Once at home on the course, Andy North has forged another career as ESPN lead golf analyst
BRADENTON ― It could be opined that golf fans know Andy North more for his work off the course than on it.
On it, the 73-year-old native of Monona, Wisconsin, and University of Florida graduate recorded 15 PGA Tour victories in a career lasting from 1972 to 1992. Two of the wins came in the U.S. Open (1978, 1985). Ironically, a medical condition as a teenager may have opened the door to North’s career.
A bone disease in his left knee kept him on crutches in the seventh and eighth grades. Growing up, as was common during his time, North played multiple sports, but the bone disease negated a future in most of them.
“The doctors thought maybe I could play golf,” said North, in Bradenton to serve as lead golf analyst for ESPN's coverage of The Champions Cup.
The doctors were correct. North won the 1969 Wisconsin State Amateur Championship before a career as a Gator during which he was a three-time first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection and a three-time All-American. North graduated from Florida with a bachelor’s degree in business and was later inducted into UF’s Athletic Hall of Fame as a “Gator Great.”
He looked back fondly on his pro career “and sometimes,” he said, “you can’t believe some of the stuff you got to do and the people you got to meet and the traveling you did. And to win the Open a couple of times, obviously, is something that’s very important.”
Got questions?: How does the World Champions Cup work? The PGA Tour Champions event at The Concession explained
But North’s entry into television, much like his career as a player, came about due to a physical limitation, and not his own. In 1992, ESPN’s Gary Koch fell and broke his ankle. The network needed someone for an event the next week in Quad Cities. North, who was taking time off from the Tour to recover from injuries, agreed to do it.
“It went reasonably well,” North said, “and they asked me to join (ESPN) the next year.”
He began as an on-course reporter before being promoted in 2004 to lead on-course reporter for ESPN and ABC Sports. But it was a career that didn’t begin without a few hiccups.
The Concession: World Champions Cup deserves a champions course, and The Concession's Tyler Casey is ready
“You don’t have any clue what you’re doing when you start out,” North said. “You learn by mistakes and you get your butt chewed every day for a couple of years ... ‘What are you doing out there?’ You’re just trying to figure it out, but I’ve had some great people to work with and have had a ton of fun and it’s been 30-plus years.
“The beauty of this is you’re in the game you love. You’re around a bunch of guys you spent your whole life with. You got a lot of great friends out here, and you can say it’s work and you work at it, but it’s not the worst thing you could do.”
Though he has yet to play The Concession, North said it’s a course that’s “unbelievably difficult” for the average player.
“For these guys,” he said, “it’s not quite as bad. The green complexes are very difficult; there’s a lot of motion in the greens. They’re all elevated, so chipping and pitching around the greens is very, very difficult, even for the best players in the world. It’s going to show really well on TV, it’s a beautiful course and it’s in wonderful shape, and I think it’s going to be a great week.”
North, who played on the 1985 Ryder Cup team, said players tend to put more pressure on themselves in a team event.
“You don’t want to let down somebody,” he said. “Sometimes that leads to guys playing better, sometimes it leads to them not playing as well. The thing about this week is almost all these guys have played the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup. So they understand what it’s going to be like. I think this is really going to be a successful event because the beautiful part of it is that fans turning on the TV, they know every one of these names. They know Ernie Els. They know Colin Montgomerie. I think that makes it enjoyable for the viewer.”
So, too, does the presence of Andy North.
Friday’s groupings for the World Champions Cup
MORNING (Six-ball)
9:05 a.m.
Team Europe – Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke
Team International – Steven Alker, Retief Goosen
Team USA – David Toms, Brett Quigley
9:25 a.m.
Team Europe – Miguel Angel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson
Team International – K.J. Choi, Ernie Els
Team USA – Steve Stricker, Billy Andrade
9:45 a.m.
Team Europe – Bernhard Langer, Alex Čejka
Team International – Vijay Singh, Stephen Ames
Team USA – Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard
AFTERNOON (Modified Alternate Shot)
12:50 p.m.
Team Europe – Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke
Team International – Steven Alker, Retief Goosen
Team USA – David Toms, Brett Quigley
1:05 p.m.
Team Europe – Miguel Angel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson
Team International – K.J. Choi, Ernie Els
Team USA – Steve Stricker, Billy Andrade
1:20 p.m.
Team Europe – Bernhard Langer, Alex Čejka
Team International – Vijay Singh, Stephen Ames
Team USA – Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: In Bradenton for the World Champions Cup, Andy North at home behind mic
