So Long Lanny. Hello Nick.

Best news of the day: Nick Faldo replacing Lanny Wadkins as main golf commentator on CBS coverage of the PGA (link). Lanny was even more annoying than Johnny Miller on NBC, and the supreme all time master of stating the obvious or making a critique that was 180 degrees off reality. Johnny may be a bigger prick and say things just to be mean, but at least he had an element of self-effacement. And Johnny was usually right along with being unnecessarily brutal. Lanny was just a pedantic fool.

The thing I really disliked about Lanny has less to do with what he does on television. I had occasion to meet him once. It was not a good experience. A friend of mine from Seattle and I were at a conference in Charleston back in the late 80s or early 90s. We would always get to our conference site the weekend before the meetings or stay the weekend following and eat and drink and play golf, on the company. This isn’t as bad as it sounds because back then, staying over a Saturday night meant a savings of up to $5 or 600, so it was good for the company too.

On this trip we had made arrangements to play Wild Dunes golf club on the Isle of Pines (I believe). The pace of play started slow and got even slower. There weren’t enough alligators on the course or dolphins in waterways along the course to keep things interesting. We made the turn in just less than three hours and, for a twosome, it seemed even longer. On probably the 12th hole, a lackey for Mr. Wadkins drove up to us and said that Lanny was playing with the club pro behind us and poor Lanny had a plane to catch and could they play through. Whaddya say? So we let them. They played through, expressed insufficient gratitude, played through all the groups ahead of us. Lanny undoubtedly played his 18 in less than four hours while we suffered through a six-plus hour round.

And I thought to myself, “So let me get this straight. I’m lucky if I play once a week. I pay $75 or 80. I suffer through one of the longest rounds of golf of my life. While Mr. Lanny Wadkins plays all the freaking time. Never has to pay for a round of golf. And gets to play through anybody he wants because he has “plane to catch???" What’s wrong with this picture? His attitude of privilege, that's what's wrong.

So now he gets fired from his cushy announcing gig. Oh they said it was his choice to leave the booth so he could devote more time to the Champions Tour and to his family. Riiiight. I’ll bet it was his choice about as much as there really was a plane he had to catch 15 years ago in Charleston. Karma.

So play well on the Champions Tour, dude. As for Nick Faldo? Always respected him as a golfer. Really liked him later in his golfing career. Love him as an announcer. Wonderful wit. Inspired insight. Cool accent. I’m a sucker for the Brits with the occasional Irishman thrown in. You won’t need any luck Nick. You’ll do great. You haven’t anchored a telecast yet and you’re already the class of the field.