Tim Bourret’s post-Clemson career keeps getting better and better
When NBC’s coverage of the recent 147th Open Championship — aka the British Open — began at Carnoustie Golf Club on July 19, announcers and analysts talked about Jean van de Velde’s infamous 18th–hole meltdown in 1999, Tom Watson’s breakthrough Open victory in 1975, and Padraig Harrington’s first of two Claret Jug victories in 2007, all at the toughest course in the Open rotation.
At the end, it was all about Francesco Molinari’s steady win over the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and — a ratings bonus — a resurgent Tiger Woods.
Few viewers outside of Clemson took note of The Open debut of Tim Bourret, the Tigers’ sports information guru for 40 years. In fact, you never saw the recently retired Bourret on camera — by design, he said.
When NBC cut to former PGA Tour player and current tower announcer Peter Jacobsen for a comment, though, Bourret was close — literally.
“I’m just a foot to Peter’s right,” said Bourret, who provides Jacobsen with up-to-the-minute data during telecasts. Each time the network alerts Jacobsen that a close-up of him — known as a “Little Jake” shot — is coming, “that tells me to move over so my elbow isn’t in the picture.”
OK, not exactly stardom, but Bourret has no complaints. After four decades as a walking encyclopedia on all things Clemson, he’s found the perfect post-career job.
This week, that perfect job got even better. On Thursday, Bourret learned he will be part of NBC’s telecasts of the Ryder Cup Matches, scheduled for Sept. 28-30 at Le Golf National near Paris, France.
Talk about bonus coverage.
“It’s going to be a busy September,” said Bourret, who will work the first two rounds and the championship of the FedEx Cup playoffs before departing for France. “I’ve never been to a Ryder Cup, so that’s two ‘bucket list’ items (with The Open) in about two months.”
Bourret won’t quit working at Clemson. The Tigers’ radio network will have him keep football statistics and offer the occasional on-air commentary during October and November. “I’ve had so many friends say, ‘Can I sleep on the floor in your hotel room?’ ” the 63-year-old said.
“I couldn’t have a better gig. I’m so fortunate.”
Of course, fortune usually finds the prepared. Bourret’s reputation as one of America’s best was out there for years. And contacts never hurt.
He got his sports start as a Notre Dame undergraduate running the school’s legendary campus bookstore basketball tournament. One of his co-workers back then was a coed named Anne Fink, who eventually married Tommy Roy, longtime producer for NBC Sports.
“When it came time for their kids to go to college, because of me they looked at Clemson in 2007,” Bourret said. Billy and Kelly Roy both wound up as Clemson students, and “Tommy became a big Clemson fan, has season tickets,” Bourret said.
He and Roy had dinner in Phoenix during the 2016 NCAA Football Playoffs, and Roy told Bourret a job doing stats for NBC’s golf coverage was coming open. “We’d just won the national championship, so I didn’t want to leave,” Bourret said.
But this past December, when Roy mentioned another opening, he didn’t hesitate. “I thought I was ready to retire, and this was the perfect fit,” he said.
His first tournament was the Valspar Championship in Tampa, Fla. Carnoustie was his first men’s major, and he couldn’t imagine a more perfect venue. “I’d played Carnoustie (in 2001 while on a trip with the Clemson men’s golf team), so I had some familiarity with the course,” Bourret said. He’d also done TV for five Clemson games, and did women’s NCAA basketball for ESPN3.
In his role as Jacobsen’s information source, he mines statistics from Shotlink, the PGA Tour’s computerized tracking system; follows the tournament field (listing each player’s score, birdies and bogeys, World Ranking and other information on cardboard scorecards); and — as he did regularly at Clemson — digs up cool tidbits about the tournament and its participants that go beyond the obvious.
Case in point: At the end of the Memorial Tournament, Byeong-Hun An was in a playoff with former Clemson player Kyle Stanley and eventual winner Bryson DeChambeau, and “I knew An beat (former Clemson golfer) Ben Martin to win the U.S. Amateur in 2009,” Bourret said. “And Kyle and Ben were roommates at Clemson.”
He texted that nugget to CBS announcer Jim Nantz, and Nantz used it during the telecast. Yes, that’s how his mind works.
“I learned the most important thing is to know to ask the right questions, which leads you to find things,” Bourret said. He and Bob Bradley, his predecessor and mentor at Clemson, “knew where to look in the Clemson media guides for facts; now, I’ll do the same with the PGA Tour record book.”
The Open at Carnoustie left Bourret with great memories. He followed Stanley for five holes during the second round, and saw Stanley make two birdies. He had a bird’s-eye view from the tower at the 16th hole of Molinari’s clinching birdie at the 18thon Sunday.
He also enjoyed his time working with the NBC crew, including an unexpected moment. “At the end of our (NBC) production meeting on Wednesday, Tommy Roy announced: ‘We have among us someone who made a publication cover,’” he said.
Roy then showed a copy of ‘The Orange Experience,’” a Clemson publication that had a story on Bourret’s retirement. “That was really neat to be recognized in front of the likes of Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo,” he said.
Bourret loves golf, and now he’s getting paid to attend the game’s biggest events, sharing knowledge (via Jacobsen) with the NBC audience. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much what he did the past 40 years at Clemson, sharing with grateful (and often amazed) writers and broadcasters.
He and Jacobsen have quickly developed chemistry, crucial when working together 3-6 hours each day in a tiny tower. It didn’t hurt that Jacobsen is a football fan, as Bourret learned during the final round of a tournament.
“(Jacobsen) said,‘Tomorrow you’re going to be at Clemson football practice? I really like your coach (Dabo Swinney), I think he’s a great guy,’” Bourret said. In that vein, he and Jacobsen had planned to take a selfie together at the Open and send to Swinney, but didn’t get to do so.
“I guess,” Bourret said with a laugh, “now we’ll have to take one at the Ryder Cup.” Chances are Swinney will be OK with that.
This story was originally published August 4, 2018 at 2:52 PM.