As LINKS broke last night on Twitter, Greg Norman has parted ways with Fox Sports after just one year in the booth broadcasting the U.S. Open and other USGA events. John Entz, the president of production at Fox Sports, said in a press release this morning that it was an “amicable separation” and Norman said as much, too. But while Norman has plenty on his plate to keep him busy with his multi-national corporation, the Shark clearly didn’t see this attack coming. As he says in the current issue of Troon Golf & Travel magazine, “Everything will be different [next year]. We already are working from the production side of things, from the technology side of things. Camera angles will definitely be one. I just got a report that’s 32 pages long about it already, about what we want to do and what we expect and how we’re going to do it.” Apparently, there wasn’t anything in the report about a new lead analyst, but the early money is on Paul Azinger, who has worked with Fox’s veteran golf producer Mark Loomis in the past as part of the Mike Tirico-Nick Faldo trio on ABC.
UPDATE on Monday, January 18, 2016 at 1:22pm
This just in: Greg Norman talks to LINKS about his departure from Fox.
In retrospect, how do you think you did as lead commentator for FOX?
“All I can say is this: going from what I was told by many at FOX and the USGA, knowing all that I put into the process, and considering it was my first run at it, I thought I did a good job. Not great, but good. Like trying to be the best you can be in golf, the more practice you have, the better you get. I only had one US Open Championship. I would have liked another opportunity, as it was so new to all of us last year.”
Will you consider moving to another network?
“The learning curve was one that I truly enjoyed and I do believe I have a wealth of golfing experience on and off the course, design philosophy and agronomy knowledge, that someday I could express to the world. So I will certainly keep my options open.”
