Johnny Miller Calls It Quits And Paul Azinger Tabbed To Fill The Seat
Johnny Miller is one of my favorite analysts. Does he regularly pat himself on the back during telecasts? Yes. Does he predict mayhem around every corner? Absolutely. But, does he sugarcoat his analysis to protect the thin-skinned Tour players. Heck no, and that’s why I enjoy his presentation.
However, after 29-years, Miller will step down from his perch at the Waste Management Open. Its been one helluva run that spurred the blunt analysis of say Brandel Chamblee and a Paul Azinger. You don’t have to agree with their non-filtered opinions but they do motivate debate–which is refreshing for such a careful and polite industry.
Golf Digest’s Alex Myers has the details about one of golf’s icons hanging it up.
“I’ve been on for 50 years with no break. I had my 24th grandchild yesterday. All my friends were retiring, and it got to the point where I was like, ‘Hey, how come I’m not retiring?’ It’s been a great run. I’ve done everything I can do announcing wise.”
Miller has spent the past 29 years working for NBC/Golf Channel, the last of which was a one-year deal that took him through 2018. He had been toying with retirement for the past few years, though, and gave serious thought to making his final event the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, where Miller won his second and final major in 1976.
“It was my idea,” Miller said of making Phoenix, where he had so many great memories as a player, his final tournament. “I was not going to announce this during the playoff events or the Ryder Cup, because it would have been selfish to do that and take away from those events. I was always known as the ‘Desert Fox.’ My best golf, besides that final round at Oakmont (at the 1973 U.S. Open), came in the desert, especially in 1975 when I won by 14 shots in Phoenix and by nine shots in Tucson. I was playing at a level of golf those two weeks as good or better than I’ve ever seen anyone hit the ball.”
Vintage Johnny there.
“I’m going to miss them a lot, especially when I see them doing the tournaments I did. That’s going to be the hardest part,” Miller said. “Dan [Hicks] and I have gotten really close. He’s such a good guy and really good and what he does. Dan and Gil Capps [NBC/Golf Channel’s head of editorial research] make it like a safety net. Dan is so good that even if I have a brain cramp, he can fill in for me. The team is so good. All the guys out there, Gary Koch, Roger Maltbie, they’re just a super team.”
How intimidating was Johnny in his prime? Let Gary McCord explain…
How intimidating was Johnny Miller in his prime? Gary McCord with an example that made him wonder about his future on tour (as told to @guy_yocom1, @GolfDigest, January 2005): pic.twitter.com/s9Mdg7bmEC
— Mike O’Malley (@GD_MikeO) October 16, 2018
Paul Azinger is tabbed to take Miller’s place in an unusual move where Zinger will still broadcast on Fox’s U.S. Open telecasts. He’s a great successor and having no problem calling it “like it is.”
Many of the same compliments attributed to Miller have also been given to Azinger, who is more commonly referred to as Zinger by fans. Like Miller, Azinger’s knowledge of the golf and willingness to criticize players and be honest has earned him high marks and praise.
Zinger began his broadcasting career in 2005 when he joined up with ESPN and ABC Sports, where he worked alongside current NBC Sports play-by-play broadcaster Mike Tirico and CBS’ lead golf analyst Nick Faldo.
After spending over 10 years at ESPN, Azinger left for Fox Sports when it seized control of the broadcasting rights of the U.S. Open. Azinger replaced Greg Norman in the Fox broadcasting booth alongside Joe Buck in 2016.
