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LIV Golf is currently in the midst of its fifth season, and it has continued to struggle to get people to care about the tournaments that have become the ultimate afterthought compared to the PGA Tour. You might think it would have an easier time luring in people who are known for covering the sport, but it has failed to attract the interest of Jim Nantz based on what he had to say ahead of The Masters.
Jim Nantz is a sports broadcasting legend who spent more than 30 years covering the NCAA Tournament for CBS and continues to serve as its premier play-by-play talent when it comes to the NFL. However, you can’t talk about him without discussing his lifelong relationship with golf.
The 66-year-old was teammates (and roommates) with Fred Couples during his time on the team at the University of Houston. He’s also served as the voice of The Masters (which Couples won in 1992) since 1989, and the man who welcomes viewers with “Hello, friends” when it rolls around each year is also the reason the major is commonly referred to as “a tradition unlike any other.”
Nantz is a golf fanatic who owns a home near Pebble Beach, which features a miniature replica of the 7th hole at Augusta National in the backyard. He’s also known for randomly roaming the links at that iconic course while occasionally narrating shots for some of the lucky golfers he crosses paths with.
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Given the nature of his job and his passion for the sport, you might think he at least occasionally tunes into LIV Golf events. However, that has not been the case this year.
Jin Nantz admitted he hasn’t watched a single second of LIV Golf in 2026 while hyping up Bryson DeChambeau ahead of The Masters
Nantz has been contributing to the coverage of The Masters on CBS since the mid-1980s, and 2026 marks the 38th time he’ll be anchoring the network’s broadcast at Augusta National.
On Monday, he was part of a conference call where he fielded a number of questions concerning the tournament that will officially get underway next Thursday. According to Golf Monthly, that included a query about who he’d pick as the favorite to win the green jacket, and he zeroed in on Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau.
However, he offered a disclaimer when it came to that second pick, saying:
“I have to confess, I have not seen Bryson hit a single shot this year. I have not seen him, so for me to say what his form looks like, all I can go off is the YouTube videos I’ve watched with my son.
That’s all I’ve seen. Busy doing our own coverage, so I haven’t seen him play. But I know his desire to win there.”
DeChambeau is far and away the most marketable player LIV Golf has on its roster, and he is one of 11 golfers currently affiliated with the league who will be teeing off at Augusta National.
Nantz is far from the only person who has not watched him take a single shot in a competitive tournament this year. The final round of the LIV Golf event in South Africa this month averaged a whopping 26,000 viewers on FS1, which was down from the mean of 71.000 across its four rounds in Singapore the week before.