For the first time since 2022, a new voice will welcome golf fans to Augusta National on SiriusXM’s comprehensive radio coverage of The Masters. Taylor Zarzour, the longtime backup play-by-play announcer and studio host, will step into the lead role when the tournament tees off on April 9, 2026.
Where is Mike Tirico?
He replaces Mike Tirico, who is stepping away for the year after an extraordinarily demanding schedule that included calling Super Bowl LX for NBC last month, hosting the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, carrying the NBA’s return to the network all season, and handling his usual Sunday Night Football duties.
Tirico personally called Zarzour during Super Bowl week to deliver the news, according to The Tennessean’s Mike Organ. The veteran broadcaster made it clear this was Zarzour’s moment and that he fully intends to reclaim the assignment in 2027. The gesture underscored the respect Tirico has for the man who has sat beside him in the booth for four years.
Tirico had been SiriusXM’s Masters voice since 2022, bringing unmatched gravitas to the role. His deep ties to Augusta National stretched back nearly 25 years through his ESPN tenure. When he left ESPN for NBC in 2016, he gave up his on-site presence at the tournament. The SiriusXM gig became his way back inside the ropes, an opportunity he embraced with the same preparation and polish that define his network television work. Handing the microphone to Zarzour now feels like passing a torch within the same family.
Zarzour is more than ready. Since 2022 he has served as Tirico’s backup play-by-play voice while also anchoring SiriusXM’s pre- and post-round programming and calling featured-group coverage before the live tournament broadcast begins each day. The booth’s structure gave Tirico the final calls on every hole, but Zarzour stepped in whenever a hole lacked a dedicated on-course reporter. That steady, year-after-year exposure to Augusta’s rhythms—its echoes, its tension, its sudden roars—has prepared him for the biggest stage in golf radio.
Get to know Taylor Zarzour
This will mark Zarzour’s 17th year covering the Masters in various capacities. He will call all four rounds from a booth near the 18th green, the same vantage point that has become synonymous with the tournament’s most dramatic moments. The Nashville resident joked with The Tennessean that he and CBS’s Jim Nantz, another Nashville local and the longtime television voice of The Masters, might carpool to Augusta if the offer ever comes. The lighthearted remark highlights how closely intertwined the two broadcasters’ lives have become in a city that now serves as home base for some of golf’s most recognizable voices.
Beyond the Masters, Zarzour’s résumé continues to grow. Last year he became the radio voice of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, adding another high-profile assignment to his portfolio. He has also handled play-by-play duties in recent years for the SEC Network’s college football and basketball coverage, proving his versatility across major sports.
For SiriusXM subscribers, the change represents continuity rather than disruption. Zarzour already knows the format, the expectations, and the unique demands of painting pictures for listeners who cannot see the azaleas or the green jackets. His familiarity with the course, the players, and the broadcast team should ensure a seamless transition when the patrons gather once again under the Georgia pines.
Tirico’s planned return in 2027 means this is not a permanent handoff, but a well-earned opportunity for Zarzour to shine on one of golf’s grandest stages. For four days in April, his voice will carry the drama of Amen Corner, the electricity of the back nine, and the quiet reverence that only Augusta National can inspire. Golf fans who rely on SiriusXM for wall-to-wall Masters coverage will hear a broadcaster who has earned every word he speaks, and who has been preparing for this exact moment since the day he first sat down next to Mike Tirico.
