Golf legend and former US PGA champion to retire from PGA Tour coverage this week
Former US PGA champion and World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins will officially sign off from his lead analyst role at Golf Channel on the PGA Tour Champions.
Golf legend Lanny Wadkins will officially retire from his lead analyst role at Golf Channel on the PGA Tour Champions at this week's Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
Wadkins, 75, won 21 times on the PGA Tour highlighted by his sole major title at the 1977 US PGA at famed Pebble Beach.
The American then entered a successful long-time broadcasting career on the PGA Tour.
He replaced Ken Venturi in June 2002 as the lead PGA Tour analyst for CBS Sports.
Sir Nick Faldo then eventually replaced Wadkins in the role ahead of the 2007 PGA Tour season.
Wadkins was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009.
Three years later Wadkins became the lead analyst at Golf Channel on the over 50s Champions Tour.
Wadkins will now officially sign off from his PGA Tour broadcasting career following the conclusion of this week's tournament.
He will be replaced in his role by 1993 US PGA champion Paul Azinger.
Happy retirement, Lanny Wadkins!
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 13, 2025
The long-time analyst will sign off after this week’s @MEC_Golf.
What will he miss the most? “The people” pic.twitter.com/plfOH8mArj
"I will miss the people," said Wadkins.
"We've had great people that I've worked with, you know starting at Golf Channel hanging out with Cooky [John Cook] and [Bob] Papa, and even [John] Mahaffey from the years gone by and the different producers I've had, the ladies in the trucks, I mean just everything.
"It's been an association for a long time. I've been out here doing Champions Tour stuff for almost 13 years now.
"The thing that kept me coming back doing it year after year are the people I was dealing with and working with, just really class quality people. We had a lot of fun at dinners as my waistline can attest."
Paul Azinger is joining the booth in 2025!
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 13, 2025
The 12-time TOUR winner is replacing long-time analyst Lanny Wadkins as broadcast production moves to PGA TOUR Studios. https://t.co/lvqS47iI6I
Wadkins' full name is Jerry Lanston Wadkins Jr.
He was born in Richmond, Virginia, and he now resides in Dallas, Texas.
Wadkins is married to wife Penelope and they share three children called Jessica, Travis, and Tucker.
A host of PGA Tour legends are competing in this week's first Champions Tour event of 2025.
Steve Stricker starts as a warm tournament favourite.
Other players in the field comprise Steven Alker, Stewart Cink, Bernhard Langer and Ernie Els.
Els was this week announced as 2024 Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America.
He joins runaway Scottie Scheffler on the PGA Tour and World No.1 Nelly Korda on the LPGA Tour in receiving the award.
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