Golf on ESPN

Coverage history

1970s

Golf aired on the second day of ESPN on September 8, 1979, with coverage of the LPGA Tour. ESPN aired the LPGA through 2009, when it lost rights to the Golf Channel. Over the years, ESPN televised three LPGA major championships.

1980s

Golf coverage greatly expanded on ESPN in the 1980s. In 1982, the Senior PGA Tour began airing on ESPN, which would air regular season action through 2000. In November 1983, ESPN signed a contract with the PGA Tour and would carry the tour through 2006. In 1982, innovative cable coverage of the major championships began, as ESPN aired three of men's golf's four majors for many years, the most distinctive feature being Thursday and Friday afternoon "Happy Hour" themed U.S. Open coverage anchored by Chris Berman.

1990s

From 1991 through 2006, ESPN aired the PGA Tour Championship in conjunction with ABC, a fact depicted in the 1996 smash hit golf film Happy Gilmore. In 1999, ESPN began airing the World Golf Championships. From 1996 through 2006, ESPN aired The Players Championship, a flagship event of the PGA Tour. ESPN broadcast the 1994 Presidents Cup, 1996 Presidents Cup and 1998 Presidents Cup. When ABC became the primary rights holder for the PGA Tour in 1999, several new events were broadcast on ESPN for the first time as all ABC tournaments initially shared coverage with ESPN.

2000s

Prior to 2007, ESPN and ABC shared some announcers, but the main ABC coverage team did not generally work on ESPN except for events that ABC had weekend rights to, in which case the full ABC team would work on ESPN's weekday telecasts. After losing PGA Tour rights to the Golf Channel following the 2006 season, what remained of ESPN and ABC's coverage team's merged, as did the production, with all ABC R&A broadcasts being branded as ESPN broadcasts as part of ESPN on ABC. History of the ESPN golf team during the period when some telecasts were still shown on ABC (2007–2009) can be found at the PGA Tour on ABC article.

Since 2008, ESPN has carried early-round coverage of the Masters Tournament. This coverage is co-produced by CBS Sports as part of its presentation of the event, and largely features its personalities, joined by an ESPN studio host (initially Mike Tirico before his departure for NBC, and later Scott Van Pelt).

2010s

In 2010, all ABC coverage was moved to ESPN, with highlight presentations being shown on ABC during the afternoons on Open Championship weekend. This meant that in 2010, for regular men's golf, ESPN showed The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the Ryder Cup.

ESPN revamped its coverage team in 2010 as well. Mike Tirico and Paul Azinger remained the lead booth announcers. Curtis Strange returned as a hole announcer, while Scott Van Pelt moved from the studio host position to become a hole announcer as well. Sean McDonough joined the coverage team as another hole announcer. Andy North, Judy Rankin and Billy Kratzert all returned as on-course reporters. Terry Gannon moved from a hole announcer role to the role of studio host during live coverage, for highlight updates. Tom Weiskopf, who had been a hole announcer, became an analyst for holes Van Pelt was assigned to, and was joined by Peter Alliss in this role for one hour per day at the Open Championship. At the Ryder Cup, Alliss took Van Pelt's place as a hole announcer, while Van Pelt and Weiskopf worked on the studio set. Tom Rinaldi remained the lead interviewer and essayist.

In 2011, Olin Browne joined as an additional on-course reporter. Alliss began to only appear as a guest at the Open Championship, still for one hour per day, and still working as Van Pelt's analyst. In 2012, Gannon's role was eliminated and he joined NBC Sports and the Golf Channel.

2012 would also be ESPN's final Ryder Cup. The network traded its Friday rights to the 2014 event back to NBC for additional Premier League highlights. NBC then signed a rights deal covering the 2016–2030 editions of the event, ending ESPN's chances of a comeback.

Several changes occurred in 2013. Dottie Pepper replaced Browne as an on-course reporter. Weiskopf was moved to a position in which he would appear once during the telecast to discuss the architecture of the course and how it would affect play, as he is a noted course designer. Alliss also had his guest role cut to only Thursday and Friday coverage of the Open Championship. However, his role as an analyst for holes Van Pelt is assigned to is unchanged for those days.

In 2015, Weiskopf left to be a studio analyst for Fox Sports' coverage of USGA tournaments.

From 2008 to 2014, guest analysts were used during the Open Championship, in various roles, usually for a few hours each day scheduled around their own play in the event. Tom Watson fulfilled this role from 2008 to 2010 and David Duval performed this duty from 2011 through 2014.

