Every once in a while, a TV talent announces themselves to the world so clearly and distinctly that the entire industry rises to meet them.
Job offers fly from the trees. Networks open their checkbooks. Fans follow the star’s next move with bated breath.
This is not one of those stories.
There are many ways to understand The meteoric rise of Johnson Wagner in golf from fringe pro to walk-on reporter for CBS, his new employers starting this week at Torrey Pines. But perhaps the best way is to accept Wagner for who he is: One of sports TV’s truest underdogs.
Wagner wasn’t a social media celebrity when he was hired part-time by the Golf Channel in 2022. He didn’t have a streak of major championship success or a long history of compelling podcast interviews. Most weeks during his playing career, the most attention he generated was the mild fascination with the phonetics of his namesake brand of jeans.
Anonymity was not an obstacle for the network or the broadcaster. The Golf Channel recognized Wagner’s reputation as one of golf’s most beloved professionals. And, at 42, Wagner wasn’t fooled about the “weight” of his “celebrity” after two decades and a handful of PGA Tour wins. He just wanted a shot to prove himself.
“My goal was to say yes to everything,” says Wagner. “I just wanted to be as useful and productive as possible.”
Ease helped. Wagner’s early days at the Golf Channel were a challenge. He was uncomfortable in front of the camera. His analysis was calm and flat. He felt like he was struggling just to get the words out.
He was not the first. Many – if not MOST — athletes-turned-broadcasters struggle through their early careers in front of the camera. It makes sense: the subject matter may be familiar, but the discipline is new and the terrain foreign. It is generally difficult to be humble, but it is more difficult when you have spent the vast majority of your life among the best in the world in your chosen profession. To face both of these realities while standing in front of a national television audience? Well, it’s not hard to see why so many athletes find retirement life appealing after a year on the gridiron.
Wagner wishes he could say he wasn’t afraid of the early struggles—that his instincts as an entertainer took over without any conviction—but that would be a lie. He survived those first few days not because he was better, but because he was willing to admit that he wasn’t. As he tried to gain his footing, he addressed the television professionals around him (and below him) with a remarkably candid question: Any tips?
“That was the day I fell in love with television, and it was my third day on the Golf Channel,” Wagner says, recalling the big talk from a segment producer named Harris Chang that changed everything.
“We went out to dinner last night, had a beer and talked golf — that’s what we want to meet on the air,” Chang told Wagner. “I don’t know if you’re trying to act like Brandel (Chamblee), but we want you to be yourself.”
Wagner may have been well within his rights to ignore such candid feedback from someone below him on the television food chain. Instead, he thanked her.
“I took it to heart,” Wagner said.
It was an important moment for Wagner as a broadcaster, but perhaps not in the way he thought. From that day on, Wagner had earned a reputation as the consummate teammate—the kind of broadcaster who went anywhere, tackled every task, and took on every challenge with good humor. Across the industry, people took notice.
“I think what he brought from his playing days to his broadcasting days was an element of vulnerability,” says Dottie Pepper, Wagner’s new teammate (and CBS’s lead reporter on foot). “He struggled with some parts of the game and he never hid behind it. I think it will be very valuable.”
For a long time, Wagner’s growth took place in silence. Occasionally, fans or fellow Tour pros would stop him to share positive comments (or, more often, admiration for his mustache).
Eventually, people caught on. Wagner’s voice was thoughtful and his analysis was studied and honest. His teammates loved working with him. His bosses at the Golf Channel were pushing him for bigger roles.
Those small moments boiled over in the spring of 2024, when the Golf Channel encouraged Wagner to try a new segment on Live From, recreating the highlight of each day. (Years ago, the idea originated, to some success, with one of Wagner’s golf heroes — and now a teammate at CBS — Frank Nobilo.)
The thought was that Wagner’s analysis would take fans deeper into the difficulty of tournament golf shots and the skill level required to execute them, but the result ended up looking very Bill Murray joke that every Olympic competition must include a normal person for reference. Wagner stepped in front of the camera looking serious and focused… and then he squeezed a wedge shot. And then another. And then another. Until he had beaten so much that even he couldn’t stop laughing. The video generated significant viral traction.
A few days later, Wagner returned to action after a curious fall from Rory McIlroy. He nearly dislocated his shoulder bouncing a golf ball down the side of a hill to recreate the situation. Another social media clip, another viral video. Then came the weekend. Another fiddle. More virality.
By the time he arrived at the US Open at Pinehurst two months later, Wagner was a celebrity. By the end of the week – and beyond improving Bryson DeChambeau’s heroic and tournament-winning bunker shot late Sunday night — he was a folk hero. The television industry took notice. Finally, Wagner was on the rise … and ready for it.
“There were times in my playing career where I maybe got a little lazy, when things felt easy. So when I started in TV, I wanted to go as high as I could,” says Wagner. “I know I don’t have the credentials to be a Johnny Miller or a Trevor Immelman. But I want to be the best I can be.”
The irony, of course, is that Wagner’s everyman credentials are central to his viral success. The misfortunes have come organically, but they are only funny because Wagner is not a great champion. Without Wagner’s sense of self, his segments might have welcomed more cringes than chuckles. Its relatability is its essence.
“He has shown weakness in it Live From segments, (he showed) asking for help when he first started broadcasting,” says Pepper. “Vulnerability is going to be key as he continues to try to maintain that polish, because he’s gotten better and better.”
In the end, the climax of Wagner’s story on television was not exactly Rudi. Ian Baker-Finch was retiring from his position in the CBS Golf booth and Colt Knost was moving up to replace him. That left a spot on the CBS Golf team as the third standing reporter BEHIND Pepper and Mark Immelman. Although Wagner had only been a reporter on foot several times on the Golf Channel and NBC, CBS was interested in what they had heard and seen. An offer came and Wagner accepted.
“I still can’t believe it,” Wagner says now. “Three years ago, I was starting out in TV. Now I’m with CBS. It’s incredible.”
Fear not, golf fans—as part of his work with CBS, Wagner will be bringing his own Live From segments with it. He says the exact dimensions of these efforts are still taking shape, but their importance in promoting Wagner is hard to ignore.
“If it wasn’t for my role Live FromI don’t think there was any way I was considered for the job,” admits Wagner. “It’s definitely made me who I am on the air, and interacting with the fans in major leagues, it’s overwhelming that they know who I am and that they enjoy watching me.”
Shocking to him maybe, but not for everyone else. If you want to know what makes Wagner a good fit for this promotion — and the jobs that will come after it — you don’t need to understand broadcasting nuance or broadcasting ability.
Just a much more human superpower: humility.
“I have to prove myself,” he says. “I don’t want to be complacent in a role and think, I’m too good for that, or I’m too good for that. To start all over again with a new station, with a new company – this is it what keeps me motivated now.”
;)
