This article originally appeared in the July 2025 print edition of Sports Illustrated.
Dottie Pepper won 17 times on the LPGA Tour, including two major championships in what was then called the Nabisco Dinah Shore Classic (1992 and 1999) in (what should be) a Hall of Fame career. She also played on six U.S. Solheim Cup teams and served as an assistant to captain Meg Mallon in 2013.
Injuries curtailed her playing career and while dealing with shoulder problems, an opportunity for golf commentary came along, which has seen her grow into one of the game’s most respected analysts at CBS. In 2020, she became the first TV reporter between the ropes at the Masters, where this April she covered Rory McIlroy’s playoff victory over Justin Rose. Never one to shy away from sharing her opinions, Pepper’s on-air comments earlier this year about the horrendous pace of play at Torrey Pines led to further debate on the subject.
Pepper even has a special connection to Sports Illustrated. Her father, former Tigers infielder Don Pepper, made the cover of the March 11, 1968, issue as part of a “best rookies” story. The cover hangs in her office at her home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Sports Illustrated: Did you ever speak with your dad about the SI cover?
Dottie Pepper: I have an original framed, and yes, we talked about it at length. As a teenager playing golf, I had my head in the stars. And I was thinking of this professional athlete thing and how great it was going to be. His reminder to me was you’re the best in [New York] state, which makes you the best of 50 in the United States—and that doesn’t even count the rest of the world.
[Being on] the cover of SI didn’t turn out the way he thought it would. It was a conversation about getting a college degree [at Furman] and having a Plan B. [After baseball, Don Pepper opened a pitch-and-putt golf course in Saratoga Springs called Duffer’s Den.]
SI: What is your process for doing your job on the course?
DP: I’ve gotten more comfortable just going on the range and talking to the caddies. I’ve tried to avoid the players. I tend to use the caddies and their teachers: What is newest in the bag?, When was the last time you changed a club?, that kind of stuff. To me, that is really interesting. At the PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler put a 7-wood in the bag. Knowing that, I hit [coach] Randy Smith with a text. I asked him when Scottie had used it before; he knew it went in at the second Torrey Pines event because the rough was wicked. Also I have a great spotter, Wayne Richardson. He’s really good at going on the range and getting the clubs from caddies. We’re in lockstep so we don’t have to bother the players.
Si: Do you remember any embarrassing moments?
DP: Ha. Well, at the Ryder Cup in Wales in 2010, I had a match—I don’t remember everything but I remember [Europe’s] Lee Westwood expressly. It was on the back nine. He was playing a ball from near a hazard and I was a long way from him on the other side of the fairway. And I couldn’t stifle a sneeze. I sneezed and he hit his second shot in the water. I couldn’t get a big enough shovel. But he laughed. I apologized. The next day there was a headline over there: Snotty Dottie. The timing was not great. But he laughed it off, and I’m eternally grateful.
SI: What is your biggest fear?
DP: Not being prepared. Every once in a while, I’ll have this dream. This used to happen when I was playing. You’ve missed a tee time or you have a tree limb you can’t swing around. Now I’m in this part of the world and I can’t get to my equipment and we’re going on the air.
SI: What are you most proud of in your playing career?
DP: I never once packed it in during a round of golf. Not once. Never mailed it in.
SI: What is something you would have done differently?
DP: I could have probably done with a lot less drama in my personal life. That probably would have helped. But I think a lot of it is wasted energy to go backward. I think what may have helped me a little bit was to just shut it down completely once in a while. I never really did that. After the 1992 season, when I was the LPGA Player of the Year, I had a huge silly season, and it just rolled into ’93. So I never had a chance to appreciate it. I didn’t take a vacation until after the ’93 season. And that built up too long.
SI: How much did injuries impact your career?
DP: When I had my first shoulder surgery in 2002, I learned there was a lot more out there than just beating golf balls. And I found myself very happy. I came back and tried to play. I had a few good runs at it. There was just more balance. And that was O.K. And Dad’s advice sort of kicked in about Plan B. I had a great advocate in [Hall of Famer and broadcaster] Judy Rankin. In 1999, I worked my first-ever event for ESPN. It was the U.S. Women’s Amateur. I picked her brain from top to bottom the entire time.
SI: Did you envision TV as a career then?
DP: I was still playing, and in 2004 I had gotten a special exemption into the U.S. Women’s Open. But I had major neck and back problems; I had an MRI that was so alarming to the doctor that I needed to go see my own doctors. I ended up alone in this procedure room having a spinal tap. I was thinking, This is ridiculous. I’m trying to chase a golf ball around and here I am in the fetal position undergoing a spinal tap.
That was the Monday of the Open. John Goldstein, who was the chief on-air statistician in the television truck [for NBC] and has been a friend of mine over the years, called [producer] Tommy Roy and said I was withdrawing and that “I think you ought to give her a shot.” So I worked that week. That was, frighteningly, 21 years ago.
SI: The Masters had never allowed an on-course reporter inside the ropes until 2020 during the pandemic when there were no spectators. How much of a difference maker is it to go inside the ropes at Augusta?
