Maltbie loves calling shots on the course
DORAL — As good and as popular as he is as the lead course reporter for Golf Channel and NBC, Roger Maltbie never had the slightest inclination to do what he has done so well for the past 23 years.
Maltbie will be with the leaders this week at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship as they make their way around the Blue Monster at Trump National Doral.
Microphone in hand, he will report on everything from what the players need to do for a particular shot to where those shots end up, while fans will constantly call out, “Hi Roger!”
“You know what I really love about being out there? You can interact with people,” said Maltbie, 62, who played on the PGA Tour regularly for 21 years, winning five times.
At last week’s Honda Classic at PGA National, Maltbie signed autographs, chatted with fans and called his players’ shots.
“I’m not so much a golf analyst, which at times you are, but I’m a reporter as to what’s happening on the golf course,” Maltbie said.
Maltbie, 62, grew up in San Jose, Calif., and now lives in the suburb of Los Gatos. He made headlines as a rookie in 1975 when he won back-to-back events.
A shoulder injury and two surgeries prevented him from hitting certain shots, and in 1989 he got a call from NBC, which was holding auditions at a tournament in Kapalua, Hawaii.
He went and was offered a job. At the time, Maltbie played in 28-30 tournaments a year and NBC was broadcasting 18. Maltbie didn’t want to cut back his schedule that much and the money NBC offered wasn’t t hat appealing. So he turned down the offer.
“I never spent one second ever thinking about doing television,” Maltbie said.
Late in 1990, NBC called again. The network was doing fewer tournaments and the money it offered was better. His first tournament was the Bob Hope. He got on the course early to practice and none of his equipment worked. By the time it was repaired, it was time for him to go on the air.
“I’d never been on the air a second other than the stuff I did in Kapalua,” said Maltbie, who that evening talked to director Larry Cirillo. “Probably without knowing it, he gave me the best advice I’ve ever gotten: You were fine, just be yourself.”
Being himself has resonated with viewers. And Maltbie loves that he still gets to be around the game.
“Even though I don’t play anymore, I’m still a huge fan of watching guys do it well,” he said. “Fortunately doing what I do, I’m usually walking with the leaders. These are the guys that are playing the best, so I’m watching the best play- ers play at the top of their game.”
Among the highlights: Payne Stewart sinking a putt on the 72nd hole at Pinehurst to win the 1999 U.S. Open — “Guys don’t make putts like that to win national opens,” — and Justin Leonard’s putt to win the 1999 Ryder Cup.
“There’s been a lot of moments like that, which is what makes the job worth doing,” Maltbie said. “You get older and your skills go and you can’t do it any more from my perspective, but you recognize greatness when you see it and I get a chance to witness it a lot of times, which is pretty good.”
Tiger watch
Tiger Woods withdrew from the Honda Classic Sunday because of lower back spasms, but Jason Day said he expects Woods, who has not yet played the renovated Blue Monster, to defend his title here.
“I think he’ll be here,” Day said Tuesday morning. “It’s going to be a bit of a shock to him [ when he plays the new course for the first time], but he is Tiger Woods.”
Safe and sound
Athletics outfielder Billy Burns slides into third base as he records his second steal of the first inning and seventh of the spring in a 6-4 loss to the Cubs on Tuesday.