{"id":720802,"date":"2026-04-09T22:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T19:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/espn-turns-the-masters-into-amateur-hour\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T22:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T19:40:15","slug":"espn-turns-the-masters-into-amateur-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/espn-turns-the-masters-into-amateur-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Turns The Masters Into Amateur Hour"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tJason Kelce, maybe leave this one to Jim Nantz.<\/p>\n

\n\tProfessional golf\u2019s premiere event, The Masters, brands itself as \u201cA tradition unlike any other.\u201d\u2122 (A Nantz line from the \u201980s, but Augusta National owns the rights to anything said during Masters broadcasts.) There\u2019s a little bit less tradition thus far this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tESPN shoehorned Kelce, a retired (terrific) NFL center and the brother of active (terrific) NFL tight end Travis Kelce, into its early Masters coverage \u2014 an effort to make its broadcasts and streams of a stuffy golf major championship more enticing for our doomed doomscrolling culture. (How buttoned up is The Masters? The winner literally gets a sport coat.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThrough no fault of (Jason) Kelce\u2019s, America could probably use a break from the bearded big fella. ESPN has gone to new heights deploying the New Heights<\/em> podcast co-host in every possible way. Some say in too many possible ways.<\/p>\n

\n\tKelce, officially an ESPN NFL analyst, is at the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club this week in Augusta, Ga. \u201cconducting interviews with players and their families,\u201d according to an ESPN press release. This is ESPN\u2019s 19th year of live coverage from the Masters Tournament. Its rights include main telecasts (ESPN and ESPN Deportes) of the first two rounds, plus \u201cFeatured Groups coverage,\u201d as well as Holes 4, 5 and 6, Amen Corner, 15 and 16 (streaming). On Wednesday, ESPN presented exclusive live coverage of the Masters Par 3 Contest on the ESPN app<\/a> and Disney+. That\u2019s where this first went wrong.<\/p>\n

\n\tDonning a full Masters-caddie jumpsuit and rooting for holes-in-one, in a brief TV hit that was not especially a hit on social media<\/a>, Kelce attempted to fire up the crowd and earn a few yucks \u2014 two things he is good at. Problem is, to borrow a title from Netflix (which itself just bastardized baseball in the name of self-promotion), nobody wants this. Golf fans want The Masters to be The Masters<\/em>, and The Masters is anti-\u201cfun\u201d by design.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt Augusta National, spectators cannot bring in their cell phone or wear (overly) branded clothing. They can\u2019t sit on the hallowed Bermuda grass (overseeded with\u00a0Perennial Ryegrass) or run, and wearing a hat backwards is strictly prohibited. It\u2019s like church, just with no tipping (another rule). Yet every year, roughly two million applicants will enter a lottery system for a long shot to join the congregation. Golf fans are lured to Augusta because of the lore, and TV viewers want the closest possible facsimile. <\/p>\n

\n\tTo be fair to ESPN (and Kelce), the Masters Par 3 Contest is the lightest fare here, but even that comes with convention. Typically, the children or grandchildren of the tournament\u2019s competitors and legends carry the pros\u2019 bags \u2014 or they try to \u2014 and they\u2019re adorable in the effort. No offense to Kelce, but his act just isn\u2019t cute here.<\/p>\n

\n\tAttempts to reach ESPN for comment on this story were not successful. Again, no cell phones.<\/p>\n

Golf is supposed to be the quiet sport. ESPN brought in the loudmouths.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Though Kelce seems to be bearing the brunt of the frustration, comedian Kevin Hart was there as Bryson DeChambeau\u2019s \u201ccaddie.\u201d It was, of course, in the name of content.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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ESPN desecrates #TheMasters<\/a> because it fails to understand this tournament doesn’t need selling. It is both the sizzle and the steak. And, to quote Kevin Costner, who somehow isn’t on this broadcast, they built it & we came. Let the new audience come to #TheMasters<\/a> as we did. https:\/\/t.co\/1pKh5KHAiS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Robert Lusetich (@RobertLusetich) April 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>

WWE Superstar The Miz made a not-beloved-cameo on ESPN\u2019s coverage of The Masters on Thursday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n\tThere is a counterargument to be made \u2014 and it\u2019s not unreasonable. Golf needs to find a new generation of fans as its old one, gets, well, really old. The game<\/a> is late to adapt, but it\u2019s tried. <\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s the LIV Tour (a Saudi-funded, team-based alternative to the PGA Tour), TGL (a sophisticated virtual golf league started by Tiger Woods and the reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy), Grass League (a franchise-based par 3 startup), Top Golf (a hi-tech alternative to driving ranges that\u2019s fun\u2026 once), footgolf (a dumb combination of soccer and golf that ruins golf courses more than geese) and disc or frisbee golf (which hit its peak as \u201cfrolf\u201d in 1997 Seinfeld<\/em> episode \u201cThe Summer of George\u201d). <\/p>\n

\n\tYouTube Golf has been a successful outlier \u2014 DeChambeau has 2.65 million subscribers \u2014 TikTok and Instagram too. But even the founder of Good Good (2.07 million YouTube subscribers) Matt Kendrick will tell you it will never replace the real thing. Or at least that\u2019s what he told me last year.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs it turns out, the best golf is golf, and the best representation of golf is The Masters (1934-2025). The solution to golf\u2019s viewership problem can possibly be solved with time: Let young people get old. That\u2019s definitely going to happen \u2014 it is a traditional unlike any other.<\/p>\n

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