{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
He celebrated his 60th birthday in paradise, surrounded by family and friends. Paul Azinger brought his wife, brother and sister-in-law to Maui for last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, not that any of his relatives cared much about the golf. They were there to soak up the sunshine, enjoy the whitecaps near Makaluapuna Point and to sip mango smoothies while whales spawned off the beach at Kapalua. And, of course, they were there to celebrate Zinger’s 60th, a milestone he never thought about until it was upon him.
“I honestly never looked that far ahead,” he said by phone as he stood on the 14th tee at Kapalua’s Plantation Course and stared westward across the sea. “I was never that much of a visionary. In fact, I never looked beyond playing. Then, suddenly, here I am.”
Where he is is occupying one of the most coveted seats in sports, lead golf analyst for two of the three broadcast networks in the game, NBC Sports and Fox Sports. Azinger, a 12-time PGA Tour winner and major champion, is arguably the voice of golf, the analyst who gives fans insight while sounding like a buddy sitting next to you at the 19th hole.
“I’m just a hick, really,” said Azinger, a former ABC/ESPN announcer who joined Fox Sports as lead analyst for its USGA championship coverage in 2016 and succeeded the retiring Johnny Miller as NBC’s lead analyst last year. “I mean, you look at the people I’ve been able to work with – Dan Hicks, Tommy Roy, Mark Loomis, Mike McQuade at ESPN, Mike Tirico, Joe Buck – it’s amazing. I’ve been able to work with the most talented people and the best producers out there. I love it. It’s such an honor to be able to call golf and to analyze swings.”
Want the complete story?Subscribe today at Global Golf Post+