Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2020

Once again, I tracked the number of strokes that CBS televised per player during the Sunday round of the Masters. The telecast began at 10am ET with players grouped in threesomes starting on both nines and the leaders already on the course. I counted a total of 395 televised strokes up through the final putt which worked out to an average of 1.35 strokes per minute. This was way up over the rate from the 2020 US Open, but down slightly from the 2019 Masters.

CBS covered the final 63 strokes from winner Dustin Johnson, showing every shot he made once the telecast joined the leaders in progress on hole 2. Sungjae Im was also featured for 63 shots while fellow co-runner-up Cameron Smith was covered for 58 shots. CBS focused primarily on the final two pairings plus Rory McIlroy with those seven players receiving 84% of all televised strokes.  

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Corey Conners who tied for 10th. CBS televised strokes from 22 players during the Sunday round with nine golfers getting coverage for at least 11 shots. Regrettably, CBS spent 16 shots on Tiger Woods who was well out of contention (between 11 and 20 strokes behind during each of his televised shots). 

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole. The 13th and 18th were featured the most (32  strokes each). CBS didn't show a single stroke from hole #1 as the leaders were on the 2nd hole when the telecast began. Of the remaining holes, #2 was seen fewest at 17 shots.

This is the seventh year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to other majors, see the summary table which contains links to all of these charts since 2014. 

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Dustin Johnson	63	1	1
Sungjae Im	63	T2	1
Cameron Smith	58	T2	2
Dylan Frittelli	50	T5	2
Rory McIlroy	38	T5	4
Abraham Ancer	35	T13	1
Justin Thomas	25	4	2
Tiger Woods	16	T38	8
Brooks Koepka	13	T7	4
Jon Rahm	5	T7	3
Bryson DeChambeau	5	T34	12
Andy Ogletree	4	T34	14
Jordan Spieth	4	T46	19
Patrick Reed	3	T10	3
Tommy Fleetwood	3	T19	4
Sebastian Munoz	2	T19	3
Bernhard Langer	2	T29	12
Phil Mickelson	2	T55	19
CT Pan	1	T7	7
Webb Simpson	1	T10	7
Hideki Matsuyama	1	T13	5
John Augenstein	1	T55	17
Corey Conners	0	T10	6
others	0
total	395

Hole number	Televised shots
1	0
2	17
3	21
4	19
5	22
6	18
7	20
8	22
9	30
10	24
11	24
12	21
13	32
14	22
15	29
16	21
17	21
18	32

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2019

For the sixth time, I tracked the number of strokes that CBS televised per player during the Sunday round of the Masters. The telecast began at 9am ET (after tee times were moved earlier to beat the storms) with players grouped in threesomes. I counted a total of 450 televised strokes. The final putt dropped at 2:27 resulting in an average of 1.38 strokes per minute which was slightly less than the rate of the 2018 Masters, but still the third highest of all major tournaments I have tracked since 2014.

CBS covered 69 of the 70 strokes from winner Tiger Woods (skipping only a tap-in putt on hole #1). Francesco Molinari actually received coverage for 70 shots. His final score of 74 included two penalty strokes, so CBS only bypassed two of his shots (a layup on 15 and his tee shot on 17). Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau were spotlighted for 59 shots each. Those four players accounted for 57% of the televised shots.

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Aaron Wise who finished 17th. CBS televised strokes from 26 players during the Sunday round and 11 golfers were covered for at least 10 shots.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole. Once again, the 18th was featured the most (38 strokes). Hole #5 was featured second most often (33 strokes) while the 14th hole received the fewest televised strokes as CBS only aired 14 shots there.

This is the sixth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Francesco Molinari	70 (of 72*)	T5	1
Tiger Woods	69 (of 70)	1	1
Brooks Koepka	59	T2	2
Tony Finau	59	T5	1
Xander Schauffele	36	T2	3
Ian Poulter	28	T12	2
Patrick Cantlay	24	T9	5
Webb Simpson	14	T5	2
Rickie Fowler	12	T9	4
Dustin Johnson	10	T2	4
Jason Day	10	T5	7
Phil Mickelson	8	T18	6
Jon Rahm	7	T9	6
Matt Kuchar	7	T12	3
Bubba Watson	7	T12	7
Jordan Spieth	7	T21	8
Alvaro Ortiz	4	T36	16
Justin Harding	3	T12	3
Justin Thomas	3	T12	6
Rory McIlroy	3	T21	14
Louis Oosthuizen	3	T29	4
Viktor Hovland	3	T32	12
Thorbjorn Olesen	1	T21	5
Bryson DeChambeau	1	T29	13
Patrick Reed	1	T36	17
Alex Noren	1	T62	22
Aaron Wise	0	17	11
others	0
total	450

