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Johnny Miller to bring broadcasting career to an end

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After almost 30 years in the commentary booth, Johnny Miller has decided that it’s time to bring the curtain down on a colorful broadcasting career. The 71-year-old, who is NBC’s leading golf analyst, will step down at the end of February at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, a venue where he won twice as a player.

Miller never shied away from controversy as NBC’s leading golf analyst, and while some enjoyed his straight-shooting style, others believed he was too blunt with his criticism at times. In 2010, Miller began a feud with Ian Poulter after questioning the quality of the Englishman’s ball striking, while after Rickie Fowler’s victory at the 2017 Honda Classic, Miller suggested that the American needed to “learn how to finish out Sunday like a true champion.”

Miller was also one of the only announcers unafraid of bringing up the subject of pressure, and specifically “choking”. In a sport where announcers often tend to air on the side of caution, Miller was unapologetic about his honesty as a broadcaster. Unlike many controversial sports analysts, however, Miller enjoyed a stellar playing career that saw him capture 25 PGA Tour titles, two major championships and a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and many people believe that he had earned the right to share his honest opinion, even if it meant rubbing the odd player the wrong way.

Speaking to Golf Digest on Monday, Miller talked about his impending retirement:

 “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.”

Although not yet confirmed, Paul Azinger is reported to be the man to replace Miller as NBC’s leading golf analyst. Azinger worked with ESPN as a golf analyst for ten years before moving to FOX Sports to cover the U.S. Open.

Is Superbowl Sunday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open the last we’ll ever see of Johnny Miller in the commentary booth? Well, maybe not, as the multiple major champion stated that despite his retirement he “might poke his head in” from time to time. We’ll have to wait and see, but it’s certainly going to take some time to adjust to not hearing Miller’s voice regularly in the commentary booth anymore.

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Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected].

9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Johnny Penso

    Oct 16, 2018 at 4:32 pm

    Sad to see Johnny go to be honest. If he’s replaced by some middle of the road, politically correct cheerleader or a buffoon, it’ll make watching golf far less interesting.

  2. Paul

    Oct 16, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    Bob Menery for Johnny Miller’s spot.

  3. Mr. 1488

    Oct 16, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    Johnny called a spade a spade. I like that about him. He would most likely call out the author of this article for posting that fruity picture of himself.

  4. larrybud

    Oct 16, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    I for one like Johnny, even for some of the non-sensical stuff he says from time to time. Guy is honest, which is a rare commodity these days.

  5. Jo Zoggs

    Oct 16, 2018 at 11:02 am

    err on the side of caution – not air

  6. Scott

    Oct 16, 2018 at 10:28 am

    I wish him the best in retirement, and am also super glad we don’t have to listen to him anymore. Win win scenario here.

    • 4RiGHT

      Oct 16, 2018 at 1:06 pm

      Like if you would do a better job. You probably like Steve Lerner…

      • Aztec

        Oct 16, 2018 at 10:40 pm

        Oh geez, not Lerner. His closing commentaries on the grand splendor of whatever golf tournament just ended, his attempts at drawing metaphors between golf and the unending struggles of life…puke!

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Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

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