How the Presidents Cup has become an event full of golf stars on TV
Trevor Immelman and Kevin Kisner are the biggest TV golf stars in the Presidents Cup — and he’s not on the phone this week.
Vaughn Ridley Getty Images
MONTREAL — It is said that 100 senators look in the mirror every morning to see the president.
At the President’s Cupsomething similar happens with leadership: 100 Presidents Cup captains look in the mirror and see a TV star.
But in this case they may have a point. One only needed a few minutes at Wednesday afternoon’s Vice Captains press conference to see the on-screen talent in action.
On stage, from left to right, sat nearly half a dozen of golf television’s most notable voices: Ogilvy, Immelman, Leonard, Kisner. Usually, some combination of those four pro speakers is a typical Wednesday afternoon at a major event; we watch as they spill onto the white fairways in brightly colored ropes and continue to play chitchat with players, caddies and agents. But it continued this On Wednesday, those faces and voices were wearing different hats, in place as temporary staff for the President’s Cup, each in their roles as vice-captains.
As the chilly, gray afternoon bled into the evening in Montreal, the four men spoke, and before long it was hard to ignore the feeling that television voices were everywhere. There was Todd Lewis at the lectern, asking questions. And the TV screens blasted back and forth being recorded from a few thousand feet away from the NBC broadcast site. Soon the feeling had become a proposition: The stars of Golf TV are all over in the President Cup. Now only one question remains: Why is this week so important to them?
We’ll start with Trevor Immelman, the gentle voice of CBS Golf. The last time we saw him wearing the INT shield, he was a few weeks away from starting in his current role as lead analyst. Immelman, who was well liked but, at the time, not very prominent, was the captain of the international team back in ’22. LIV had spent the previous summer finishing the international side, leading Immelman to opt for the record eight rookies on the roster. As both sides prepared for what was expected to be bloodshed, Immelman faced a chance to shine. He delivered seven days of rousing press conferences, hit everything right, and captained what appeared to be a strange team. When it ended, Immelman was a golfer, and he rode a wave of popularity straight into a well-watched season opener on CBS.
Geoff Ogilvy is not that kind of TV star – at least not yet at the moment – but he’s been the industry’s go-to optician for the past 18 months. It’s easy to forget that Ogilvy was the first prominent name associated with the search for NBC’s (still vacant) lead analyst position. The former US Open champion has long been regarded as one of golf’s most impressive speakers, and would be a welcome addition almost anywhere, should he decide he’d like to work a full schedule.
The problem, however, is that Ogilvy seems content to keep TV afloat, dabbling in work on ESPN’s Masters and guesting on other podcasts, shows and news.
“NBC has been looking around but that’s not heard yet,” he said Golfweek in April. “I’m not ready to commit to 20 weeks.”
Not working on TV full-time gives him the freedom to act without hesitation as vice-captain at events like this (the runway is clear for the Australian to step into a leadership role when the trophy moves to his hometown Kingston Heath in ’28). The flip side of the work-life balance is that, at events like this, Ogilvy displays speaking gifts that are well-suited to the booth.
“We don’t want to hatred another team,” he said Wednesday, his tone dry. “It looks good to win this tournament.”
On the other side of the stage, the two remaining members of our TV crew – Justin Leonard and Kevin Kisner – laughed. The two won’t be negotiating any TV jobs this weekend; as it is now their place on television is clear. Leonard “left” NBC in early 2023 to pursue a full-time schedule on the PGA Tour Champions and has yet to return, while NBC has publicly announced that Kisner has retired from full-time PGA Tour work. they took the lead analyst job, but Kisner fired them.
Still, their place in the vice-captaincy – the true inner circle of men’s pro golf – spoke to the truth shared by all four men, and by the 24 players on the field this week: the world is watching slowly. this week. And when the world is watching closely, of course, so are the TV cameras.
Maybe it goes without saying that part of being a TV golfer is being in the inner circle, and maybe this week is revealing stars more than creating them. But one member of this week’s President’s Cup who is here on TV duty – Bones Mackay – sees it differently. The world of golf is full of stories of those whose careers have reached a different stratosphere through club golf play, including two members of this week’s field (Max Homa and Tom Kim).
“There’s nothing like these weeks,” Mackay said on Wednesday. “The strength is getting stronger, the chippy is getting smaller. Good.”
Mackay, whose tenure in a bag stacked with two of the world’s greatest golfers (Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas), has seen firsthand how these weeks can change lives and careers. Help them change his — leading indirectly to his current gig as an intern reporter with the NBC crew.
I asked Mackay why he thinks so many TV stars are in the mix this week, and he talked about Leonard, suggesting that these events often have a symbiotic relationship: put in good, get out good. Then he paused.
“From a TV perspective, it’s one of the best weeks of the year.”
Perhaps in more ways than one.
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