The coverage of Rory McIlroy’s historic Masters win generated its fair share of criticism and legendary commentator Jim Nantz has chimed in
10:21, 15 Apr 2026Updated 10:21, 15 Apr 2026
CBS Sports commentator Jim Nantz has hit back at critics of the network’s Masters coverage(Image: Getty)
Iconic CBS Sports commentator Jim Nantz has defended his network’s coverage of the Masters. The American broadcaster came under fire as Rory McIlroy went back-to-back at Augusta National.
History was made on Sunday when McIlroy became only the fourth golfer ever to retain their title at the Masters, doing so just 12 months after completing a career Grand Slam with glory in Georgia.
In the United States, CBS brought fans live action from the tournament and its core feed was used in the United Kingdom by Sky Sports. The network has aired the Masters since 1956, but some supporters and pundits were not pleased with how the competition was covered.
Decisions about which golfers to cover and when sparked general backlash, but the most heated point of discussion was the angle used during McIlroy’s championship-winning putt on 18. CBS figurehead Nantz has had his say.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! All the best sports news and much more on our dedicated Facebook page
READ MORE: Phil Mickelson shows what he really thinks of Rory McIlroy with message after Masters winREAD MORE: Rory McIlroy total career prize money as Masters winner hot on Tiger Woods’ tail
On Sunday, as McIlroy stood over a tap-in to seal his second consecutive victory at Augusta, CBS chose to broadcast him from behind, slightly obscuring the view of the ball.
CBS aired McIlroy’s winning moment from behind the Northern Irishman(Image: Getty)
Fans were instead left to gauge McIlroy’s reaction, which was one of jubilation, in order to determine whether he had made the simple putt.
Nantz, who has been the voice of the Masters on CBS for decades, had this to say while appearing on The Pat McAfee Show: “It’s live television. We all make mistakes.
“If he [McIlroy] would have missed it, we would have had the all-time story in the history of golf. But I’m really proud of our crew. You’re making so many decisions. Split-second decisions.
“The things that were shown, produced by our crew…hundreds of people involved over the course of four days, some 30 hours of television,” the 66-year-old continued.
“I can’t speak to the difficulty and some of the decision-making, and some of the other things that people are responsible for. I just know that our crew is the best in the business. I just walk away with warm memories and a lot of pride for what everybody did.”
The Masters has been covered by CBS in the US for decades(Image: Getty)
Yet rival network NBC’s lead golf analyst, Kevin Kisner, pulled no punches in evaluating CBS’s coverage of the 90th Masters. He said on the Foreplay podcast: “What are we doing? You have no commercials. Play live shots.
“Our production team at NBC prides themselves on playing every shot that they possibly can live. When we can’t, we have to say, ‘a moment ago’ because we’re trying to make the whole movie make sense.
“I have no idea what they’re doing. Literally no idea. There was a couple shots in the two days that I’m telling you were seven to 10 minutes behind. It was unbelievable.”