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Masters fans listening to the radio call of the action from Augusta National will be hearing a new voice next week.
Mike Tirico is taking a year off from his duties hosting SiriusXM’s Masters coverage, allowing veteran sports broadcaster Taylor Zarzour to take over lead play-by-play duties for the first time. Tirico, who called his first Super Bowl and hosted Olympic coverage for NBC in February, is expected to return to his Masters duties in 2027.
“Driving the ship carries a little more responsibility,” Zarzour, who has called pre- and post-round Masters coverage and served as a backup play-by-play announcer on SiriusXM in recent years, tells Front Office Sports.
Ahead of golf’s first major championship of the year, FOS caught up with Zarzour, 48, who is also the radio voice of the NFL’s Titans, in addition to his golf obligations on SiriusXM, which have included top play-by-play duties for other majors like the PGA Championship and U.S. Open. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Front Office Sports: How is calling the action at the Masters different from other golf tournaments?
Taylor Zarzour: It’s unlike every other golf tournament that we call, in terms of the way it’s set up. And I have to tell you: I love it. We have fixed positions out on the golf course that we don’t have in any other tournament—where we normally have reporters that are walking inside the ropes that are following the final few groups. We don’t have that at Augusta National, and I really love what they provided us with instead.
John McGinnis is at the top of the 12th grandstand. He’s in the middle of Amen Corner. He looks to his left and he calls the action at 11. He looks in front of him, and he calls the action on the most iconic par 3 in the world. He has this tiny little one-man broadcast booth in the grandstand behind the 12th tee. Emilia Doran has her own spot next to the 14th tee, sort of behind the 13th green.
Brian Katrek called the shot of Rory McIlroy’s life last year from the top of the grandstand on 15. He can call Rory hitting the greatest seven iron of his life in front of him, or he can turn around and call a tee shot on the 16th tee. It’s just so cool that we have all those spots. Kevin Kisner and I will leave our main position in the press building, and we’ll go out to the 18th green to call the final few shots of the day.”
FOS: What lessons have you learned from working with Tirico?
Zarzour: He’s prepared for every moment, and probably less than 5% of what Mike is prepared for in any broadcast happens. Whether it’s somebody’s second shot on the 14th hole, or it’s the United States winning gold in men’s hockey, he knows exactly what to say. There could be 40 million people watching the gold-medal game, or 120 million people watching the Super Bowl, or a couple hundred thousand people listening to the Masters, and he’s equally as prepared for each of those moments.”
FOS: What’s something some sports fans don’t realize about golf on the radio?
Zarzour: It’s probably the most talking you will ever do in your life. You don’t want to be as fast as an auctioneer, but you probably do as much talking as an auctioneer. You have 18 different sporting events going on on every single hole. It’s a lot of chatter. But you want to do it in a succinct way, because almost everyone is in their car listening to this, and they need to be paying attention to the road.
