Golf prides itself on being a gentleman’s game. Players are supposed to call penalties on themselves. Proper etiquette reigns supreme. That’s why it’s a shock to hear real shots being fired in the golf world. And that’s what makes NBC golf analyst Kevin Kisner going scorched earth on CBS’s 2026 Masters coverage truly astonishing.
When it comes to weekly sports, the CBS golf crew is usually one of the most reliable when it comes to quality broadcasts. And in recent years, all PGA Tour broadcasters have made a concerted effort to up their game when it comes to modernizing their television coverage with increased technology and more focus on live action.
CBS’s tightly-controlled Masters coverage that has been perfectly refined over the decades is usually the gold standard. In fact, earlier this month Awful Announcing readers gave CBS’s Masters coverage their highest satisfaction rating amongst major sporting events.
However, their Sunday coverage of their flagship event at the Masters was filled with rare mistakes. That was especially true on the 18th hole when nobody could find where Rory McIlroy’s second shot from the woods to the right of the fairway was lost by the cameras for what seemed like an eternity. But the telecast was off all day. Shots were delayed compared to real time, tracers mis-tracked balls in flight, and multiple balls were completely lost.
Appearing on the Barstool Sports Fore Play golf podcast, Kevin Kisner shared his particular disbelief with how far behind the live action the CBS broadcast was. Kisner was working for SiriusXM radio and he shared his frustration knowing that what fans at home saw was well behind what he knew was really happening at Augusta National being on the grounds himself. He even said he texted CBS Sports announcer Colt Knost to inquire about what was going on with the telecast.
Also, let’s just say that Kisner’s language on the Barstool podcast was a bit more colorful than you might hear from Jim Nantz in Butler Cabin.
“I was so f*cking confused the entire time by trying to keep up with the behind-the-scenes CBS feed,” Kisner said. “They’re literally showing s— that I knew happened ten minutes ago all day long. It was so bad that I in fact text Colt Knost during the show and said, ‘do you all ever show a live shot?’ I’m better off following the f—ing app than following your feed.”
“So your entire Masters coverage is a fantasy world. It’s bullsh*t. Whatever we all watch has already happened seven minutes ago. Could you imagine watching the f—ing Super Bowl and being like, ‘yea Tom Brady threw that touchdown seven minutes ago, we’re going to act like it’s live here so our announcers can sound really smart and we’re going to sit here and he’s going to throw it wide open down the middle but it actually happened seven minutes ago and everyone in the stadium’s taking a piss. What are we doing, man?”
The Masters tournament has very little commercial interruption, which should allow for as many live golf shots as possible. However, televising live golf isn’t like a football game. There’s not just one play happening at a time; there are a number of shots happening at the same time, all over a property the size of hundreds of football fields. But in falling behind and failing to catch up, Kisner compared what CBS did on Sunday at Augusta to the philosophy at NBC and found his own network far superior in golf coverage.
“You have no commercials. Play live shots. I don’t know. Our production team at NBC prides themselves on playing every shot that they possibly can live. And we talk about Dan Hicks when we can’t, we have to say a moment ago, because we’re trying to make the whole movie make sense, right? We don’t want to show you a tap in on 16 and go ‘oh yea he’s already hitting his shot on 17’ because obviously he has to walk over there. I have no idea what they’re doing. Literally no idea. They’re showing every shot on tape. It’s incredible. I don’t even know how the announcers call it,” Kisner remarked.
NBC and CBS have played very nice with each other over the years when it comes to being the top two broadcasters of the PGA Tour and the major championships. That’s what makes the criticism from Kevin Kisner all the more stunning. But NBC’s record of golf production is far from spotless with their jingoistic Ryder Cup coverage last fall falling under fire and constant criticism from golf fans about showing way too many commercials. What will be fascinating to see is if anyone at CBS answers back to Kisner’s robust criticism with some shots of their own towards the competition.
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