CBS SPORTS pulled the plug on two long time voices in their golf announcing team last October.
Former Tour player and bon vivant, Gary McCord, was given the ax, as was his friend and partner, Peter Kostis.
Kostis might have been the hardest working analyst in all sports, as he was outfitted with a mobile TV monitor in an elaborate harness that he used for live swing analysis while he followed players around the course. At 73, the physical feat of traipsing over hill and dale was pretty impressive in itself. But Kostis was more than a pack mule – he was a golf swing instructor with a long resume and a stable of elite players in tow.
The insight provided with his video clips and commentary has not been replaced by any of the crew on this new roster at CBS. That might be a temporary choice due to the less than amiable parting of the ways coupled with an awareness by the CBS brass that handing those duties to a new crew member would lead to inevitable criticism of the “new guy”.
CBS would be hard pressed to replace the mustachioed McCord with someone of similar wit and disposition. His was an offbeat slant on the glory and devastation that golf can wreak on players at the highest level of the sport. He brought a Tin Cup attitude into the storied, stuffy clubhouse of professional golf and you had a sense that he thought he might be shown the door at any moment by the powers that be.
He was famously exiled from The MASTERS telecast for his comments on the green speeds at Augusta that referenced “body bags” and “bikini wax”. Yet he survived nearly thirty years at CBS after that incident in large part, I think, because his voice and insight were so different from any other golf talking head (with the exception of his friend and long time broadcast partner, David Feherty).
Three announcers were let go in total from the golf broadcast team, as Bill Macatee was also removed from their on air golf squad. Macatee is an affable gent with a wide background in various sports as an anchor. He’ll no doubt be seen on air calling other events in the future.
McCord and Kostis are golf geeks, each with a unique perspective on the game and the likelihood that we’ll see either on air again is pretty slim.
The word on the reason for the change was that the telecast was “going stale”. Also, there were hints that CBS wished to lure a younger audience, especially one that was attuned to the coming introduction of widespread, legitimate gambling in golf.
The unique voices and abilities of McCord and Kostis have been silenced and in their place we now have Davis Love III and Mark and Trevor Immelmann.
The Immelmann boys are very likable and capable gents. They bring that lilting South African accent to the language but they don’t bring anything out of the ordinary.
As for Davis Love III, I don’t understand why a gent in his position, with his record of accomplishment would want to schlep around a golf course whispering from time to time as players prepared to take their next swing.
I’ve been watching the CBS crew during the golf telecasts of the past few weeks and I’ve been disappointed. I’ll admit that I brought a bias against this new crew since I’m an advocate for those old pro’s, Kostis and McCord.
I think Davis Love III is still finding his way out there. He had a few moments of good insight and higher energy this week, so he’s growing and no doubt will be a capable on course analyst.
Yet I’m nostalgic for those old voices (and CBS might have an age bias, as both McCord and Kostis are in their 70’s) that don’t fit that staid mold of anodyne, interchangeable talking heads that we get way too much of in golf broadcasts.
Give me some mustache wax and slow-mo 3D analysis any day.
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