Faldo Becomes Top CBS Analyst

CBS, which has had Lanny Wadkins as its lead golf analyst the past four years, replaced him with Nick Faldo on Tuesday.

Beginning next year, when CBS will televise 21 PGA Tour events and the Masters, Faldo will work alongside host Jim Nantz.

CBS has only one more golf event this year, the Merrill Lynch Shootout, formerly the Shark Shootout, Nov. 11-12 at Naples, Fla. Neither Wadkins nor Faldo is expected to work that event.

Faldo and Paul Azinger have been ABC’s lead golf analysts the past three years, and Faldo is expected to continue to work the British Open for ABC, which beginning next year will have no other significant golf tournaments. Faldo is also a three-time British Open champion.

Faldo also recently signed a deal to work as a commentator for the Golf Channel, which beginning next year has three PGA Tour events in their entirety and all the Thursday-Friday rounds.

By signing with CBS, Faldo, 49, a three-time Masters champion, will not be able to compete in the Masters.

“I will be in the tower at Augusta for the whole week,” he said on a conference call. “I view this as a fabulous opportunity for me, which may come once every 10 years. But it will seriously curtail my playing career. My playing days aren’t completely over, but my priority now is CBS.”

Because CBS has the Masters and the PGA Championship, it appears as though Faldo will work three of the four majors, missing only the U.S. Open, which is televised by NBC.

Wadkins, 56, was offered a reduced role with CBS, but according to executive producer Tony Petitti, declined in order to play more on the Champions Tour.