My Year Commentating on Tour

This year has been an incredible ride. Like many of us, I came into 2021 with a great deal of uncertainty. I was delighted that the PGA EuroPro Tour would be returning with a full schedule and I’d continue to do presenting, interviews and on-course commentary with them. But beyond that, and some work with Golf Monthly, the diary was pretty empty. Fortunately, golf bounced back, and I ended up having the most amazing year of my career so far.

I got my first real taste of women’s tour golf and in-the-box commentary with the Rose Ladies Series from April. The inaugural series was a huge success in 2020 when the players were really struggling for a place to play, and I got to visit (and play) some superb courses on this year’s schedule. It was great to get to know the players and seeing how the highlights shows are put together so quickly and efficiently by a pretty small team (one producer, one editor, three cameras and me) was a real eye-opener. My first experience of commentary in the relatively safer environment of a pre-recorded highlights show was absolutely vital with what was to come as the year unfolded.

I got my first opportunity to do live commentary on the Women’s Amateur Championship Final in June, alongside Dougie Donnelly and four-time Solheim Cup Captain and founding member of the Ladies European Tour, Mickey Walker. I followed that up a week later with the Amateur Championship Final, with Dougie and Richard Kaufman. Dougie and Richard are elite lead commentators with incredible experience, and Mickey has seen and done so much and speaks brilliantly about all aspects of the game, so to be in the booth with them my first time doing it live was superb and an immensely valuable learning experience.

It’s funny, prior to this year, commentating was the one area of golf broadcasting I hadn’t really tried, but my first taste of doing it live got me hooked. I love being around the game and talking about it, and doing it live provides a real rush. That excitement increased exponentially as I worked on site at some of the biggest events in the game.

I guess what you would call my big break this year came when I was hired to commentate on Featured Groups at The Open and the European Tour (now DP World Tour) BetCast at the abrdn Scottish Open, BMW PGA Championship and DP World Tour Championship. The BetCast is a new feed that takes featured group coverage and adds in-play betting odds specific to the groups and action we’re watching – anything from who’s going to shoot the lowest round today and nearest the pin to cumulative group hole scoring, longest drive, and much more. It was great to be a part of this innovative coverage with Warren Humphreys. I’ve got to know Warren pretty well this year, and while he’s incredibly humble, I’ve loved hearing about his life as a founder member of the European Tour, playing with the likes of Jack Nicklaus and 20-plus years in broadcasting.

The Open was simply a magnificent week for so many reasons, but I’ll share a couple of stories that stand out for me. The first was walking the course with Tony Johnstone early in the week. It was just us two. He shared stories about when he played The Open at Royal St George’s and told me about the flora and fauna all around the course, and we stopped to chat to a lot of players. Matt Wallace ran over to ask him for a bunker tip, Branden Grace discussed South Africa, Lucas Herbert showed us how he uses his launch monitor in practice rounds, and so many more. Just spending time with Tony is an absolute treat and those conversations with the players and caddies early in the week are absolutely invaluable for picking up stories and insights that can be used in the coverage.

The second revolves around the time the commentary team spent back at the hotel. As I sat in the somewhat dated lounge of our quaint little seaside digs and listened to Sam Torrance, Thomas Bjorn, Frank Nobilo and everyone else share stories and discuss the day’s play it was one of those moments in life where you step back and take stock of where you are. I spent a good few minutes taking it all in and just thinking, ‘wow, I’m actually here, a part of these conversations and commentating with these golfing greats’.

My first taste of lead commentary on main coverage of a DP World Tour event came at the D+D Real Czech Masters. Again, this was a bit different because commentating on main coverage is much faster-paced than the Featured Groups and BetCast. We had a weather delay, a somewhat temperamental video link-up with Mark Roe and an excellent first-time winner in Johannes Veerman – and I loved every second of it!

The icing on the cake has been being able to share many of my experiences with John E Morgan, especially commentating together at The Open. ‘Moggsie’ and I have become great friends since we started working together on the PGA EuroPro Tour about a decade ago and he’s been a huge part of my progress. He’s one of the nicest and most genuine people I’ve ever met, and he’s become a brilliant broadcaster. I’m delighted his broadcast career is going from strength-to-strength and so happy that I now get to spend even more time with him.

I really enjoyed ending the year by working at the Tour Championship/Grand Final of all three tiers of men’s tour golf in Europe – the DP World Tour, the Challenge Tour and the PGA EuroPro Tour. I love working on and following the players at all levels of the game. They all have so much talent and a story to tell. It’s a pleasure and a privilege beyond anything I could have hoped for that I have the opportunity to be a small part of sharing their talents and stories.

The greatest of all at doing that was Peter Alliss. It’s been just over a year since the great man passed and hearing Ken Brown and Richard Boxall reliving their memories of him in the evenings at the DP World Tour Championship was another of those ‘wow’ moments. While this year has been huge for me professionally, it’s meeting and spending time with so many wonderful new people – fellow commentators and all the amazing production and camera crews that do brilliant work behind the scenes – that really make it special. I can’t wait to get back out on tour in 2022!