The unvarnished honesty and certainty with which and Johnny Miller talk about themselves underscores their strongest qualifications for holding down televised golf’s most visible
jobs. As the lead analysts for their respective affiliations — Miller on NBC and Faldo on CBS and GOLF CHANNEL — the two former major champions have continually exhibited a proclivity for talking as good a game as they once played. This will be readily apparent throughout the extended coverage of THE PLAYERS Championship this year on GOLF CHANNEL and NBC. Miller and Faldo will have ample time to espouse their views on the PGA TOUR’s flagship event, on the architectural merits of THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass and on the game at large, overflowing as it is today with talent. They will be insightful and entertaining. They know what they’re talking about even if the game being practiced by today’s brand of professional differs from the style of play where the two excelled. The duo, known in their prime for their extraordinary levels of precision, might not personally identify with the 21st century power game, but they understand it. “The big thing is it’s a different game now than when I played and when I started in television, so I’m always learning,” said Miller, who turned 62 on April 29 and began working for NBC in 1993. “You see the direction the game is going and the approach might be different but the game evolves and you evolve with it, and it’s my job then to explain that to the audience at home.” Miller, who lives in Utah and is NBC’s weekend analyst, has earned a reputation for no-nonsense commentary that occasionally rankles various constituencies, though rare is the assertion that he ever misses the mark. He won 24 PGA TOUR titles, including the 1973 U.S. Open and ’76 British Open. He’s also won over millions of viewers. “Johnny doesn’t have a filter between his brain and mouth. What he’s thinks comes out,” said Tom Roy, Executive Producer of NBC golf telecasts. “Most analysts in sports sort of couch what they’re thinking. But Johnny is not afraid to tell it like it is. He also is prescient about things unfolding on the golf course. A big reason is he really does his homework more than anybody I’ve ever known. He’s charting the course in the morning and doing everything to prepare — the total homeworkaholic. He also knows the mental and physical reaction of the golfers from his days of being in the hunt.”
“I’m never looking to be critical but to try to explain things to the viewers, because that is my audience,” Miller said.