The 90th Masters Tournament was a masterpiece on and off the course. While Rory McIlroy was busy cementing his legacy with a historic back-to-back defense, a secondary war was erupting in the broadcast booths. Now, after labeling the CBS coverage “bull—-“, NBC’s Kevin Kisner has officially reached for the olive branch, issuing a public apology to the peers he had so sharply rebuked.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“I just have to apologize to the golf team at CBS. I crossed the line probably too much by talking about that whole content,” Kisner said, appearing on an episode of the Barstool Sports Fore Play podcast.
“Know from my short time in the business how wild production is, right? It is a very difficult thing to produce a live show and make it all work, and everybody does their best. NBC screws up all the time, and we’re just trying to do our best. I went too far in being critical of them. I just want all the people associated with it to know I apologize. They’re our partners in the PGA Tour. They continue to showcase in a great way the game we all love. They’re all trying to do their best, and I was too critical of them.”
Kisner joined NBC Sports as its permanent lead golf analyst in December 2024. While he was hired as an analyst, his role exists within a complex ecosystem where NBC and CBS are essentially sharing a partnership with the PGA Tour and major championships. It ensures the stability of professional golf’s media presence through the early 2030s. For instance, NBC and USA Sports recently extended their media rights deal with the PGA of America through 2033, covering events like the Ryder Cup.
In such a tightly-knit relationship, criticism from the lead voice of one partner network against another is almost unprecedented. So, Kisner’s admission that ‘NBC screws up all the time’ was a necessary professional olive branch. It acknowledges the immense technical difficulty of covering a property like Augusta National, which requires managing over 50 cameras and hundreds of personnel across 30+ hours of live television.
Before the apology, Kisner’s initial reaction to the CBS broadcast was one of total disbelief. Working for the SiriusXM radio broadcast during the weekend, Kisner had a real-time view of the action. He went on to say that the CBS coverage was a “fantasy world” and “bull—-,” alleging that the network was presenting shots that had actually occurred 7 to 10 minutes prior as if they were live. Kisner also compared the experience to watching a Super Bowl touchdown seven minutes late while the players were already “taking a piss” in the locker room.
Kisner’s frustration was so sharp during the final round that he actually texted CBS on-course commentator Colt Knost while the show was still on the air.
Kisner sent a blunt message: “Do y’all ever show a live shot? I’m better off following the f—ing app than following your feed”.
Knost reportedly replied that the network shows the shots in order, a structural production choice that Kisner found unacceptable.
Jim Nantz, the legendary voice of the Masters for CBS since 1989, also addressed the backlash on The Pat McAfee Show.
Nantz was defensive but realistic: “It’s live television. We all make mistakes.”
Kisner hence further emphasized CBS’ role role in the growth of golf, acknowledging the reality of human errors.
“They continue to showcase, in a great way, the game we all love,” he said. “Everyone’s trying to do their best, and I was too critical.”
And well, the network, in a way, did its best. CBS Sports said on Tuesday that the final round on Sunday had an average of almost 14 million viewers. This was an increase of 8% from the previous year and the biggest closing-round audience for the tournament in more than ten years. At its peak, the show had more than 20 million viewers as Rory McIlroy won his second green jacket in a row.
Still, we have to understand the backlash against CBS wasn’t just about delays. It was about specific and high-profile production blunders during Sunday’s decisive moments.
Six final round failures: Why the fans were fuming
CBS cameras completely lost track of Rory McIlroy’s critical second shot from the trees on the final 18th Hole. It left viewers in the dark for over a minute about where the tournament leader’s ball had landed and where the tournament was actually heading.
In arguably the most significant miss, the camera angle for McIlroy’s winning tap-in was blocked by his own body. It prevented the audience from actually seeing the ball drop into the hole.
The broadcast then also failed to track playing partner Cameron Young’s approach shot on the 18th and also completely omitted any visual footage of Haotong Li’s catastrophic quintuple-bogey 10 on the 13th hole. Co-leader Sam Burns “Icarito’d” the second hole with a double-bogey that shifted the power balance of the tournament. Yet the primary feed failed to provide the necessary context or footage of the disaster.
And fans tracking live data knew Scheffler had birdied the 3rd hole to charge within two shots of the lead. But CBS didn’t show the putt until several minutes later, stripping the moment of its live impact.
And while CBS struggled with traditional hurdles, Amazon Prime Video’s 2026 Masters debut was met with widespread acclaim. Led by Terry Gannon and featuring Jack Nicklaus, the Amazon broadcast felt like a glimpse into the future of sports media. Amazon introduced “Inside Amen Corner,” a data-driven alternate feed that utilized real-time shot tracing and advanced analytics.
