Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger, far removed from their 1993 Ryder Cup draw, will be side-by-side in the ABC booth at the Tour Championship this week as analysts for ABC. As with Monday Night football, the three-man booth (Azinger, Faldo, and staple Mike Tirico) will be the first this booth has seen (outside of post-round interviews).
“Their personalities were so divergent,” ABC golf producer Mark Loomis stated. “But they believed in what they said, and they also listened to others. I thought the two of them together will be terrific.”
Nick Faldo can best be described as “dry” (he is from England, after all) and Azinger as “sharp.” It will be interesting to see how they may rankle the players. Many folks remember Faldo’s “Emmy” comment regarding Tiger Woods’ recent shoulder pain. Azinger has recently said “It’s Tiger Woods without the charisma” regarding Vijay Singh.
“I think the timing was good,” said Faldo, a six-time major champion. “I was frustrated with my golf the last couple of years. I got mentally tired. So I thought if I’m mentally screwed up, maybe I’ll make a great announcer.”
Said Azinger, “We haven’t had a whole lot to say to each in the last 20 years, so it’s going to be fun getting to know Nick a little bit. I know Nick does two things a little slower than I do. One is probably hit a golf ball, and the other is fixing his hair. If I was playing great golf, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here, but the 18th tower just doesn’t come available very often. There’s only three of them on the major networks.”
Faldo and Azinger start this week and will juggle playing and announcing throughout their two-year contracts.