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Tom Abbott (born 7 December 1981 in London, England) is a broadcaster and sports commentator, best known for his work with The Golf Channel and NBC. He serves as a presenter and commentator for coverage of the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, and European Tour. Since 2010, Abbott has been co-host of The Big Break.
Abbott grew up in Cheam, a suburb of London, England. He attended Wilson's School, an all-boys' school in Wallington, Surrey. During his youth, Abbott was a keen golfer, representing Surrey at Junior and Men's level, and also playing for the England Schools' golf team. He played on the golf team at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, graduating in 2004 with a degree in Media Business. In October 2015 Abbott was inducted into the Mercer Athletic Hall of Fame.
Abbott began his broadcasting career at Mercer University, helping to create an on-campus television station, Mercer99. While in Macon, he worked with local ABC affiliate WPGA-TV, appearing weekly on the "58 Sports Show". Abbott was an intern at WGCL-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. His first full-time broadcasting job came in 2004 with the then-brand-new CBS affiliate in Charlottesville, Virginia, WCAV-TV. Abbott was the affiliate's first-ever sports anchor, helping to launch, and appearing on, the inaugural newscast for CBS-19 News in November 2004.
Abbott joined Golf Channel in November 2005 as a reporter and presenter for the network's UK Channel, based in Orlando, Florida. He worked on the news show Golf Central, and also hosted LPGA Tour coverage alongside Laura Baugh. The Golf Channel UK went off the air on 31 December 2007 but Abbott was retained by the network to work on its U.S.-based operation.
In January 2008, he began hosting European Tour coverage, as well as reporting and anchoring Golf Central. Abbott also became the voice behind the Top 10 series for one season. In late 2008, Abbott began appearing on the network's LPGA Tour coverage.
In 2009, Abbott reported on the announcement of golf's inclusion into the Olympics from Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven years later at the games in Rio, golf returned to The Olympics and Abbott was part of the NBC Sports broadcast team.
In 2010, Abbott replaced Vince Cellini as host of Golf Channel's hit series, The Big Break. Abbott has gone-on to host eleven seasons of Big Break, including Big Break NFL, alongside Michele Tafoya, and the latest season Big Break, The Palm Beaches, Florida which aired in early 2015. In June 2015, Golf Channel significantly reduced its original programming division putting The Big Break on-hold, it is unclear when the show will return to the network or whether Abbott will continue as host.
In 2012, Abbott made his first appearance on Golf Channel's PGA Tour coverage. A year later, he appeared for the first time as an announcer and interviewer for NBC at the U.S. Women's Open. Two years later, Abbott was part of the BBC commentary team at the Ricoh Women's British Open from Royal Birkdale Golf Club. Later in 2014, he appeared as a tower announcer for NBC's coverage of The Ryder Cup.
In 2015, Abbott called the winning putt for the US in their victory over Europe at the Solheim Cup in Heidelberg, Germany. A few weeks later he was part of the commentary team for Golf Channel & NBC's coverage of the President's Cup in Songdo, South Korea, meaning by the age of 33 Abbott had commentated the Ryder, President's, Solheim and Walker Cups.
Golf Channel & NBC began a 13-year commitment to broadcast The Open in 2016 and Abbott was part of the commentary team at Royal Troon.
Abbott resides in Orlando, Florida.
The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named after the English businessman Samuel Ryder who donated the trophy. The event is jointly administered by the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe, the latter a joint venture of the PGA European Tour (60%), the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (20%), and the PGAs of Europe (20%).
Paul William Azinger is an American professional golfer and TV golf analyst. He won twelve times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1993 PGA Championship. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1988 and 1994.
Golf Channel is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC Sports' headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
Dottie Pepper is an American professional golfer and television golf broadcaster. From 1988 to 1995 she competed as Dottie Mochrie, which was her married name before a divorce. She won two major championships and 17 LPGA Tour events in all.
The Big Break is a reality television program broadcast by the Golf Channel. The show's premise was to award an aspiring professional golfer exemptions into selected events or full-season exemptions on lower-level tours. The series debuted on October 6, 2003.
Bill Macatee is an American sports broadcaster for CBS Sports and Tennis Channel.
Jennings "Jay" Randolph Jr. is an American sportscaster whose career has spanned more than fifty years.
Kelly Tilghman is a former broadcaster for Golf Channel, and NBC Sports, and is the PGA Tour's first female lead golf announcer. On July 29, 2020, it was announced that Tilghman was hired by CBS Sports to host The Clubhouse Report on CBS Sports Network.
The following lists of golfers are arranged by gender:
Golf telecasts have aired on NBC since 1954, with some of its earliest telecasts having included the 1954 U.S. Open, and the first televised coverage of the Ryder Cup in 1959.
PGA Tour on ABC was the de facto branding used for telecasts of the main professional golf tournaments of the PGA Tour on ABC Sports in the United States until 2006. ABC broadcast at least one PGA Tour event from 1962 to 2009, focusing before 1995 on the majors, with the network serving as the primary television partner of the PGA Tour from 1999 until 2006.
The PGA Tour is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, as well as the PGA Tour Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour, as well as the PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamérica, and formerly the PGA Tour China. The PGA Tour is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, a suburb southeast of Jacksonville.
Golf coverage on ESPN has been a regular feature of the cable sports channels' programming since soon after ESPN's launch in the United States in 1979.
Golf on USA is the umbrella title for USA Network's coverage of the PGA Tour and other golf events. in the United States. USA Network's own coverage of the PGA Tour ended after the 2006 season. USA also covered the early rounds of The Masters Tournament from 1982 until 2007. The network also carried the Ryder Cup Matches regularly from 1989 until 2006, as well as overflow coverage in 2010.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to golf:
Golf in the United States is played by about 25 million people, or 8% of the population.
The PGA Tour's broadcast television rights are held by CBS Sports and NBC Sports, under contracts most recently renewed in 2021 to last through 2030. While it considered invoking an option to opt out of its broadcast television contracts in 2017, the PGA Tour ultimately decided against doing so. Golf Channel has served as the pay television rightsholder of the PGA Tour since 2007, and its current contract will also expire in 2021. Under the contracts, CBS broadcasts weekend coverage for an average of 20 events per-season, and NBC broadcasts weekend coverage for an average of 10 events per-season. Golf Channel broadcasts early-round and weekend morning coverage of all events, as well as weekend coverage of events not broadcast on terrestrial television, and primetime encores of all events. Tournaments typically featured in NBC's package include marquee events such as The Players Championship, the final three tournaments of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and the biennial Presidents Cup event. The 2011 contract granted more extensive digital rights, as well as the ability for NBC to broadcast supplemental coverage of events on Golf Channel during its broadcast windows.
Following the dissolving of USA Sports into NBC Sports after the 2007 Masters, USA Network began deemphasizing sports. During this time NBC Sports properties generally only aired on USA in special cases, such as during the Olympics, Stanley Cup Playoffs or the final week of the English Premier League season.