* Molinari took 72 "shots" plus two penalty strokes for a score of 74

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole number	Televised shots
1	23
2	29
3	21
4	23
5	33
6	22
7	23
8	27
9	28
10	22
11	19
12	22
13	18
14	14
15	31
16	26
17	31
18	38

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2018

I tracked the number of strokes that CBS aired per player during the Sunday round of the Masters. The telecast began at 2pm ET and I counted a total of 387 televised strokes. The final putt dropped at 6:38 which worked out to an average of 1.39 strokes per minute, a slight decrease over the rate from the 2017 Masters, but still the second highest of all major tournaments I have tracked since 2014.

CBS covered all 71 strokes from winner Patrick Reed. Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy were spotlighted for 58 shots each. Runner-up Rickie Fowler and third place finisher Jordan Spieth also received significant coverage. Overall those five players accounted for over 74% of the televised shots. Early in the telecast, CBS went overboard on the well out-of-contention Tiger Woods who was shown for 18 strokes (two of which were taped highlights from prior to airtime) which wound up being the sixth most of any player. CBS also included a 3-stroke highlight package of Phil Mickelson who had already completed his round.

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Marc Leishman who wound up 9th (after being featured prominently on Saturday). CBS televised strokes from just 22 players during the Sunday round.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole. The 18th was featured the most (36 strokes). I was a bit surprised at a few other results from this tracking. Hole #1 was seen second most often (29 strokes). And the iconic par-3 12th received the fewest televised stokes as CBS only showed 10 shots from that hole.

This is the fifth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Patrick Reed	71 (of 71)	1	1
Jon Rahm	58	4	2
Rory McIlroy	58	T5	1
Rickie Fowler	54	2	2
Jordan Spieth	48	3	5
Tiger Woods	18	T32	20
Henrik Stenson	17	T5	3
Paul Casey	17	T15	15
Justin Thomas	11	T17	5
Bubba Watson	8	T5	4
Webb Simpson	5	T20	18
Cameron Smith	4	T5	6
Dustin Johnson	4	T10	6
Tony Finau	3	T10	10
Phil Mickelson	3	T36	25
Fred Couples	2	T38	19
Justin Rose	1	T12	7
Charley Hoffman	1	T12	10
Jimmy Walker	1	T20	9
Jason Day	1	T20	8
Branden Grace	1	T24	21
Doug Ghim	1	T50	24
Marc Leishman	0	9	4
others	0
total	387

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole number	Televised shots
1	29
2	28
3	16
4	15
5	19
6	15
7	17
8	23
9	22
10	20
11	20
12	10
13	26
14	15
15	28
16	21
17	27
18	36

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2017

I tracked the number of strokes that CBS aired per player during the Sunday round of the Masters. The telecast began at 2pm ET and I counted a total of 430 strokes televised by CBS during regulation. The final putt in regulation was holed at 7:05 which worked out to an average of 1.41 strokes per minute - not only an increase over the rate from the 2016 Masters, but a new record high for all major tournaments I have tracked since 2014.

Note: CBS televised all eight shots from the playoff, but I did not count these in the table in order to provide a fairer comparison to the tracking for other tournaments.

CBS covered 66 regulation strokes from both winner Sergio Garcia (skipping two tap-ins) and runner-up Justin Rose (skipping two layups and a tap-in). Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth were featured next most frequently. Those four players (comprising the final two pairings) accounted for slightly more than half of all televised shots. Early in the telecast, CBS seemed quite consumed with the competition for low amateur honors and wound up devoting a total of 17 strokes to the two amateurs who made the cut.

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Kevin Chappell who tied for 7th. CBS televised strokes from 27 different players. 13 players were covered for at least 10 shots.

