Paul Azinger didn’t win THE PLAYERS Championship in 1991, but he made an impression. After sleeping on the 54-hole lead at the end of a particularly windy week, he shot 74 to finish T3. Steve Elkington won the first of two PLAYERS titles, but in its recap, Sports Illustrated writer John Garrity called Azinger, “the Tour’s most personable and exciting young player.â€� In other words, he was good TV. Azinger’s second career as a TV golf analyst got a turbo boost when he was named Monday as NBC’s successor to retiring Johnny Miller. Azinger has called golf for ABC, ESPN and Fox. Now, in taking on NBC, he inherits one of the network’s crown jewels, THE PLAYERS, where players try to quell their nerves with disaster looming off every tee box and near every green. “Well, I haven’t won there, unfortunately,â€� Azinger said Monday of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. “But I definitely have some last-group-on-Sunday experiences at TPC and I know what it’s like to sleep on the lead there. It’s different than most places because there’s a lot of water on that golf course and you can pay a heavy price on just about every hole. “But you can’t get past thinking about 17 at any point,â€� he added, “and you have to keep reminding yourself that you’re not there yet, you’re not there yet.â€� Monday was a happy occasion for Azinger, 58, who also will appear on Golf Channel’s Live From the Masters, contribute to instructional projects, and assist with Golf Films programming. A teleconference with the national media featured plenty of laughs between Azinger; NBC Golf Executive Vice President of Content Molly Solomon; and Lead Golf Producer Tommy Roy. Alas, the frivolity will be short-lived, as there’s much work to be done. In addition to continuing to call the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open for Fox, and the Masters for the BBC, Azinger’s NBC dance card is full. He’ll start with the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, February 21-24; call The Open Championship, which he’s done previously with ESPN; work the Ryder Cup, the tournament where he made his mark as a player and later as the winning U.S. captain in 2008; and decamp for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.  He will call the action from places where he’s won, like Bay Hill (Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard) and Waialae Country Club (Sony Open in Hawaii), and places where he hasn’t. The first biggie, though, will be THE PLAYERS in March, it being a potential career-maker for players (Elkington, Davis Love III) and broadcasters (Gary Koch: “Better than most!â€�) alike. Azinger compiled four top-10s and seven top-20 finishes in 19 starts at TPC Sawgrass. He also made a memorable ace at the island 17th hole in 2000. Now he gets to take on the iconic tournament in a whole new way: calling it like he sees it from the 18th tower.   “It’s a scary golf course and I haven’t won on it, but I respect anybody that does,â€� said Azinger. “And the magnitude of the event; the fact that it’s the strongest field of the year, year-in and year-out, is, you know, a big part of it.… I look forward to getting in this and sharing with the general public what that place is all about.â€� You can’t get past thinking about 17 at any point, and you have to keep reminding yourself that you’re not there yet, you’re not there yet. Azinger and Miller have similar styles; both are direct and unapologetic, and both are above all loyal to the viewers. Azinger said he will speak up when players thrive/wilt under pressure, but while maintaining respect for the game and its players. It would be “irresponsible,â€� he said, to call anyone a choker, and he wants to build up the game and its players. After all, he’s been there, standing on the tee as he eyes the flagstick bending in the breeze, whitecaps on the water, the tournament hanging in the balance. It’s an uneasy feeling, and one that Azinger expects will come flooding back to him at times as he begins his career with NBC. “You have to have butterflies to do a good job, I feel,â€� he said. “I remember teeing off at the Masters one year without butterflies, how shameful. I hate to even admit that. But I didn’t have any butterflies because I knew I wasn’t going to be any good. “I did have butterflies this morning,â€� he added.
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