NBC’s lead golf producer Tommy Roy has been interested in Kevin Kisner as a broadcaster for some time and told him the opportunity was available whenever the fan-favorite was ready to quit playing.
After a quiet fall, Roy approached Kisner at Sea Island in Georgia and called him a week later to get his schedule so they could find a time for Kisner to try out on the mic.
“I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to Honolulu to play so I can do Maui,’” said Kisner. “(Roy’s) like, ‘Alright, perfect. I’ll see you there.’ I was like, what? Next day I know I’m talking to a guy about a contract.”
The four-time PGA Tour winner made his first of two appearances for NBC and Golf Channel at last week’s PGA Tour opener, The Sentry, and received rave reviews from media and fans. Kisner, 39, will also be on the call for the WM Phoenix Open later this year. Before making his first start of the new Tour season at the Sony Open in Hawaii this week, Kisner joined fellow player-turned-commentator Smylie Kaufman on his podcast to talk about his broadcast debut.
New ep out now with @K_Kisner!
Kiz went in-depth on his first week as a broadcaster … including the abrupt transition to “on camera”
Watch/listen
: https://t.co/goxv73mQqU
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— The Smylie Show (@thesmylieshow) January 10, 2024
Kisner said he called his wife because he didn’t think he could do the job after watching what happened behind the scenes for an hour during Thursday’s first round but stuck it out and joined the broadcast on Friday. He was funny, told great stories about the players and brought a new element to a broadcast that has grown stale over the last few years.
“From what I heard, having a guy that’s been in there close with the guys recently, it helped. I’ve got stories on all of them because I’ve been around, now some of these young guys I don’t have any stories on,” Kisner said. “If (Akshay Bhatia) went and got hot (Sunday), I’d have probably just sat there twiddling my thumbs the whole day. I don’t have any dirt on him yet. But it was nice to have some of the guys I know well rolling and that I could pull from my old memory bank.”
Watch the full podcast here.