Golf television viewers are going to hear more from Roger Maltbie in 2026.
The veteran broadcaster, who is an avowed golf fan as well as one of the game’s most revered voices, will be getting off his living room sofa a bit more in the coming months after signing a one-year contract to serve as lead on-course reporter for select events on Golf Channel starting with this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
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Maltbie will be employed on Golf Channel for five PGA Tour events, foot soldiering for Thursday and Friday rounds as well weekend lead-in coverage to network telecasts on NBC or CBS.
“I’m excited that they still want me to do this, and I guess they feel like I am still someone viewers want to listen to,” said Maltbie, 74, who had been working a handful of events the last few years for NBC and Golf Channel after his full-time deal was not renewed in 2023. “The bottom line is that I want to keep going because I’m a fan of the game. I watch a good bit of it from home, and I look forward to getting up close and seeing all these new guys and how they play.”
In addition to Pebble Beach, Maltbie will wander about the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Players, the inaugural Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral and the Memorial Tournament, which this year marks its 50th anniversary, a milestone meaningful to Maltbie, who won the inaugural edition in 1976. Additionally, Maltbie signed a separate contract to work select events for NBC as he has the last few years. That deal includes the U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open, Senior PGA Championship and the American Century Championship.
Golf Channel, and several other channels including USA Network that airs U.S. Open coverage, is now owned by VERSANT, a new media company spun out from NBCU and Comcast.
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Maltbie worked out the schedule with Tom Knapp, Golf Channel executive vice president and general manager, who contacted Maltbie initially in December inquiring about bringing him on board. A resident of Los Gatos, Calif., Maltbie figured, why not? “I still have a little bit left in the tank,” he said.
“Having the familiar tone of Roger Maltbie on the call for Golf Channel as our lead on-course reporter at these iconic venues is going to be tremendous,” Knapp said. “Roger is one of the most recognizable figures in golf and set the standard for on-course golf reporting for 35 years. He is an institution, and we’re pumped to have him. “
A five-time PGA Tour winner, Maltbie began his television broadcasting career with USA Network at the 1989 Ryder Cup and he joined NBC Sports in 1991. He and longtime broadcast colleague Gary Koch were downsized after the 2022 season, but NBC reversed course and brought back both men in limited roles.
A novelty to the deal is that Maltbie will be working this week at Pebble Beach and at Doral and Memorial with CBS Sports, which has the broadcast rights to those events and is responsible for production of all four rounds.
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“That’s something I am really looking forward to, working with Jim Nantz and the CBS team, because it’s something I’ve never done before. We’ve been on opposite deals, so that’s going to be interesting,” Maltbie said. “You know, this is what I like to do. And I do what I’m told to do. Maybe that’s why they still use me some.”
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