This is the fourth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast):

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Sergio Garcia	66 (of 68*)	1	1
Justin Rose	66 (of 69)	2	1
Rickie Fowler	50	T11	2
Jordan Spieth	35	T11	2
Charl Schwartzel	31	3	4
Paul Casey	25	6	6
Charley Hoffman	23	T22	3
Thomas Pieters	22	T4	5
Adam Scott	19	T9	4
Matt Kuchar	11	T4	7
Ryan Moore	11	T9	3
Phil Mickelson	11	T22	13
Stewart Hagestad	10	T36	18
Fred Couples	9	T18	10
Lee Westwood	8	T18	5
Curtis Luck	7	T46	24
Rory McIlroy	7	T7	7
Martin Kaymer	6	T16	16
Russell Henley	3	T11	12
Jason Day	2	T22	14
Jon Rahm	2	T27	8
Hideki Matsuyama	1	T11	15
Jimmy Walker	1	T18	9
William McGirt	1	T22	8
Justin Thomas	1	T22	14
Daniel Berger	1	T27	18
Marc Leishman	1	T43	26
Kevin Chappell	0	T7	9
others	0
total	430

* Garcia took 68 "shots" plus one penalty stroke for a score of 69

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2016

I tracked the number of strokes CBS showed for each player during the Sunday round of the Masters. I counted a total of 411 strokes televised by CBS. The telecast began at 2pm ET with the final putt at 7:10 which worked out to an average of 1.33 strokes per minute - a sizable increase from both the 2015 Masters and 2014 Masters.

CBS covered 41 strokes from winner Danny Willett. CBS first showed Willett on hole 4 and started airing all of his strokes partway through hole 13. CBS televised every stroke from third round leader Jordan Spieth. Dustin Johnson was featured second most often for a total of 55 shots. Nine players got coverage of at least 24 strokes.

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Daniel Berger who tied for 10th. CBS televised strokes from 28 different players.

This is the third year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison, the chart from the 2015 PGA Championship contains links to all the charts from the other 2014 and 2015 majors.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast):

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Jordan Spieth	71 (of 71*)	T2	1
Dustin Johnson	55	T4	3
Danny Willett	41	1	4
Jason Day	37	T10	3
Smylie Kaufman	37	T29	1
Soren Kjeldson	32	T7	5
Lee Westwood	26	T2	4
Hideki Matsuyama	25	T7	2
Rory McIlroy	24 (#)	T10	6
Paul Casey	11	T4	10
Bernhard Langer	11	T24	2
Matthew Fitzpatrick	6	T7	13
Brandt Snedeker	5	T10	5
Davis Love III	5	T42	17
Bryson DeChambeau	4	T21	14
Henrik Stenson	3	T24	23
Adam Scott	3	T42	18
JB Holmes	2	T4	8
Louis Oosthuizen	2	T15	8
Bubba Watson	2	T37	24
Romain Langasque	2	T37	28
Justin Rose	1	T10	7
Kiradech Aphibarnrat	1	T15	15
Billy Horschel	1	T17	9
Emiliano Grillo	1	T17	10
Matt Kuchar	1	T24	9
Shane Lowry	1	T39	19
Larry Mize	1	T52	26
Daniel Berger	0	T10	6
others	0
total	411

* Spieth took 71 "shots" plus two penalty strokes for a score of 73
# includes a provisional stroke televised by CBS on hole 4

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2015

I tracked the number of strokes CBS showed for each player during the telecast of the final round of the Masters. CBS showed 348 strokes played from the Sunday round. The telecast began at 2pm ET and the final putt was holed at 6:54, resulting in 1.18 strokes per minute - the same average as when I performed similar shot tracking for the 2014 Masters.

CBS showed all but one stroke of winner Jordan Spieth, skipping only a tap-in on hole 6. CBS bypassed just two tap-ins for Justin Rose and showed all but eight shots by Phil Mickelson. 57% of the televised strokes came from these three players as nobody else was really in contention for the Green Jacket.

The network went a bit overboard on Tiger Woods showing 35 strokes. Overall, CBS focused primarily on the final three pairings (81% of the televised strokes) with only Dustin Johnson getting any significant coverage from the rest of the field.

The highest finishers who were not shown were Kevin Na, Bill Haas, and Ryan Moore who were part of the tie for 12th. CBS showed a total of 23 golfers, but only seven players appeared for more than eight strokes.