DP: It’s privilege—and pressure. Because you’ve got to do it right. In 2020, there was no place to hide. There was nobody out there. You’re trying to add information and not be seen.
We had a weather delay on Day 1. Because of that, I was sent out with Tiger Woods at 13 and 14. I [normally wouldn’t] go to the 13th green during coverage because you’ll get stuck up there. So I let Tiger pass me on the way to the 14th tee and he stopped dead in his tracks and said, “What are you doing here?” We hadn’t ever been inside the ropes there before. “It’s so 2020, isn’t it?” And we had a laugh about it.
SI: Where does McIlroy’s win at the 2025 Masters rank in all the tournaments you’ve covered?
DP: It’s right up there. Because of the highs and lows. Every time you thought he had it buttoned up, it went bad—and then he came back. And this goes back to Thursday [when McIlroy made two late double bogeys in his first round]. He had this terrific round going and then hits it in the pond at 15. I will never forget the highs and lows.
SI: What about Tiger’s win at Augusta in 2019?
DP: We came on the air so early [due to tee times being moved up for possible bad weather]. We came on during CBS Sunday Morning. And it introduced the Masters and golf to an entirely new audience. That was pretty special. I have a friend who owns a sports bar in Saratoga Springs and they opened at 9 a.m. that day. And they were open all day because people watched and then stayed to watch the re-air [of the original broadcast] during the normal golf window. That’s one you don’t forget.
SI: You were very outspoken earlier this year about slow play at Torrey Pines during a conversation with analyst Frank Nobilo. Have you seen any improvement?
DP: It’s definitely gotten better. [At Pebble Beach this year] they actually went off the air early because there was no golf. They finished 15 minutes early because there wasn’t any golf out there.
The tone was important, and the timing. It was so organic. It came through as a message on my iPhone from Frank that he wanted to set me up [to talk about it] without catching me off guard. I said thanks and we decided to go there.
I think a lot of people took it that I was being critical of the last group I was with. That was not the case. It was more generally painting the picture of golf as a whole, how kids are emulating these players they’re seeing and doing the same thing. I did things that Seve [Ballesteros] did, that [Jack] Nicklaus did, that [Nancy] Lopez did. Those mannerisms become top of mind. The point was not about the person sitting at home. He can get something to eat or drink. It’s the fans on the golf course. There’s nowhere for them to go. They’re stuck. We’re asking people to give us—the players and the broadcasters—time which they cannot make up.
It’s definitely gotten better. I don’t attribute it all to that. The Tour got a big response from their fan survey that was talking about the same thing. This just happened to be in a bigger arena.
SI: How do you feel the intensity at the international events, the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup, compares to when you played?
DP: I think it was probably a little more intense then. The consequences for not going well were bigger. Especially if you were part of the first ones, which I was. [In 1990, Pepper was on the first U.S. Solheim Cup team, which defeated the European squad, 11½–4½.] As much as it hurt to lose in ’92, that had to happen for the Solheim Cup to be successful and get attention early. Certainly one of my proudest moments was being on that first Solheim Cup team.
SI: Do you have a favorite interview?
DP: Tiger. We’ve had a terrific relationship. Loves to needle and give it back. My best friend from high school who lived five blocks from me … she passed away last October. She took up the game because of Tiger Woods, because he always managed to fight back. She got this cancer diagnosis and fought like crazy. I called in a favor once and Tiger called her. They talked for 10, 12 minutes. And she actually yelled at him. It was after 8 p.m. She was an attorney and she thought it was a solicitation call. “You know you’re not supposed to be calling at this hour.” He said, “No, this is Tiger Woods.” And she said, “Don’t mess with me.” No, it is.
She used to come out to one tournament a year and our crew loved her. They took her under their wing. One year at Quail Hollow, I got a message from her asking if he was going to make the cut: “You know who I’m talking about.” She flew down for the weekend and followed him for 36 holes. I really believe that phone call helped boost her for a year and a half. She loved following his career.
SI: Do you have a favorite tournament?
DP: Of course the Masters is way up on that list. But I’m very fond of the Detroit tournament [the Rocket Classic]. Love it. Wyndham—Greensboro, the golf course, the feel of it. I’ve been doing this
long enough that those are things that really matter.
SI: What is Jim Nantz like?
DP: He’s like the Library of Congress. There’s nothing he can’t remember. People, places, dates. Putting it in perspective. But he’s a sap. [Laughs.] It’s great. He’s loyal and loves a good laugh. He called me the afternoon I signed with CBS [in 2015]. I was still working at ESPN at that time and he was great.
SI: How much longer do you want to do this?
DP: That’s probably when the travel gets to be too much of grind. There are times when I’m in the middle of 10 weeks in a row and it’s a grind. And then when it’s over in August, I’m done. It’s really intense at this time of the year, but overall it’s pretty darn good. We have two major championships [the Masters and the PGA] and six of the eight signature events. We’ve got an amazing schedule that gets you fired up to do your job.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Dottie Pepper Went From LPGA Star to Trailblazing On-Course TV Analyst.