(Getty)
For the third year in a row, Fox and Fox Sports 1 will have television coverage of the U.S. Open. And for the third year in a row, Holly Sonders will be a part of that broadcast team.
Sonders, 30, has been around golf all her life. Her mother, Sandy, was a decorated club champion who introduced her daughter to the sport when she was six years old. After an accomplished junior career, she played at Michigan State, where she tallied one Top-10 and four Top-20 finishes before her career was ultimately cut short by a knee injury.
“That was a sad time, to be 20, 21 years old and know your dream of playing professionally is over,” she says. “After the surgery, I couldn’t walk for many, many months my junior year at MSU. I came back from that but could never play the same again.”
Still, extensive golf knowledge and a degree in journalism meant Sonders wouldn’t have to give up the sport. After stints with local news and the Big Ten Network, she was hired in 2011 by the Golf Channel, where she hosted “Morning Drive” and quickly became one of golf’s most popular television personalities. She landed on the cover of Golf Digest in May 2013 and has been named on Golf.com’s list of “Most Beautiful Women in Golf” several times.
That growing popularity landed Sonders the job with Fox Sports in July 2014, though her first US Open was met with controversy. Fox in general drew plenty of criticism for its coverage, but Sonders was at the forefront of that when she infamously asked winner Jordan Spieth if he had a fifth outfit had the tournament gone to a playoff.
She took it in stride:
Sonders was moved from the interviews to the post-game show for the US Women’s Open a month later, but she was back doing post-round interviews at the 2016 US Open, where things went much more smoothly.
While her expertise is clearly golf, Sonders has been expanding her versatility. She worked several NFL games as a sideline reporter with Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston in 2016, and this upcoming season she’ll rotate with Shannon Spake as part of the Sam Rosen and David Diehl broadcast team.
“I don’t think I’ve achieved my biggest accomplishment yet,” she says. “I think my biggest accomplish is still to come.”