For comparison, here are the Sunday shot charts I compiled from the other 2014 majors:

• US Open
• Open Championship
• PGA Championship

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finishers not shown on the telecast):

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Jordan Spieth	69 (of 70)	1	1
Justin Rose	68 (of 70)	T2	1
Phil Mickelson	61 (of 69)	T2	2
Tiger Woods	35	T17	3
Rory McIlroy	34	4	3
Dustin Johnson	21	T6	5
Charley Hoffman	15	T9	2
Zach Johnson	8	T9	7
Bubba Watson	5	T38	14
Hideki Matsuyama	4	5	5
Ian Poulter	4	T6	6
Rickie Fowler	4	T12	13
Keegan Bradley	4	T22	22
Mark O'Meara	3	T22	23
Adam Scott	3	T38	15
Paul Casey	2	T6	6
Lee Westwood	2	T46	15
Hunter Mahan	1	T9	9
Kevin Streelman	1	T12	4
Sergio Garcia	1	T17	10
Ernie Els	1	T22	12
Steve Stricker	1	T28	23
Sangmoon Bae	1	T33	18
Kevin Na	0	T12	4
Bill Haas	0	T12	9
Ryan Moore	0	T12	10
others	0
total	348

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Tracking the shots CBS showed during Sunday Masters telecast

For the Sunday round of the Masters, I tracked the number of times CBS showed each player making a stroke. I only tracked strokes from the Sunday round, so I disregarded the highlight shots CBS aired from earlier rounds or previous years. And for the shots CBS aired multiple times, I only counted these once.

CBS showed a total of 344 strokes played during the telecast. CBS came on the air at 2pm ET and the final putt was at 6:52, so this worked out to 1.18 strokes per minute. CBS showed all but one shot from each golfer in the final group, skipping only a Bubba Watson tap-in on #2 and a Jordan Spieth tap-in on #17. Spieth scored 72, so the other "missing" stroke was the penalty drop on #12.

Early in the telecast, CBS seemed to be rooting hard for Fred Couples and cut to him frequently at the expense of other contenders until a double bogey on #11. After that, CBS focused almost exclusively on the final two groups and wound up showing a high percentage of shots from Matt Kuchar and Jonas Blixt. Overall, 74% of the on-camera strokes came from these two pairings.

The highest finisher who was not shown was Lee Westwood who came in 7th place. CBS showed a total of 20 golfers, but only seven players appeared for more than five strokes.

Best use of non-stroke air time: Jim Nantz paying tribute to the late Pat Summerall and Ken Venturi.

Worst use of stroke air time: CBS showing the out-of-contention Couples putting out for the double bogey on #11.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the three top-10 finishers not shown on the telecast):

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Jordan Spieth	70 (of 71*)	T2	1
Bubba Watson	68 (of 69)	1	1
Matt Kuchar	58	T5	2
Jonas Blixt	57	T2	2
Fred Couples	29	T20	6
Miguel Angel Jimenez	15	4	3
Rickie Fowler	14	T5	3
Jim Furyk	5	T14	4
Thomas Bjorn	4	T8	5
John Senden	4	T8	7
Rory McIlroy	4	T8	12
Jose Maria Olazabal	4	T34	17
Kevin Stadler	3	T8	6
Adam Scott	2	T14	9
Joost Luiten	2	T26	25
Justin Rose	1	T14	5
Ian Poulter	1	T20	8
Hunter Mahan	1	T26	16
Sandy Lyle	1	T44	23
Oliver Goss	1	49	21
Lee Westwood	0	7	4
Jimmy Walker	0	T8	12
Bernhard Langer	0	T8	13
total	344

* Spieth took 71 "shots" plus one penalty stroke for a score of 72.

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

CBS issues error-filled press release on historic Masters TV announcers

Last week, CBS issued a press information guide on the Masters. That site contains a section on Masters history and one of the links points to an document purporting to list the year-by-year CBS-TV announcers for the Masters going back to 1956. Back in 2005, CBS had issued an earlier version of such an announcer listing. Some years ago, I compared my own independently performed research to the listings in the 2005 CBS press release and found numerous discrepancies.

The 2013 version contains a few changes from the previous one, but outside of adding the years since 2005, the updated release isn't all that different from the original.

I have no idea what research methods or sources CBS used to compile this list, but it contains so many obvious mistakes that one would be hard-pressed to take it seriously. What an embarrassing press release by CBS!

