Iain Carter has been the voice of golf on BBC Radio for the past decade, commentating on all the major golf tournaments around the world for BBC 5Live and the World Service. In September 2012, millions were spellbound listening to every nuance of his wonderful commentary describing the thrilling climax of the Ryder Cup, later described as “the most amazing turnaround in the history of team sport”. (For those who missed it, Europe won, after the USA had led from the start.)
Most recently, he commentated for the BBC on The US Open at Valhalla – another Major win for Rory McIlroy.
Iain has covered International Rugby Union and tennis, including 16 Wimbledon Championships. Iain was broadcasting during Andy Murray’s gold medal campaign at the London 2012 Olympics and reported from the Olympic Games in Atlanta and Sydney. He covered of Rugby World Cups including the 1995 final in South Africa, the first time he had described play-by-play action in the sport to an estimated audience of 200 million listeners on the BBC World Service.
For the past three years Iain has been one of the main announcers at Golf Live, interviewing leading golfers and hosting end-of-day shows in front of thousands of paying fans. Iain has more than 35,000 followers of his very popular Twitter account and his regular golf blog on the BBC Sport website attracts hundreds of comments every week.
Relaxed and very approachable, with some great stories, Iain brings a touch of sporting stardust to a golf club dinner, awards event or an evening when you want to hear something special from a man who’s fortunate to work among the big names of international sport, and who knows them personally. Iain has many wonderful stories from his career in sports broadcasting and he’s happy to share these when he speaks. He has met and interviewed all the leading figures in golf, including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Iain has also quizzed celebrities including Tom Hanks, Tony Blair, Billy Connolly and Sir Steve Redgrave.
Iain’s interviewing skills are particularly noted when he hosts corporate events. His calm professionalism enables him to get the very best out of star guests (some of whom can be quite shy) and he’s excellent at chairing Q&A sessions.
Iain speaks at more intimate club gatherings where his tales from the worlds of sport and broadcasting are always well received and Golf Clubs are very keen to invite him to speak. Iain wrote Monty’s Manor, his critically-acclaimed biography of Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup career.
Andy Farrell, the Secretary of the Association of Golf Writers and an award-winning author himself, tweeted “Top tip for making after dinner debut – do so alongside a top broadcasting pro like @iaincartergolf.”