The 2015 Open Championship was the final event covered by the core ESPN/ABC announcer team in place since the 1990s, nine years after first losing rights to the PGA Tour. After 2016, ESPN lost rights to the Open Championship to the Golf Channel and NBC. The LPGA's CME Group Tour Championship aired on ABC with ESPN announcers from 2015 through 2018.

In 2016, ESPN's 30 for 30 film series aired the film Hit it Hard about golfer John Daly.

2020s

In October 2018, it was announced that early-round and weekend morning coverage of the PGA Championship would move from TNT to ESPN beginning 2020, with ESPN+ holding rights to stream supplemental coverage prior to ESPN's broadcast window, and during CBS weekend windows. As with the Masters, the coverage is co-produced by CBS Sports with the involvement of personalities from both networks.

In 2020, ESPN+ reached an agreement with the PGA Tour for the exclusive rights to PGA Tour Live, the tour's subscription video service, beginning in 2022. ESPN+ has access to more than 4,000 hours of live golf from 36 tournaments.

For the 2022 PGA Championship, ESPN announced that it would air a secondary broadcast modeled after its Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli broadcasts for Monday Night Football, which will feature ESPN's new lead NFL commentator Joe Buck (in his first on-air appearance at ESPN after leaving Fox—where he had also briefly served as a golf commentator), ESPN golf analyst Michael Collins, and various celebrity guests (such as Buck's NFL partner Troy Aikman, Fred Couples, Ken Griffey Jr., J. J. Watt, and Peyton and Eli Manning—who will produce the broadcast, among others). It will serve as the opening hour of ESPN's coverage for each round of the tournament, after which it will air on ESPN2 (first and second rounds) or ESPN+ (third and final rounds).

In 2022, 30 for 30 aired the film Shark about Greg Norman's epic collapse at the 1996 Masters Tournament.

In 2023, ESPN announced an agreement to broadcast TGL, a virtual golf league in partnership with the PGA Tour. Originally scheduled to begin in January 2024, the inagural season was delayed to January 2025 due to construction issues at the host venue in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. TGL broadcasts feature Scott Van Pelt as host from his SportsCenter studio in Washington, with the exception of the 2025 SoFi Cup Finals, where he hosted it and SportsCenter on-site at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Matt Barrie calling the play, with Marty Smith conducting sideline reports, and analysis from Roberto Castro. For the league's second season, one match aired on ABC.

On December 7–10, 2023, ABC and ESPN aired the inaugural World Champions Cup. The tournament featured three teams; Team International, Team Europe and Team USA. It was the first golf coverage to air on ABC since 2018.

On May 17, 2024, ESPN was praised for their breaking news coverage of Scottie Scheffler's arrest at the 2024 PGA Championship.

In August 2024, ESPN+ announced it would begin airing coverage of the Western Amateur Golf Championship.

After Brooks Koepka announced he would return to the 2026 PGA Tour from LIV Golf, ESPN announced that it would simulcast the "Main Feed" from PGA Tour Live, which usually airs only on ESPN+, for the first and second round. The coverage marked the first time since 2006 that ESPN would air the PGA Tour live on its linear network.

Tournaments

Current

• The Masters, first two rounds (2008–present)
• PGA Championship, first two rounds and early weekend coverage (1982–1990, 2020–present)
• PGA Tour Live: Live coverage of 35 tournaments on ESPN+ (2022–present)
  • Farmers Insurance Open on ESPN, Hulu and Disney+ (2026)
• Amateur events
  • Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, all four rounds (2013–present)
  • Latin America Amateur Championship, all four rounds (2015–present)
  • Western Amateur, Sweet 16 through Championship (2024–present)
• Team events
  • World Champions Cup, all four rounds (2023, 2025–present)
• TGL, all matches on ABC (since 2025), ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN+ (2024–present)

