Gary Dennis McCord (born May 23, 1948) is an American professional golfer, commentator and author.

Early life and career

McCord was born in San Gabriel, California, and raised in southern California, graduating from Ramona High School in Riverside. He was a two-time Division II All-American for the UC Riverside Highlanders of the University of California, Riverside. He won the NCAA Division II individual championship in 1970 and turned professional in 1971. McCord played in over 400 PGA Tour events but never won. His best two finishes on the PGA Tour were at the

Greater Milwaukee Open The Greater Milwaukee Open was a regular golf tournament in Wisconsin on the PGA Tour. For 42 years, it was played annually in the Milwaukee area, the final sixteen editions in the north suburb of Brown Deer at the Brown Deer Park Golf Course. U. ...

, placing second in both 1975 and

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

. During his years on tour, he had two dozen top-10 finishes. One year in his career won the PGA Tour category of "Fewest Putts." He helped reach this benchmark by, late in the season, deliberately missing the green and then chipping close to ensure few putts. McCord was involved in an embarrassing episode during the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis. When lining up a putt on the 15th green, McCord's pants split open, exposing his backside as he was not wearing any underwear. McCord wrapped a towel around his midriff and went off to find a replacement pair of pants. Eventually Peter Jacobsen offered McCord his rain pants for a "fee" of $20.

Broadcasting and writing career

At age 37 in 1986, McCord joined CBS Sports as a golf analyst. He was noted for his outspokenness and irreverence, traits that got him banished from the CBS commentary team for the Masters Tournament. During the network's Masters coverage in 1994, McCord remarked that the 17th green was so fast it seemed to be " bikini-waxed", and that "

body bag A body bag, also known as a cadaver pouch or human remains pouch (HRP), is a non-porous bag designed to contain a human body, used for the storage and transportation of shrouded corpses. History In the United States, the apparent first docum ...

s" were located behind the green for players who missed their approach shots. Several months later,

Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. Unlike most private clubs which operate as non-profits, Augusta National is a for-profit corporation, and it does n ...

used its influence with CBS to have him removed from the Masters commentary team. While McCord continued to cover every other golf event aired by CBS, he did not return to Augusta with the network. He was not the first CBS commentator to be banned: Jack Whitaker referred to the gallery at the end of the 18-hole playoff in 1966 as a "mob" rather than "patrons" and was banned for the next five Masters; he was allowed to return in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

. After 33 years, McCord was not brought back for CBS’s 2020 golf broadcast team. McCord also plays a limited schedule on the Champions Tour. After turning 50 in May

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, he won his first title at the Toshiba Senior Classic in March 1999, and also won that year's Ingersoll-Rand Senior Tour Championship. Back in 1991, he won the Gateway Open on the Ben Hogan Tour, the second-tier golf tour in the U.S., now called the Korn Ferry Tour. McCord has also written two books, ''Just a Range Ball in a Box of

Titleist Titleist (pronounced "title-ist") is an American brand name of golf equipment produced by the Acushnet Company, headquartered in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, United States. The Titleist brand, established in 1932 by Phillip E. Young, focuses on gol ...

s'' and ''Golf for Dummies''. In 1996, he appeared as himself in the Kevin Costner movie ''

Tin Cup ''Tin Cup'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy and sports film co-written and directed by Ron Shelton, and starring Kevin Costner and Rene Russo with Cheech Marin and Don Johnson in major supporting roles. The film received generally positive r ...

'', a movie he says is based on his life. He and fellow former CBS commentator

Peter Kostis Peter Kostis (born December 23, 1947 in Sanford, Maine) is an American golf analyst and instructor. Among his many students are Paul Casey, Chez Reavie, Bernhard Langer, Steve Elkington, Dan Marino, Maury Povich, and Mike Schmidt. He has the Pe ...

are partners in the Kostis/McCord Learning Center in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

. McCord formerly served as a co-announcer on the

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

Tiger Woods PGA Tour ''PGA Tour'' is a series of golf video games developed and published by Electronic Arts - and later their EA Sports sub-label - since 1990. The series primarily features courses featured on the U.S. PGA Tour, and other notable courses (such as t ...

series along with

David Feherty David William Feherty (born 13 August 1958) is a former professional golfer and current golf broadcaster. As a touring professional he won five European Tour events, competed at the Open Championship twice (1989 and 1994), and played on Europe' ...

Personal life

McCord lives with his wife, Diane, in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and

Edwards, Colorado Edwards is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Eagle County, Colorado, United States. Edwards is the principal town of the Edwards, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Edwards ...

Amateur wins

*1970 NCAA Division II Championship

Professional wins (3)

Ben Hogan Tour wins (1)

Senior PGA Tour wins (2)

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–2)

Results in major championships

''Note: McCord only played in the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

U.S. national team appearances

Professional * Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (representing Senior PGA Tour): 2002

References

External links

Gary McCord's Homepage
*
Grayhawk Learning Center
(formerly Kostis~McCord Learning Center) {{DEFAULTSORT:McCord, Gary American male golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Golf writers and broadcasters Golfers from California Golfers from Arizona Golfers from Colorado University of California, Riverside alumni People from San Gabriel, California Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California People from Paradise Valley, Arizona Sportspeople from the Phoenix metropolitan area People from Eagle County, Colorado 1948 births Living people