Who Are The ESPN Golf Broadcast Team? Commentators, Analysts And Anchors For 2025

ESPN is one of the leading golf broadcasters in the United States of America with growing coverage of the PGA Tour and the Major championships across the men's and women's game.

Not only that, but ESPN also provided exclusive broadcasts of TGL's inaugural season at the start of 2025 as three of the station's most experienced staff members covered the tech-infused competition.

Scott Van Pelt, Matt Barrie and Marty Smith were on the mic at SoFi Center, and fans can expect to hear more from those three while golf takes place in more familiar surroundings.

ESPN's current golf broadcast roster is made up of several other well-known faces and voices - from former players to long-standing journalists and entertaining on-screen talent.

Below, you can find a little more about each of the current ESPN broadcast team as well as what they look like.

Matt Barrie

Matt Barrie was born in Scottsdale, Arizona and graduated from Arizona State University with a BA in broadcast Journalism before going on to cover multiple sports for several different local news outlets, including college football, NFL and golf.

He joined ESPN in 2013 and now presents the 2pm ET weekday edition of SportsCenter, recently performing play-by-play commentary duties in TGL during season one. Barrie - who has received 11 Emmy awards throughout his career - has been a part of ESPN's Major championship coverage for over a decade now and figures to continue commentary duties moving forward.

Michael Collins

Michael Collins joined ESPN in 2011 after spending 20 years as a stand-up comedian and a decade as a professional caddie.

Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Collins works a variety of roles for the channel’s golf coverage, occasionally appearing as an on-course reporter on ESPN+ when it broadcasts the PGA Tour Live program.

In the past, he has contributed to ESPN Radio to discuss golf as well as being a writer for ESPN.com. Collins also used to host the former ESPN+ program, 'America's Caddie.'

Jeff Darlington

Jeff Darlington has primarily covered the NFL for various outlets since 2005 - having graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in journalism - before joining ESPN in 2016.

The Seminole, Florida-born journalist began covering golf for ESPN in 2024 and received widespread praise for his reporting of Scottie Scheffler's arrest on the morning of round two of the PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Michael Eaves

Michael Eaves is an immensely experienced broadcast journalist with over 30 years of work in a variety of roles. After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a BA in journalism, he has been an anchor for several sports shows (NFL, NBA, MMA, college sport) as well as a news anchor on Al Jazeera America.

The multiple-award-winning journalist has also reported from the Summer and Winter Olympic Games while boasting experience as a producer from his time with WKYT/WDKY-TV in Lexington, Kentucky.

Eaves joined ESPN in May 2015 as an anchor, going on to be a part of Major championship broadcast teams in his usual role and as a post-round interviewer from 2021.

Andy North

Andy North has been a part of ESPN's team since September 1992, largely fulfilling his role as an on-course reporter throughout that time. The two-time US Open champion also serves as an analyst and reporter in the channel's championship golf coverage plus SportsCenter's coverage.

He turned pro in 1972 after graduating with a bachelor of science degree in marketing and finance from the University of Florida, later going on to win the PGA Tour's 1977 Westchester Classic and play in the 1985 Ryder Cup.

The Thorpe, Wisconsin-born pro-turned-reporter retired from the PGA Tour in 1992 and was recently nominated to serve on the USGA Executive Committee for 2024.

Laura Rutledge

Laura Rutledge originally joined ESPN in 2014 as part of the college sport team and has since been a part of the company's NFL coverage, both as an anchor and as a sideline reporter. Prior to ESPN, she worked for CNN and Fox Sports as an anchor.

Rutledge was another who moved across to ESPN's golf broadcast team in 2024, hosting it's 'Welcome To The Masters' program for the first time. She lives in Connecticut with her husband - retired MLB infielder, Josh Rutledge - and their two children.

Curtis Strange

World Golf Hall of Famer, Curtis Strange won two US Open Championships in an illustrious career as a pro which included 17 tour wins, five appearances as a player at the Ryder Cup and three Player of the Year awards courtesy of the Golf Writers Association of America.

After calling it a day on the PGA Tour, Strange went to work for ABC as a golf analyst in 1995 before joining ESPN in 2008. The Norfolk, Virginia-born Major winner continues that same role to this day.

Scott Van Pelt

Scott Van Pelt is arguably ESPN's most popular staff member, with his unique sense of humor and entertaining style ensuring his place on the panel for several decades already.

'SVP' - as he is commonly known - graduated from the University of Maryland with a BA in radio/television and film before going on to spend much of his career as a golf journalist. Van Pelt arrived at ESPN in 2001 from The Golf Channel, where he was an anchor and reporter for the sport-specific network from 1994-2000.

For the past 25 years, Van Pelt has worked across a variety of platforms and in a plethora of different roles at the network, from reporter to anchor and everything inbetween. In 2025, he was the anchor for the inaugural season of TGL and he will continue to serve as the main host for ESPN's Major championship coverage.