Here is a summary of the most blatant errors in the latest CBS announcer document:

• The listings for 1975-1978 inexplicably do not include Vin Scully even though he was the lead CBS announcer on those telecasts. For proof, CBS could simply view the footage it re-aired from three of these tournaments on the Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta series which featured Scully covering the 18th hole each time.
• Jack Whitaker was banned by Augusta after referring to the fans as a "mob" during the 1966 tournament and was not reinstated until 1972. Despite this well-documented fact, the CBS release incorrectly shows Whitaker working each of the interim years.
• The listed announcers for 1967 are completely wrong. Due to an AFTRA strike, that telecast was handled by a set of CBS management personnel and a few Augusta National members, not the CBS golf talent.
• For 1960, it incorrectly claims that Chris Schenkel was the 18th hole announcer with Jim McKay on 17 and does not list Art Wall. This directly contradicts the footage from the 1960 Masters telecast which CBS re-aired on the 2007 edition of Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta. That footage clearly had McKay on 18 and had Wall as an analyst. Schenkel didn't even appear on that special.
• The listing for 1986 does not include Gary McCord who definitely worked the tournament that year (and was on hole 14). Of course, CBS (perhaps instructed by Augusta) went out of its way to edit out any audio or mention of McCord when it replayed footage from this tournament during the 2006 edition of Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta. The CBS release shows hole-by-hole assignments and doesn't list anyone for the 14th.
• The CBS release lists Ray Scott from 1975-1978. Scott no longer worked for CBS at that time.
• It lists Jay Randolph from 1969-1978. Randolph worked for NBC at that time.
• It lists Frank Gifford from 1972-1978. Gifford worked for ABC at that time.
• It lists McKay from 1962-1965. McKay worked for ABC at that time.
• It lists Ed Ingles, Jim Kelly, and Nick Seitz for a few years. They never worked the Masters on TV, but instead called the event on CBS radio.

History of the Masters golf tournament on TV (1956-present)

The Masters golf tournament has been a longtime spring staple on the sports TV calendar. The Augusta National Golf Club and network partner CBS have a unique relationship. CBS operates on one-year contracts and pays far less than market value for the rights. In return, Augusta National insists on approval of all announcers and dictates terms of the coverage (no mention of prize money, plenty of references to "patrons" and "second cut", no promotions for other TV programs, etc.). From the beginning, the tournament has been presented with minimal commercial interruption (just 4 minutes per hour).

Augusta National has always limited the amount of coverage by its TV partners. While it has allowed the number of TV hours to increase in recent years, it still lags significantly behind the other golf majors in this area.

Here is a look at how the coverage has evolved over time beginning with the first televised Masters in 1956. All listings of hours refer to scheduled TV coverage. Note: For detailed TV schedules and announcers by year, see my complete research on Masters TV history over at 506sports (free registration required to view).

<EDITED on 4/18/2019 to bring this up to date as of the 2019 tournament>  

Chronology of Masters TV coverage

1956 - CBS provided a half hour of coverage on Friday with one hour each on Saturday and Sunday. Chris Schenkel and Bud Palmer manned the microphones. CBS only covered holes 15-18 with all of its cameras stationary and most of them pointed at the greens.

1957 - Jim McKay became the lead announcer.

1958 - CBS expanded its Sunday coverage to 1.5 hours and eliminated the Friday coverage.

1959 - Frank Chirkinian produced his first Masters. CBS added cameras to cover more fairways and tees.

1961 - The tournament concluded on Monday due to weekend rain and CBS added an hour of Monday late afternoon coverage.

1962 - Schenkel resumed the lead broadcast role as McKay had moved to ABC. The Masters had an 18-hole playoff on Monday and CBS provided one hour of coverage.

1965 - Jack Whitaker took over the lead announcer role.

1966 - The Masters was televised in color for the first time. An 18-hole playoff was needed and CBS televised the end of it on Monday afternoon. This was the year that Whitaker made an on-air comment referring to the gallery surrounding the 18th green as a "mob". For this, he was banned from the telecasts by Augusta National chairman Clifford Roberts for the next several years. Henry Longhurst called his first Masters for CBS.

1967 - A strike by the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (AFTRA) impacted the coverage. With the regular CBS golf broadcasters honoring the strike, some CBS management personnel handled the telecast along with two top amateur players who were Augusta members.

