NBC Sports is having an all-female broadcast team call the first LPGA Tour event in October. The ShopRite LPGA Classic at the Bay Course at Seaview in Galloway, N.J., on October 1-3 on GOLF Channel, will feature the first-ever all-women golf broadcast team in U.S. television history.
The historic commentary team features Cara Banks on play-by-play duties, while flanked by analysts Judy Rankin and Paige Mackenzie along with on-course reporters Karen Stupples and Kay Cockerill.
“We’re thrilled to assemble this incredibly accomplished group of women for our broadcast of the ShopRite LPGA Classic on GOLF Channel,” executive producer for NBC Olympics and GOLF Channel Molly Solomon said.
Solomon made history in her field as the first woman to serve in her current NBC role for a national sports network. A woman with experience making history is also producing the tournament coverage. NBC Sports and GOLF Channel producer Beth Hutter is handling production duties. She has over 15 years of experience and is the first woman to produce the U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club and women’s golf coverage at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Our NBC Sports team features talented women at all levels,” Solomon continued. “Both on-camera and behind-the-scenes – who are essential to making our coverage a success on every platform, and we’re honored to celebrate their work as part of this broadcast.”
This upcoming broadcast is part of 500-plus hours of 2021 women’s golf coverage, the most time NBC has ever dedicated to women’s golf. The event falls in line with other barrier-breaking feats from the past two years.
The network broadcasted an all-women NHL broadcast last March and had Rene Hatfield produce the 2021 Indy 500. She is the first female producer in history to do so. Lindsey Schanzer notched the same feat in Triple Crown race production when she produced this year’s Preakness and Belmont Stakes on NBC.