The Athletic has stay protection from Spherical 3 of The Masters.
Golf Channel TV analyst Brandel Chamblee was on a Barstool Sports activities’ golf podcast earlier this week, and there’s a fascinating clip the place Chamblee opinions the phrases or phrases that TV broadcasters are given steering on to not utter when masking the Masters. They’re changed with extra hifalutin expressions which might be extra on-brand for the occasion and its organizers at Augusta Nationwide.
Right here’s the clip:
Broadcasters aren’t allowed to say “fan”, “driving vary”, “again 9” & extra on air at The Masters @ForePlayPod pic.twitter.com/czicE7LE24
— Barstool Sports activities (@barstoolsports) April 8, 2025
It goes with out saying (and isn’t that unreasonable) that an occasion just like the Masters received’t ever let announcers name-check different occasion sponsors (it’s by no means “Valero Texas Open,” it’s simply “Texas Open.)
Listed here are the 5 I discovered most fascinating, ranked so as of how overly self-serious they appear:
Can’t say: “Fan”
Can say: “Patron”
As Chamblee says, there’s a concern that “fan” is shorthand for “fanatical.”
Can’t say: “Tough”
Can say: “Second lower.”
For a match outlined on TV by the dulcet tones of Jim Nantz, I get it — the idea of “tough” doesn’t exist at a rustic membership — sorry, it’s all the time “golf membership” — like Augusta Nationwide.
Can’t say: “Sand lure”
Can say: “Bunker”
Once more, the notion of something at Augusta Nationwide being a “lure” doesn’t match in any respect with its finely manicured picture.
Can’t say: “Driving vary”
Can say: “Match apply facility”
“Tough?” “Lure?” I can a minimum of see the define of destructive connotations ascribed to the occasion. And whereas the vary is actually there for extra than simply driving, this feels on-brand however pointless.
Can’t say: “Again 9”
Can say: “Second 9”
It’s not that I thoughts one over the opposite, however “again 9” is such an ordinary a part of golf vernacular that it looks like Augusta Nationwide is simply attempting to make a degree about how a lot they will get TV announcers to bend.
I requested colleague Richard Deitsch if there’s any type of formal coverage. He stated an business supply (given anonymity as a result of, in any case, this can be a story about what you’re not alleged to say) instructed him that there isn’t a written sheet given to broadcasters, however producers and on-air expertise know what Augusta Nationwide’s expectations are about how issues might be described.
(Photograph of Dottie Pepper: David Cannon / Getty Photos)