1968 - Pat Summerall broadcast the Masters for the first time and anchored the coverage at hole 18. Frank Glieber also made his Masters TV debut.

1969 - Ray Scott joined the CBS telecast crew. So did Frank Gifford who worked golf for CBS for a few years before moving to ABC.

1970 - Scott took over as the 18th hole announcer. The final 18-hole playoff took place this year and CBS added late Monday afternoon coverage for that.


1973 - CBS expanded to 2 hours on Sunday. CBS added late afternoon coverage on Monday after rain necessitated a Monday finish. Ben Wright joined the CBS crew for the first time.

1974 - This was the last year that Scott served as lead announcer.

1975 - Vin Scully worked his first Masters and assumed the 18th tower announcer role.

1977 - CBS expanded to 2 hours on Saturday.

1980 - CBS increased the Sunday coverage to 2.5 hours.

1982 - This year saw a major change as the USA Network provided Thursday and Friday coverage (2 hours live each day along with a prime time replay). This was the first ever cable coverage for one of the golf majors. The USA coverage used the CBS production crews and CBS announcers.

1983 - Summerall took over the 18th hole tower role as Scully had moved to NBC. Verne Lundquist made his debut on the Masters. So did Brent Musburger who was stationed in Butler Cabin for the first of 6 consecutive years. CBS increased the Saturday coverage to 2.5 hours and Sunday to 3 hours. Due to rain, the tournament did not finish on Sunday, so CBS added late afternoon Monday coverage.

1986 - Gary McCord and Jim Nantz joined the CBS crew. Bob Carpenter hosted the USA coverage.

1988 - CBS shifted the Sunday TV window to end at 7 pm ET where it remains to this day.

1990 - Bill Macatee hosted the USA coverage and would do so for all subsequent years that USA had the TV rights.

1994 - McCord made the infamous on-air "bikini wax" reference while describing the speed of the Augusta greens and remarked that mounds behind the 17th green resembled "body bags". These comments did not go over well with Augusta officials and despite still being a member of the CBS golf team, McCord has not worked the Masters since. That was also the last Masters tournament (and final CBS assignment of any kind) for Summerall who moved to Fox.

1995 - USA expanded the Thursday/Friday coverage to 2.5 hours each day. Nantz took over the lead announcer role.

1996 - Chirkinian produced the CBS telecast for the final time.

1997 - David Feherty called his first Masters on CBS as did Peter Oosterhuis.

2000 - Dick Enberg started a 7-year run of hosting the Masters from Butler Cabin. The Masters was televised live in HDTV for the first time.

2002 - Another major milestone took place this year as CBS increased the Sunday coverage to 4.5 hours and showed the leaders for all 18 holes. CBS had wanted to do this for a number of years, but tournament officials had always denied these requests in the past. This was also the last Masters in the TV booth for longtime lead analyst Ken Venturi.

2003 - Lanny Wadkins became the lead analyst and CBS expanded the Saturday coverage to 3.5 hours ending at 7 pm ET. The SD and HD productions of the event were unified. In the wake of the controversy over the Martha Burk protest regarding Augusta membership practices, the Masters chose to drop its sponsors. Both CBS and USA televised the event commercial-free. The same was true in 2004.

2005 - USA increased the Thursday/Friday coverage to 3 hours.

2006 - CBS added a one-hour special Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta which led into the Sunday coverage. That show looked back on the 1986 Masters using original CBS footage. This series has become an annual Masters Sunday tradition featuring vintage CBS telecast clips being rebroadcast for the first time.

2007 - Nick Faldo took over as CBS lead analyst joining Nantz in the 18th hole tower.

2008 - ESPN took over the Thursday/Friday coverage with Mike Tirico anchoring the action.

2009 - ESPN increased the Thursday/Friday coverage to 3.5 hours each day. CBS expanded the Sunday coverage to 5 hours.

2011 - ESPN expanded the Thursday/Friday coverage to 4.5 hours each day.

2013 - CBS increased the Saturday coverage to 4 hours. For both of the weekend rounds, CBS Sports Network aired a same-day prime time replay of the CBS network coverage.

2016 - Dottie Pepper became the first female TV announcer on the Masters.

2017 - Scott Van Pelt took over as the anchor for the ESPN coverage.

2019 - Due to a forecast for late afternoon storms, the Masters moved the Sunday tee times to the morning and sent the players out in threesomes. CBS televised the final round live starting at 9 am ET and re-aired much of that coverage at 3 pm.

