Who Are The CBS Sports Broadcast Team?
A look at the experts who provide the coverage and analysis of CBS Sports’ golf broadcasts
CBS Sports has covered the PGA Tour for over 50 years, so it’s hardly a surprise that the caliber of its broadcast team is top-class. From its on-course reporters to its analysts and experienced play-by-play announcers, the team is filled with expertise and experience.
Here are the personnel that make up the CBS Sports golf broadcast team.
Jim Nantz – Lead Host
Three-time Emmy award winner Jim Nantz has become a legend in sports broadcasting since joining CBS in 1985 and nowadays is also a member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame,
He linked up with the network's golf broadcast team the year after his CBS career began, when he became an on-course reporter. In 1994, he became the anchor, where he worked alongside Ken Venturi for eight years. In 2007, he performed the role with new lead analyst Sir Nick Faldo until the six-time Major winner retired in 2022, leaving Trevor Immelman to step into the position.
Nantz, who is known for his signature phrase, “Hello, friends,” at the start of each broadcast, has had many highlights in his role, including as the host of The Masters since 1988 and the PGA Championship since 1991.
It's not just golf broadcasting where Nantz has made his name. He has also played a prominent role in the broadcaster’s NFL coverage, including hosting the Super Bowl on several occasions.
Trevor Immelman – Lead Analyst
South African Trevor Immelman had a distinguished playing career that included 11 wins, with victory at the 2008 Masters the highlight. However, after injury crurtailed his playing career, he took up a career in broadcasting in late 2019 when he joined CBS Sports as its tower analyst.
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At the end of the 2021/22 PGA Tour season, Immelman was named the broadcaster’s lead analyst, which is the role he holds today.
Even with that responsibility, he still found time to captain the International team at the 2022 Presidents Cup.
Ian Baker-Finch - Analyst
Australian Ian Baker-Finch turned professional in 1979 and went onto win 17 titles, including the 1991 Open.
After drawing a line under his playing career, Baker-Finch turned to broadcasting, initially in 1998 with ESPN and ABC Sports, where he as hired as a commentator. He later became lead analyst on ESPN and hole announcer on ABC Sports, stepping in as lead analyst where necessary.
Baker-Finch joined CBS Sports in 2007 as an analyst - a role he holds today. Despite that responsibility, he has still been involved in high-profile events, notably as Team Captain of the Australian men’s and women’s golf teams at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Meanwhile, he is also the Chairman of the PGA of Australia.
Frank Nobilo - Analyst
New Zealander Frank Nobilo claimed 14 professional wins over a career spanning 24 years, but after stepping away from his playing career in 2002 because of injury, he joined the Golf Channel, where he worked as a studio analyst until 2019.
Between 2012 and 2014, he was also occasionally seen on NBC standing in for Peter Jacobsen, before linking up with CBS Sports as an analyst in 2015 and taking on the position full-time five years later.
Dottie Pepper – Lead On-Course Reporter
Two-time Major winner Dottie Pepper claimed a total of 17 victories on the LPGA Tour, while she was also a six-time member of the US Solheim Cup team before her retirement from the professional game in 2004. From there, she moved into broadcasting, initially joining the Golf Channel as its lead analyst.
She was also an on-course commentator/analyst for NBC Sports between 2004 and 2012, and, after a spell with ESPN as a golf analyst/reporter between 2013 and 2017, she signed for CBS Sports in 2016. Nowadays, she is the broadcaster’s lead on-course reporter.
Mark Immelman – On-Course Reporter
Unlike his younger brother Trevor, Mark Immelman didn’t have a professional playing career, but he still represented Columbus State before moving into golf instruction, with Larry Mize, Loren Roberts, Scott Brown and Patton Kizzire among those who have benefited from his tuition.
He also held the role of Head Men’s Coach and Director of Golf at Columbus State University between 2001 and 2021.
Nowadays, he is best known as an analyst and on-course reporter for CBS Sports' coverage of the PGA Tour, The Masters and the PGA Championship. He is also an analyst for CBS Sports HQ and CBS Sports’ First Cut Podcast.
Colt Knost – On-Course Reporter
Colt Knost spent 13 years as a professional, winning twice on the Korn Ferry Tour after previously claiming victory at the 2007 US Amateur, but he has since forged a successful career as on-course reporter for CBS Sports.
Knost initially began on-course reporting for CBS in 2019, a year before he ended his professional playing career, and he impressed enough to be given a more regular role ahead of the 2021 PGA Championship.
The former World No.1 amateur also co-hosts GOLF’s Subpar podcast and has a show on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio.
Amanda Balionis – Reporter
After graduating from Hofstra University with a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism, Amanda Balionis began working as a sideline reporter for Verizon Fios Channel 1 on college sports, before moving on to MSG Network as a reporter.
In 2011, she joined the PGA Tour as an in-house reporter, before beginning a similar role at Callaway Golf in 2016.
She signed for CBS Sports six years afterwards, initially as a reporter on select golf tournaments, before taking on the role full-time the year after. She has also worked as a sideline reporter on CBS Sports’ NFL coverage and is also a reporter on The Match at Turner Sports.
Andrew Catalon – Play-By-Play Announcer
After graduating from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Andrew Catalon began his broadcasting career as sports director at Vermont TV station WVNY before joining WNYT in Albany, New York as its primary sports anchor.
Since joining CBS Sports full-time in 2013, Catalon has worked as a play-by-play announcer on golf coverage, the NFL and NCAA Division I men’s basketball. He began hosting PGA Tour events in 2020 and has been the broadcaster’s announcer for The Masters since 2021. He has also worked on five Olympic Games for NBC Sports.
Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.
He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.
Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.
Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.
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