Mike Tirico has been a lead golf announcer for nearly 30 years, but he probably wouldn't have taken the job if he'd known about the critics waiting.
Tirico appeared on the Fore Play Podcast this week hosted by his NBC colleague Kevin Kisner, Frankie Borrelli, and founders Samuel "Riggs" Bozoian and Trent Ryan. During the interview, Riggs asked Tirico about being taken aback by how critical golf fans were of announcers and network coverage when he began calling the sport.
"What I didn't realize when I got into golf, that even before social media and before podcasts and before people spoke up more about their personal feelings, golf viewers were not shy in expressing what they thought," Tirico said. "And I was not a 'golf guy.' Brent Musburger was doing ABC's golf, and I did two events on the Senior Tour, and my boss from ESPN moved to run ABC Sports, and then they asked me to come over in '97, join Curtis [Strange] and kind of reset their team.
"If I knew how much criticism was waiting being part of that, I might not have taken the job…I'm glad it did because it gave me a chance to be a lead network broadcaster at something and change the trajectory of my career."
Dan Patrick recently told the story of being in the running to succeed Musburger on ABC's golf coverage, a role that eventually went to Tirico. And when ABC/ESPN picked Tirico to lead their golf coverage, they were picking someone who loved watching the sport, but had little experience announcing it.
#lead
Tirico appeared on the Fore Play Podcast this week hosted by his NBC colleague Kevin Kisner, Frankie Borrelli, and founders Samuel "Riggs" Bozoian and Trent Ryan. During the interview, Riggs asked Tirico about being taken aback by how critical golf fans were of announcers and network coverage when he began calling the sport.
"What I didn't realize when I got into golf, that even before social media and before podcasts and before people spoke up more about their personal feelings, golf viewers were not shy in expressing what they thought," Tirico said. "And I was not a 'golf guy.' Brent Musburger was doing ABC's golf, and I did two events on the Senior Tour, and my boss from ESPN moved to run ABC Sports, and then they asked me to come over in '97, join Curtis [Strange] and kind of reset their team.
"If I knew how much criticism was waiting being part of that, I might not have taken the job…I'm glad it did because it gave me a chance to be a lead network broadcaster at something and change the trajectory of my career."
Dan Patrick recently told the story of being in the running to succeed Musburger on ABC's golf coverage, a role that eventually went to Tirico. And when ABC/ESPN picked Tirico to lead their golf coverage, they were picking someone who loved watching the sport, but had little experience announcing it.
#lead
3 days ago
