‘Give it my all’: Kisner will use one-time exemption on PGA Tour as he also works in broadcast booth

Jan. 11—Kevin Kisner made some headlines last month when NBC announced he would be the network’s lead golf analyst for 2025.

The Aiken native is a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, and he still lives in the city he grew up in.

But as the new year begins with the PGA Tour on the West Coast, Kisner would like to make headlines for something else:

His golf.

The past two years saw Kisner miss more cuts than he made. He dropped out of the Official World Golf Ranking’s top 50. And he didn’t play in the Masters, or any other majors, in 2024.

But there’s a lifeline to the PGA Tour, and Kisner plans to utilize it.

With career earnings of a little more than $29 million, he sits at No. 50 on the PGA Tour’s all-time earnings list. That status enables him to play on the PGA Tour for at least one more year.

“You can’t pass up the chance to play on your top 50 career money,” Kisner said in a recent interview from his home. “I feel like that’s an ode to your career and you deserve to go play on it. If I didn’t do it this year, I would never get to use it again.”

The goal is to play well enough early in the season to get access to the bigger events.

“I’m going to give it my all this last shot and if I play great I’ll keep playing,” he said. “If not, hopefully NBC will keep having me.”

Kisner turns 41 in February, and he hopes to be able to both play and work as an analyst.

“I’m not qualified for any majors. I’d like to play my way into them and NBC be upset that I’m not commentating,” he said. “But they also think it would be great for their business to say we’ve got a guy who is an analyst and still out there playing at a top level.”

Back in the booth

Kisner worked for NBC during a few events last season, and the stint was considered a success.

The network announced in early December that Kisner would return as lead analyst and work alongside play-by-play commentator Dan Hicks.

Kisner will work the majority of men’s golf events on NBC, including the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, the Players Championship and the FedExCup Playoffs. A prior family commitment kept him from joining the NBC team in Hawaii for the first two events of the year.

Instead of figuring out yardages and reading greens, Kisner had to adjust to life in the booth with producers and other behind-the-scenes personnel giving directions through his headset.

“I guess how fast it is and how many people are talking in my ear while I’m trying to talk,” he said of his biggest adjustments. “It took me a while to figure out the flow. You have to learn the cadence of the person beside you and how long you have to talk.

“As I’m talking, they’re in my ear telling me where we’re going next. You have to get a feel for when to end your thoughts so the next guy’s not hitting while you’re still talking about the guy who previously hit.”

Kisner’s reviews were generally positive. As a peer of the current players, he could relate to what they were experiencing on the course.

“Kevin always shared frank and honest opinions about the game of golf during our various conversations through the years,” said Tommy Roy, lead golf producer for NBC Sports. “Those kinds of opinions and his engaging personality make Kiz a great fit for our broadcast team. He knows these players, he knows this game, and the audience will get to hear more of those opinions and that personality this season.”

Kisner said practice in the booth helped him get better.

“Once I got the flow of that I thought it really started getting good,” he said. “When I did three in a row is probably when we did our best as a team.”

In addition to Hicks, the NBC team also includes Brad Faxon and Terry Gannon. All are broadcast veterans, with Faxon a longtime member of the PGA Tour.

“Dan’s a great guy. I’ve known him forever,” Kisner said. “We chatted a bunch in the fall about this process and the possibility of all this working out.”

Kisner said he doesn’t get much grief from his fellow players, other than the occasional “don’t talk to him, he’s media” quips that are said in jest.

“I get that all the time,” he said. “I think it’s good to have an analyst that’s playing one week and amongst the guys and gets a real feel for it. If there’s some weeks I’m playing and miss the cut, I’ll pop in there and do some on the weekend. That could be a really good mix for NBC and for myself.”

Family vs. career

Every athlete reaches a point where professional obligations and family intertwine, and Kisner is no exception.

Kisner, who lives adjacent to the 17th fairway at Palmetto Golf Club, could be seen on a spring day last year playing catch with his children.

He acknowledged that the dual role of player and analyst might stretch him thin.

“We’ll see how long it takes before she gets tired of me being gone all the time,” Kisner said of wife Brittany.

“I’ve always said I don’t want to miss all of my kids’ games while I’m sitting in a Hampton Inn by myself on the road,” he said. “I think obviously if I just wanted to do the TV gig I could do almost all of them.”

One new venture for Kisner will be his participation in the TMRW Golf League that features two of the biggest names in golf: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Kisner will be part of Woods’ team, Jupiter Links, and will make his debut Jan. 14. The indoor golf venture started a couple of years ago but was put on hold for a year.

“I’m looking forward to what it turns out to be. I think it could be a great product,” Kisner said. “It’s basically a big simulator. We’re hitting off real grass.

“I’ll be interested because they have different grass for where your ball ends up. And they have a green that moves. You play real golf around the green.”

There’s a total of 24 players, and he will join Woods, Max Homa and Tom Kim on the Jupiter team.

“I don’t know how exactly they made the teams,” Kisner said. “Tiger called me and said I was going to be on his team, so I guess he picked me. Anytime you can hang out with Tiger it’s a good thing.”

After playing in the TGL, Kisner will fly to California and tee it up in the American Express event in Palm Springs. Other events he plans to play in are the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, the Valspar Championship near Tampa, Fla., and the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.

For his broadcast weeks, Kisner said “most of those are only weekend.”

“I’ll fly in Fridays and see the guys, then spend most of the morning Saturday talking to players and checking the course,” he said.

And Kisner also will be part of the Ryder Cup. U.S. Captain Keegan Bradley named him a vice captain for the event at Bethpage Black this fall.

“His extensive match-play success and strong relationships make him a perfect fit,” Bradley said in a statement. “I look forward to working with him closely.”

How Kisner plays early in the season will dictate his schedule. But, as he likes to point out, being a player comes first.

“If I can get in The Players, that’s the goal early in the year,” he said. “Get a chance at Augusta, and see if you can’t keep it rolling from there.”