Former ESPN Anchor Says He’s Been Banned From Augusta National Golf Club

Kenny Mayne doesn’t expect to return to Augusta National Golf Club.

The former ESPN anchor, who was once part of the network’s Masters coverage, said on the God Bless Football podcast that he has been barred from the hallowed grounds after an edgy comment he made while promoting the year’s first major championship.

“I’m banned for life from Augusta, I think,” Mayne said. “I used to cover golf, I used to do the TPC Sawgrass [the Players Championship], and I did the U.S. Open every year for, I don’t know, seven or eight years. It was me, [Scott] Van Pelt, Andy North, the whole gang.

“At TPC one year, I just made some smartass comment about, ‘We’ll see you at the Masters, where we bring four saucy ladies out to play!’ Or, you know, just something stupid, right? But mentioning that I’m bringing women to play golf. And [Augusta National] called into the ESPN truck, like we’re still on the air, and the people in Augusta are literally, they somehow have the inside number to the truck. And they were like, ‘He is not coming!’ So I was never invited to go by my lords.”

This isn’t unprecedented. In 1966, Jack Whitaker of CBS Sports was banned from the Masters when he said “here comes the mob” while referencing the patrons at the 18th hole in a playoff. However, he returned to the broadcast five years later.

In 1994, CBS Sports broadcaster Gary McCord was removed from the Masters’ telecast team after saying, “I don’t think they mow these greens, I think they bikini wax them.”

ESPN has broadcast the Masters every year since 2008. The network handles the first two rounds and early weekend coverage before the telecast shifts to CBS on the final two days.

Augusta National is known to be attentive with phrasing in its tournament coverage. For example, on air, fans are referred to as “patrons” and the back nine is called the “second nine.”

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