Former

• PGA Tour
  • Regular season events from 1984–2006
  • U.S. Open, first two rounds (1982–2014)
  • The Open Championship, first two rounds (1982–2002), all four rounds (2010–2015)
  • World Golf Championships (1999–2006)
  • The Players Championship (2003–2006)
  • Tour Championship (1991–2006)
• LPGA
  • Regular season events from 1979–2009
  • Kraft Nabisco Championship, first two rounds (1983–2005), first three rounds (2006–2010)
  • U.S. Women's Open, first two rounds (1982–2014)
  • Women's British Open, first two rounds (1982–2002), all four rounds (2010–2015)
  • CME Group Tour Championship, final round (aired on ABC) (2015–2018)
• Champions Tour
  • Regular season events from 1982–2000
  • The Tradition, first two rounds (1998–2002)
  • Senior PGA Championship, first two rounds (1997–2005)
  • U.S. Senior Open, first two rounds (1986–2014)
  • Senior Players Championship, first two rounds (1999–2002)
  • Senior Open Championship, first two rounds (1982–2002), all four rounds (2010–2015)
  • Senior Tour Championship (1997–2000)
• Ryder Cup (2008, 2010 and 2012)
• Presidents Cup (1994, 1996 and 1998)

Announcers

Main article: List of ESPN/ABC golf commentators

Scott Van Pelt is currently the lead golf host for ESPN. Former world number one golfer David Duval and hall of famer Curtis Strange are the lead analysts.

References

References

1. "History of Golf on ESPN".
2. (10 June 2014). "Chris Berman shares some favorite U.S. Open memories".
3. (11 October 2007). "ESPN Replaces USA as Early-Round Home of the Masters".
4. (October 10, 2007). "ESPN will show first two rounds of 2008 Masters tournament". ESPN.
5. "2018 Masters broadcast will use shot tracer technology". Augusta Chronicle.
6. (October 10, 2018). "PGA Championship Leaving TNT For ESPN In '20, Re-Ups With CBS". Sports Business Daily.
7. Kerschbaumer, Ken. (6 August 2020). "ESPN Tees Up Expansive PGA Championship Coverage".
8. (March 9, 2020). "Nine-year deals with ViacomCBS, Comcast/NBC Sports Group, The Walt Disney Company's ESPN+ will allow TOUR to significantly expand its content offerings; LPGA to receive expanded exposure through first-ever joint negotiations".
9. (2022-05-05). "Joe Buck reportedly set for ESPN debut hosting PGA Championship alternate feed".
10. (2022-05-10). "Charles Barkley, Troy Aikman, and the Mannings will join Joe Buck's PGA Championship broadcast".
11. (2022-05-18). "Thursday's Joe Buck PGA Championship broadcast will feature Peyton, Eli, Scott Van Pelt, Ken Griffey Jr. and more".
12. Colgan, James. (December 12, 2024). "TGL announces ESPN broadcast team led by Scott Van Pelt".
13. (March 24, 2025). "Scott Van Pelt to host TGL Finals on site".
14. (December 22, 2025). "TGL's second season will see new broadcast elements on ABC, ESPN".
15. (December 4, 2023). "ABC, ESPN, ESPN+ to have Exclusive Live Coverage of Golf's Inaugural World Champions Cup Dec. 7-10".
16. (May 17, 2024). "ESPN and Jeff Darlington deserve massive praise for Scottie Scheffler coverage".
17. Ota, Kevin. (August 1, 2024). "Exclusively on ESPN+: Live Coverage of Western Amateur Golf Championship".
18. Carpenter, Josh. (January 26, 2026). "ESPN to carry Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour return".
19. "History of Golf on ESPN - ESPN Press Room U.S.".
20. (April 9, 2013). "History of the Masters golf tournament on TV (1956-present)". Classic Sports TV and Media.
21. (5 August 2013). "History of PGA Championship TV coverage (1958-present)".
22. (8 December 2021). "ESPN+ takes over PGA Tour Live in January with vastly expanded coverage".
23. "History of Golf on ESPN - ESPN Press Room U.S.".
24. (10 June 2013). "History of US Open golf TV coverage (1954-present)".
25. (15 July 2013). "History of British Open on US TV (1962-present)".
26. "PGA Tour agrees to new TV rights deals".
27. "Final round of CME Group Tour Championship to air live on ABC | LPGA | Ladies Professional Golf Association". LPGA.
28. CMEGroup Tour Champ.. (20 November 2016). "Tune in now on @ABCNetwork to watch the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship! #RaceToCMEGlobe #CMEGroupLPGA".
29. (20 November 2017). "TV Blog: LPGA shift to ABC good for business, bad for viewers".
30. (13 November 2018). "LPGA Season Ends Sunday with Live Telecast on ABC; $1 Million Bonus on Line - ESPN Press Room U.S.".
31. (25 September 2012). "Chronology of Ryder Cup coverage on American television". Classic Sports TV and Media.
32. "Classic TV Sports: History of Presidents Cup TV coverage (1994-present)".