes agrees with a chuckle. “As a result of I am the person who made the choice.”
“nothing – nothing – To be nervous about it,” Nantes’ opponents stated extra earnestly. “That is probably the most benefit.”
Nantz represents the extra severe opinions of these round CBS in expressing his help for Immelman, whose professionalism and preparation have earned excessive marks already with golf’s longest-running broadcast crew.
Nonetheless, there is just one probability to make a primary impression as a lead analyst at CBS Golf, and if Immelman performs his playing cards proper, it could possibly be the final First impression ever.
2. New dynamics on the prime
“There isn’t a substitute for Sir Nick,” McManus admits, talking of the CBS Group of the Yr. However he leaves a key level: no alternative could also be obligatory.
Faldo’s departure offers CBS the chance to depend on its analysts in a means it could not in years previous, when Faldo’s magic carried a lot of the heavy lifting. Certain, the dynamic between Immelman and Nantz will make a noticeable distinction to golf followers, however the return of the remainder of the crew on air (notably Frank Nobilo, Ian Baker Finch, Dotty Pepper, Colt Nost, Amanda Renner, and producer Sellers Shee) ought to assist clean out any bumps that come up when he charts the CBS sales space. a brand new path.
“I Ain’t Sit On The A**”: In Retirement, Nick Faldo is simply getting began
James Colgan
3. A bigger schedule
beigeEST From a programming perspective.
In 2023, CBS will broadcast the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the primary time, masking the ultimate three occasions of the PGA Tour season. The community can even deal with “customized occasion” protection of the WM Phoenix Open, Genesis, Memorial, RBC Heritage, and extra.
Along with the tour schedule, CBS will proceed to cowl the Masters tournaments, the PGA Championship and the Scottish Open. In complete, the community will cowl 23 occasions, together with two majors and 4 international locations, within the new yr.
“We have now 23 occasions in ’23, and that is an enormous deal for us,” stated Shy, the CBS producer.
4. Technical enhancements
Drones and “Mounted Leaderboard” had been two of the CBS Sellers Producer She Essentially the most well-received change among the many golf viewing public. We count on to see enhancements to each properties, in addition to a rise within the frequency of ultra-high-resolution Fly Cam, Boat Cam and Atlas digicam footage used all through the printed.
5. Decreasing the “commerce burden”
nobody Likes Commercials throughout golf broadcasts, the least of that are these accountable for executing them. Shy and McManus each pointed to the scoreboard and phase enhancements as a part of the pair’s effort to streamline the viewing expertise on CBS. This might imply fewer pre-produced packages, or one thing like that Sports activities Enterprise Journal I reported, sprinting to interview the CEO of the match sponsor — for a lot of our protection from Sunday afternoon — by way of Saturday.
6. Amplify your greatest moments
Final yr, CBS experimented with the primary transportable of its type on WM, bringing host Amanda Renner and on-course analyst Colt Knost to the well-known sixteenth tee field. On the time, the purpose was to have Renner assist seize energy in one of many sport’s greatest environments.
Then got here Sam Ryder’s well-known ace and the wild celebration that adopted, which Renner and Nost expertly pulled off.
In ’23, Shi stated CBS expects to implement the same technique at a handful of the largest golf “venues” in hopes of capitalizing on the power it discovered at No. 16.
