If you're a fan of professional golf, there's a good chance you know the name "Holly Sonders".
After all, it belongs to one of the sport's most recognizable TV personalities.
But what else is there to know about her?
Well, hop in the cart, and let's tee up the untold truth of Holly Sonders!
In 2011, Sonders became a co-host on the Golf Channel's morning talk show Morning Drive.
But three years later, she jumped ship to join Fox Sports.
The year before, Fox Sports had struck a 12-year-deal for the rights to broadcast the U.S. Open
golf tournament starting in 2015, so adding a pro like Sonders to their crew seemed like
a win.
But the whole situation was branded a disaster by the press, as the network's debut into
golf coverage was savaged by critics due to technical problems and uninformed announcers.
The Washington Post, for one, called Sonders' interviewing skills into question after what
they described as "an awkward post-interview hug with Phil Mickelson."
They also took her to task for the apparently banal question of asking Jordan Spieth if
he'd packed an outfit in the case of a Monday playoff.
Spieth replied that his sponsor, Under Armour, had him covered.
Sonders fired back against the criticism by tweeting,
"And for those of u hating on my interview with Jordan..It's appropriate to end with
a smile.
He's the US Open champ!
Lighten up folks."
Alas, her performance was apparently deemed so awful that the network reassigned her to
cover the NFL two months later.
Disruptive transition
After her reassignment to the NFL, Sonders said in a statement,
"I look forward to continuing my relationship with Fox Sports as I transition into a studio
role and am excited about the opportunities ahead of me."
But these opportunities might not have been ideal for everybody.
To make way for Sonders, Fox Sports reportedly bumped veteran NFL sideline reporters Laura
Okmin and Jennifer Hale.
During an episode of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel covering the sexism and ageism
that female sports reporters face, Okmin addressed the situation, though she didn't mention Sonders
by name.
She shared that she was taken off games so that a younger reporter with less experience
could be given an opportunity.
As she put it,
"I worked very hard for this job.
I knew this was coming.
I knew the shelf life of being a woman on television and in this business.
And all of a sudden, I think I was thrown by it."
On July 4, 2014, Sonders participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge while dressed in
an American flag bathing suit.
She then went on to nominate a very well-known public figure.
"I call out my good friend, Donald Trump."
Then on June 3, 2015, just a couple weeks before Trump announced his presidential candidacy,
Sonders posted a smiley photo of herself on Instagram with the future commander-in-chief.
As she captioned it,
"Looking through pictures from 2014...And I can say I genuinely enjoy my time with @realdonaldtrump.
Great office visit in NYC.
I think he's a very smart man (everyone has haters)."
Sonders has over 300,000 Instagram followers, though as of November 2019, this post has
only a little over 1,000 likes.
Unsurprisingly, the comments section is a bit of a mess.
While she was still a Fox Sports golf analyst, Sonders landed a cameo on a 2015 episode of
the Zooey Deschanel-starring Fox sitcom New Girl.
The episode aired in April, which was just in time for the annual Masters golf tournament.
Naturally enough, this particular New Girl was about a certain sport that Sonders knows
a thing or two about.
That's right, Jessica Day spent a day out on the links!
The episode, entitled "Par 5," featured Jess, as played by Deschanel, participating in a
charity golf tournament.
Sonders appeared as herself to diligently report on Day's terrible, or rather, nonexistent
golfing skills.
"I've never seen so many strokes taken on a single hole in all of my life.
This has got to be some kind of record.
Do you care to comment?"
Perhaps one day Deschanel will return the favor and crack jokes about Sonders' sports
reporting.
Sonders used to be married to TV and radio host Erik Kuselias, but she ended up filing
for divorce from him in 2016.
Her romantic prospects have improved since then, though.
In January 2019, she confirmed to her fans that she was dating Arizona Cardinals football
coach Kliff Kingsbury.
In response to the news of him landing the Cardinals gig, she wrote on Instagram,
"Couldn't be any prouder of this one.
Truly the best human being I know.
Congratulations K. Let's.
Go."
She followed it up on Twitter, declaring,
"The desert just got a whole lot hotter.
Congratulations @KliffKingsbury, so proud of you…He's the best.
And we are a little past the crush part."
News that Sonders and Kingsbury were in a relationship arrived after a whirlwind couple
of months.
In November 2018, Texas Tech University let Kingsbury go as their head coach, after he
racked up a 35-40 record over six seasons.
Then early that December, he landed the coveted offensive coordinator position for the college
football powerhouse USC Trojans.
But he didn't stick with that gig for long, because just a little over a month later,
the Cardinals came calling.
With a huge new job and a simmering romance, it's reasonable to assume that Kingsbury found
a genie's lamp sometime during the holiday season.
We can only assume that Sonders is also benefiting from the magic in her life.
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