CBS Golf hires Johnson Wagner, completes 2026 broadcast team

Two years ago, on a hot practice run at the US Open, Johnson Wagner arrived.

It wasn’t that Wagner was a stranger in these parts before arriving at Pinehurst—Wagner had played in two US Opens, in 2004 and 2007, before arriving at the national championship as a broadcaster in 2024. Before joining Golf Channel in 2020, he had been a successful PGA Tour player for more than a decade, earning $12.5 million on the course and winning three times.

But it wasn’t until that U.S. Open at Pinehurst, weeks after launching his now-infamous on-course segments on the Golf Channel, that Wagner went from television analyst to Internet sensation.

He loomed at the range, wearing a light blue NBC Sports polo over his six-foot frame, his black mustache glistening in the sun. And, because he remained outside, it wasn’t long before the well-wishers came. First fellow broadcasters, then other fellow media, and soon, players and corpses.

It had been a heady few weeks for Wagner leading up to that US Open. First, in players championshipThe Golf Channel had announced plans for Wagner to try a new content idea: “acting out” the biggest golf stories of the day. At the time, it seemed like Wagner would use his playing pedigree to take fans deeper into the biggest sights and moments. But another result had materialized on Friday afternoon.

After several days of chips and giddy laughter, cameras caught Wagner tossing golf balls into a bank along the left side of the 7th hole at TPC Sawgrass with a rooster jump. One viral video led to another, and then another, and finally, to Pinehurst Tuesday, when every person he met shared the same sentiment with a smile.

“Thanks for the laugh.”

Two years later, that Tuesday at Pinehurst stands out as the moment everything changed for Wagner.

After two years of viral hits on the Golf Channel, sources confirmed that CBS has hired Wagner as an on-course analyst, replacing Colt Knost as the No. 1 “foot reporter.” 2 of the network behind the industry legend. Pepper Dottie.

Wagner’s ascension to CBS caps a season of transition for the network after the retirement of longtime analyst Ian Baker-Finch. Baker-Finch’s spot in the CBS “super booth” will be filled by Knost, who moves up after five years as a course analyst for the network, and Knost’s spot in the course will be filled by Wagner. According to the same sources, Wagner will no longer continue in his viral role Live Fromalthough he could replay segments in a similar style for CBS.

For CBS, the previous sentence is the only case it needs to justify hiring Wagner. Most viewers only know Wagner in late 2025 for his social media escapades, meaning they know him mostly as a form of comic relief. Wagner won’t do much to counter these accusations: His CBS hire wouldn’t have been possible without the viral, mainstream segments that have dominated social media for the past two years, and hell, he sure looks the part. His stocky, mustachioed build gives him the overall look of a 1970s reporter, while his penchant for short-match shots next to the hosel is unmatched in current (or former) golf media. CBS won’t dispute the timing value of Wagner’s humor, either: Laughter can be medicine during the dull hours of a mid-July PGA Tour telecast, and Wagner’s knack for creating viral moments works in a media environment increasingly dominated by “personalities.”

But to true The upside of Wagner’s hiring at CBS has little to do with his current standing as the laughing stock of the golf media. Perhaps Wagner’s finest moment as a broadcaster came a year before anyone knew him as a talk-show host: his multi-minute monologue criticizing PGA Tour leadership and his messages following the stunning PGA Tour/PIF merger on June 6, 2023. Wagner will enter a job defined above all by his sportsmanship and more candid ability to communicate. for the athletes rather than the audience, Wagner’s ability to tap into his sincerity represents a potential gold mine for CBS.

Of course, it is possible that you did not know this. One of the main pitfalls of social media is its tendency to flatten our view of the world around us. In an environment built on attention-grabbing algorithms and bite-sized pieces of content, we’re made to see people on social media as two-dimensional caricatures.

Wagner’s biggest opportunity and biggest challenge at CBS will be the transformation from first to second — and though CBS won’t say it, they’re betting he will.

***

Sunday night at the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst, I found Johnson Wagner on the verge of changing hearts and minds. The championship had ended long ago, and now, as he stood in the dark by the 18th green, Wagner had to deliver his last segment on the course for the week.

It had been another week of lung-sharp mishaps for Wagner at the national championships. His Golf Channel co-hosts could hardly contain their laughter as the latest laugh-out-loud chips and chip shots rolled across the screen – and Wagner couldn’t either. He took the week in stride, watching his social media following grow under his misfortune.

Now, on Sunday, it was time for the granddaddy of them all: Wagner’s attempt to recreate Bryson DeChambeau’s improbable putt from the green bunker on the 18th hole to win the US Open. As the crew waited, I watched as one cameraman alerted another – who was standing atop Pinehurst CLUBabout 100 meters away – be on high alert for a ball in his direction. Soon, DeChambeau arrived in a cart clutching the trophy and the cameras were rolling.

After a brief preamble and a few shouts from DeChambeau, Wagner extended his wedge and settled into the sand. Seconds later, he splashed off the ground and watched as his ball soared into the sky, landed on the cement surface, and came to rest three feet from the flag… WITHIN of DeChambeau’s own sign from just a few hours ago.

I’d like to think Wagner was surprised when his ball went flat, capping off his week with one last viral video — this time as a US Open hero.

But maybe that was just me.