TOUR winners Brad Faxon, Smylie Kaufman to join NBC’s commentary team

PGA TOUR winners Brad Faxon and Smylie Kaufman will join NBC Sports’ golf commentary team for 2023, the network announced Tuesday.

Faxon, an eight-time TOUR winner and former Ryder Cup participant, is joining NBC Sports’ team as a hole announcer and will make his on-air debut at The Honda Classic next month. Faxon will also contribute to Golf Central and Golf Central Live From studio programming on Golf Channel.

Kaufman, who won the 2015 Shriners Children’s Open and played in the final group of the following year’s Masters, will join John Wood, Notah Begay III and Arron Oberholser as on-course reporters throughout the season. Wood and Kaufman will walk the course this week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Begay III will begin his year at The Honda Classic and Oberholser will start his assignment at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in March. Kaufman made his announcing debut last year, broadcasting from the PGA Championship and U.S. Open among other events.

Longtime GOLF Channel commentators Damon Hack and Cara Banks will serve as golf reporters this year, conducting interviews with players, family members, executives and more, in addition to continuing in their current roles. Hack will continue to co-host Golf Today on GOLF Channel, while Banks will also anchor studio coverage of Golf Central and Golf Central Live From on the network. Banks’ first reporter assignment will be at The Honda Classic while Hack will begin at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

The 18th tower duo of Dan Hicks (play-by-play) and Paul Azinger (lead analyst) will return to lead NBC Sports’ golf commentary team for the fifth consecutive year.

Faxon previously worked with NBC Sports in 2010 as a hole announcer and from 2013-14 as a studio analyst, while also providing commentary on Sky Sports. He also was the lead golf analyst on Fox Sports when the network held the rights to USGA events, including the U.S. Open. Faxon also has served as a putting coach to a number of players on the PGA TOUR and the LPGA Tour, including reigning FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy.

Faxon was the 2005 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award, an honor presented annually by the PGA TOUR to a professional golfer who best exemplifies the values of character, charity and sportsmanship.

NBC Sports’ 2023 golf coverage gets underway this week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions from Kapalua Resort in Maui, Hawaii, on NBC, Golf Channel and Peacock. Last week, NBC Sports announced its 2023 PGA TOUR broadcast schedule, totaling more than 450 hours of live tournament coverage across NBC, Golf Channel and Peacock.