Holly Sonders to make NFL debut

Holly Sonders, the Fox Sports golf personality who was demoted (or “reassigned”) after an embarrassing turn interviewing players after their U.S. Open rounds, will make her NFL debut Sunday, when she’ll serve as the sideline reporter for the Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston team. That team’s usual sideline reporter, Laura Omkin, is off this week.

It’s an interesting move for Fox, as Sonders, who had come over from The Golf Channel, was completely out of her depth covering a sport with which she was familiar in the network’s main golf debut. Her interviews were short, vapid, choppy and, in her especially infamous post-victory chat with Jordan Spieth, didn’t ask any of the pertinent questions you’d expect of a man who’d just won the first two legs of the Grand Slam to answer. “It was basically The Chris Farley Show in floral golf attire,” we wrote at the time.

Sonders was reassigned after the U.S. Open disaster, moving from doing golf interviews to an analyst’s position. Fox insists it had nothing to do with her interviewing skills, or complete lack thereof. It was just that she couldn’t do both at once. But the telecast’s coordinating producer Mark Loomis said he’d have given this advice to Sonders after her Open debut was panned: “What I would tell Holly is that it was her first time doing an interview in that situation.” That’s not even a backhanded compliment. That’s just an out-and-out insult.

So now, after losing the privilege of interviewing people in a sport she knows quite well (she played golf at Michigan State and was good at The Golf Channel), Sonders is going to interview people in a sport she’s never worked before? That’s like a line cook getting demoted to sous chef! Her demotion was a promotion. (Though, it should be noted, Bucs-Texans is going to just 5% of the country.)

Fox has already taken heat for bumping out the excellent Pam Oliver out of its top team’s sideline role for the younger Erin Andrews. At 28, one has to wonder how long it’ll be before Sonders is a sideline regular. Just a tip for her first week though: Don’t ask Jameis Winston about what he packed in his suitcase.