Mini-Leaderboard, New Music, New Producer for CBS Golf

CBS Golf has long been known for excellence and innovation in golf coverage, and in 2021, the network is going to make sure we know who’s in the lead at all times. No waiting for an update before commercials. There will be a mini-leaderboard displayed in the lower right hand corner of the screen during play.

There’s new music that has been composed to usher in the new coordinating producer, Sellers Shy. Shy replaces long-time veteran Lance Barrow and becomes only the third person to hold that title at the network. However, it’s not like he’s new to golf or CBS. He joined the production team as a runner for the legendary Frank Chirkinian in 1987.

He also has a long-time relationship with golf, having played in the Junior World twice. He was mentored in the sport by Cary Middlecoff, a legendary PGA Tour player of the 1940s and 1950s who won four majors and 40 tournaments.

To amp up the information base this season CBS is also adding a full time rules official. That, they hope, will eliminate any questions on rulings.

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During the conference call with media from across the country, Sean McManus, Chairman CBS Sports, Shy, lead anchor Jim Nantz, lead analyst Sir Nick Faldo and on-course reporter Dottie Pepper recalled the ratings success of 2020 and kinds of adjustments they had made during the season.

“When we returned to golf in June for 11 straight golf tournaments, our ratings were up 22 percent compared to the same events last year,” McManus explained.

He noted that their production team, headed by Harold Bryant and their operations team headed by Patty Power figured out a way to produce golf safely and have it look, for all the world, like it was normal. This despite graphics being in New Zealand, replays being in Connecticut and Los Angeles and most of the announce team being in Orlando. Jim Nantz and Dottie Pepper were two of the few on-camera talent on site.

Nantz saw nobody. He drove his car to the site, parked it near his tower, climbed up, turned on the lights and the camera and went to work alone. When he was done with the telecast he went back to his hotel. He saw nobody. He was in the Nantz bubble.

This year, 2021, the announcers will be back on site.

Nantz said that there was a big difference between what viewers see and what it’s like for him, for example, sitting alone in a tower. Like everyone else, he missed having fans.

“If you’re here in person it doesn’t feel like anything’s happening, but on television, the way you cut a show, the way you go from here to there, you show leaderboards, you’ve got music, you’ve got graphics,” he said. He thinks that viewers got accustomed to no fans being there.

Faldo recalled one time when Rory McIlroy was tied for a 54-hole lead with no gallery.

“You’ve done all that great work, you’re leading the tournament and there’s nobody out there. It’s all you,” he said. “Normally when you’re playing badly, really badly, there’s nobody around. It sucks . But when you’re playing well and there’s nobody around…. I take my hat off to the guys. I think that’s a really tough thing to do.”

“You took your headset off and you looked around,” Nantz added, “you couldn’t believe — in case of Harding ( Park) — that there’s a major championship being played. But out there in the fairway waiting to hit his second shot is Dustin Johnson.”

Nantz reminded everyone that we are in the midst of an unprecedented 11-month run with seven majors. Three have been played and there are the four this year to go. He pointed out that Johnson doesn’t have to wait the typical 12-months to have a chance to defend and because of that, Nantz thinks he has a great chance at Augusta in 2021.

Next. Brooks Koepka: 2021 FedEx Cup Contender or Pretender?. dark

Certainly the technology and production experts spanning the globe made golf, which was mostly on CBS last year, look like the most normal part of 2020.

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