‘It’s a golf town’: Charlottean set for PGA Championship broadcast
A familiar voice will commentate the PGA Championship in Charlotte.
Taylor Zarzour is the lead broadcaster for this week’s major men’s golf championship. A longtime Charlottean and member of Quail Hollow Golf Club, Zarzour will be on the SiriusXM radio call starting at 2 p.m. each day of competition, alongside three-time PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner and on-course reporters Emilia Doran, Brian Katrek and Bill Rosinski.
The Mobile, Alabama, native felt intrigued watching sports with his father and uncle growing up.
But what did a young Zarzour notice most?
How the announcers were basically serving as a “conduit,” he said, between the audience and the event.
“I was just fascinated by that when I was about 5, 6 years old,” Zarzour said. “I just always told my dad, I told myself: ‘That’s what I want to be.’ I’m one of those rare people in life who’s been able to live my childhood dream.”
A North Carolinian for more than 20 years
Zarzour moved to Raleigh in 2004 to host a sports radio show.
Already on the airwaves in Southern Alabama, Zarzour jumped at the opportunity to work in a state that is so passionate about sports. It launched his career in the booth, including Tar Heel Sports Network football and men’s basketball pregame and postgame shows and play-by-play commentary for women’s basketball.
In 2011, Zarzour joined 610 WFNZ in Charlotte as host of “The Drive” radio show each weekday afternoon. He’s relished his time in the Queen City — especially its year-round professional sports scene — and it shows in the crowds expected at the PGA Championship.
“I had never experienced that before,” Zarzour said. “Coming to Charlotte felt very different. Immediately, you see the passion people have for all these different pro sports, for the NFL, NBA, NASCAR and golf. Those are the most important things, there are certainly huge college basketball fans here, but this is a pro town. It feels like another major metropolitan city in our country. It was a transition for me to go to a market like it, but I sure am glad I did. I’ve loved being here.
“This community has extreme passion for professional golf. As somebody who gets to drive less than 10 minutes from my house to the course, it’s just one of those big, bucket-filling moments for me.”
‘Charlotte’s passion for golf is just as strong as any other sport’
Named the new lead voice of the Tennessee Titans last month, Zarzour loves calling golf and football the most.
It’s difficult not to always be immersed in the NFL and college football after growing up in Alabama. But Zarzour has always been most passionate about whichever sports happen to be in season, and he still finds himself plugged into all sorts of games when he isn’t wearing a headset.
Before Zarzour was a member at Quail Hollow, he took his recreational swings at Cedarwood Country Club. He also makes regular trips to Charlotte Country Club, Carolina Golf Club and others.
There’s just no place to play like Quail Hollow — and the Queen City gets to share it with golf’s best.
“You could argue that Charlotte’s passion for golf is just as strong as any other sport,” Zarzour said. “You’ve got some of the most successful people in real estate and in banking who live in this community, and they’re showing their golf course off to their customers, clients, associates, colleagues — and it feels like this celebration of Charlotte when you’re out there on the golf course.
“There’s so much passion for major championship golf here in this community. For the longest time, people have correctly given Charlotte a lot of credit for being a NASCAR town, a football town, a basketball town — and it is — but it’s a golf town. It’s just as much of a golf town as it is any of those other sports.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