Total scheduled live TV time for the Masters by year

1956-1972: 2.5 hours
1973-1976: 3.5 hours
1977-1979: 4 hours
1980-1981: 4.5 hours
1982:           8.5 hours (4 on USA, 4.5 on CBS)
1983-1994: 9.5 hours (4 on USA, 5.5 on CBS)
1995-1996: 10.5 hours (5 on USA, 5.5 on CBS)
1997-2001: 11 hours (5 on USA, 6 on CBS)
2002:           12.5 hours (5 on USA, 7.5 on CBS)
2003-2004: 13 hours (5 on USA, 8 on CBS)
2005-2007: 14 hours (6 on USA, 8 on CBS)
2008:           14 hours (6 on ESPN, 8 on CBS)
2009-2010: 15.5 hours (7 on ESPN, 8.5 on CBS)
2011-2012: 17.5 hours (9 on ESPN, 8.5 on CBS)
2013-2019: 18 hours (9 on ESPN, 9 on CBS)

CBS again omits Gary McCord from classic Masters footage

I recorded the recent CBS special Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta: The 1987 Masters which included footage from the final round of the original telecast. Once again, CBS went out of its way to ignore/hide the involvement of Gary McCord on the CBS broadcast team that day. In 1987, McCord was the CBS announcer on hole 14. The footage that CBS used in this special featured action from every back 9 hole including #14. However, these clips contained audio from every hole announcer on that telecast with the exception of McCord. Instead, CBS superimposed music and Jim Nantz narration over the footage it showed from the 14th.

In 2006, the inaugural Jim Nantz special covered the 1986 Masters on which McCord had also been the CBS announcer on the 14th hole. But on that special, the same thing happened as CBS showed some original footage from hole 14, but included no audio or mention of McCord who was last part of the Masters TV coverage in 1994.

In both cases, it seems obvious that the omission of McCord was intentional. What is unclear is whether CBS edited McCord out of the footage to avoid ruffling feathers with the Green Jacket Establishment or whether CBS did so under orders from the Lords of Augusta as a condition for approval in replaying this footage.

The 1987 Masters went to a playoff on holes 10 and 11. Interestingly, for its coverage of the playoff, CBS used the originally assigned hole announcer (Bob Murphy and Steve Melnyk respectively) along with main analyst Ken Venturi. Lead announcer Pat Summerall who was in the 18th hole tower was not part of the playoff coverage. Venturi called the playoff action from the fairway as he talked about getting club selections from the caddies.

The 1987 playoff coverage also leads to the intriguing question as to how the CBS Jim Nantz special would have handled this footage had McCord been the assigned hole announcer on one of these playoff holes, especially on the deciding hole. Or had a critical shot or memorable audio moment (along the lines of Verne Lundquist with "Yes Sir!" or Nantz with "The Bear has come out of hibernation.") from either of these Masters tournaments occurred at hole 14.

Non-broadcasting side note: I found it very interesting that some players had a caddy attend the flagstick on much shorter putts than you see today.

CBS special on 1987 Masters golf tournament

The latest edition of Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta will focus on the 1987 Masters tournament. CBS will air this one-hour special on Sunday 4/8 at 1 pm. This episode will feature original CBS footage from this telecast and commentary from Larry Mize on the 25th anniversary of his playoff victory. The CBS broadcasters who covered the 1987 Masters included Pat Summerall, Ken Venturi, Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist, Gary McCord, Ben Wright, Steve Melnyk, and Bob Murphy.

During the 2006 inaugural Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta special on the 1986 Masters, CBS did not include any audio clips of (or any mention of) McCord and I assume this was intentional. McCord has not been part of the Masters TV crew since the infamous 1994 "bikini wax"/"body bags" comments. I will be interested to see how CBS treats (or ignores) the involvement of McCord in the 1987 telecast.

The Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta series has become an annual tradition since 2006 leading into the final round coverage of the Masters. For completeness, here is a list of the previous episodes, all of which contained original CBS footage which had never before been rebroadcast:

• 1986 Masters (aired in 2006)
• 1960 Masters (aired in 2007)
• 1978 Masters (aired in 2008)
• Seve at the Masters (aired in 2009)
• 1977 Masters (aired in 2010)
• 1975 Masters (aired in 2011)