PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Morgan Pressel is walking the fairways at a golf tournament this weekend, but instead of holding a club and hitting shots, she’s holding a microphone and calling the shots.
The Honda Classic at PGA National is the first PGA Tour event the former major champion is covering for NBC Sports/Golf Channel as the 32-year-old begins the transition from professional golfer to an announcing career.
So far, it has gone as smoothly as her swing.
“After one day, she’s like an old pro out there,” Tommy Roy, NBC Sports’ lead golf producer, said Saturday. “She has advanced to this position in a very quick time. Faster than anyone I’ve seen before.”
Not that Roy is surprised. He wouldn’t have hired Pressel while she is still playing regularly on the LPGA if he didn’t like her on-air abilities.
Honda Classic: Leaderboard | Photos
Even if she was on the other side of the mic.
“In her interviews through the years, she’s always been very forthright and very honest, Roy said. “You can tell she is very smart and opiniated. All those characteristics are what we look for in our announcers.”
Pressel got her first taste of announcing with Fox Sports, on the digital side for the 2015 U.S. Open and as an on-air analyst for the 2019 U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
It’s a lot more complicated to work as an on-course announcer, as she is doing this week at the Honda Classic. She must worry about where she stands to see the action while not distracting the players and handle multiple buttons to talk on-air and privately to Roy. Then, make a concise comment.
Sinking a 10-foot putt to win a tournament almost seems easy.
“It’s been fun,” Pressel said before the third round. “I love learning a new skill. I’m just trying to learn as fast as I can. I know it’s a unique situation to have this opportunity, so I definitely want to do it justice.”
Making the move from golfer to announcer isn’t easy when players retire. It’s even harder when you’re doing it while you’re playing; she estimates she’ll play between 15-to-18 LPGA events this year, including the next two weeks.
“It will be a bit of a tough balance,” Pressel said. “But just like I learn from playing against the best players on the LPGA Tour every week, I’m learning from watching the best players on the PGA Tour. And this week I get to sleep in my own bed.”
It can be a fine line when a current/former golfer critiques her competitors on the course, then possibly gets paired with them the following week. An announcer also doesn’t want to be vanilla.
“As a professional golfer, I’ve hit a lot of bad shots myself,” Pressel said. “It’s part of the game. I think it’s an important part to explain when things also go wrong, not just when they go well. I know. I’ve done it wrong many times myself.”
Said Roy: “I know when Johnny Miller was with us, everybody thought we were a critique-a-thon. That’s not the case. I want our announcers to have their opinions. Morgan is doing a great job.”
