Ex-ESPN and SportsCenter host banned from the Masters after breaking strict Augusta National code

Kenny Mayne is no longer welcome at the Masters.

The former ESPN and SportsCenter anchor featured on a recent episode of the God Bless Football podcast with Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, where he stated his belief that he has a lifetime ban from Augusta National.

Getty

“I’m banned for life from Augusta, I think,” Mayne told Stugotz when asked if he had ever played on the iconic course. “I used to cover golf.

“I used to do the TPC Sawgrass, and I did the U.S. Open every year for, I don’t know, seven or eight years. It was me, Van Pelt, Andy North, the whole gang.

The 66-year-old believes he broke Augusta’s very strict code of conduct when part of ESPN’s golf coverage, he made a joke which was not well received.

“At TPC one year, I just made some smarta** comment about, ‘We’ll see you at the Masters, where we bring four saucy ladies out to play!’

“Or, you know, just something stupid, right? But mentioning that I’m bringing women to play golf.

“And [Augusta National] called into the ESPN truck, like we’re still on the air, and the people in Augusta are literally, they somehow have the inside number to the truck.

“And they were like, ‘He is not coming!’ So I was never invited to go by my lords.”

It took until 2012 for Augusta National to admit its first female members.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore were the first two names to break a tradition which had stood for 80 years.

ESPN’s partnership with the Masters

ESPN has been a longstanding broadcast partner with the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club since 2008.

Getty

Getty

In a unique partnership with CBS, ESPN airs the opening two rounds of the major golf championship, but it is their rival network who produces the coverage, and also uses its own broadcasters.

Scott Van Pelt and Andy North – both talent of ESPN – are some of the rare few individuals who appearing on the telecast.

CBS – which has aired the major championship every year since 1956 – ultimately broadcasts the third and final rounds of the tournament.

The Masters is widely regarded as the most prestigious of the four major championships in golf with the world’s best golfers battling it out for four rounds in the hope of sporting the Green Jacket on the Sunday.

In 2025, that honor belonged to Rory McIlroy after narrowly edging out Justin Rose in a playoff for the title and finally completing the career grand slam.

This major is particularly unique in the sense that it is always held at Augusta during the first full week of April.

Augusta National also exercises extreme editorial control over the coverage of the tournament, setting out a list of rules that its broadcasters must follow, including the language that they use.

For example, they must refer to the spectators in attendance as “patrons” and not “fans”, while they must also call the second half of the course the “second-nine” as opposed to the “back-nine.”

As for Maye, he ended his time with ESPN in 2021 after 27 years working for the network.

This came as a result of declining to take a significant pay cut when contract negotiations came around.

He went on to co-host NBC’s streaming coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics on Peacock from July-September 2021 before leaving media.

Now well into his 60s, he can’t see himself returning to a career in media.

“I don’t think so,” Mayne said on the Spolitics podcast with former ESPN reporter Jemele Hill in 2025.

“I mean, it’s nothing against what they’re doing. I think after having left it, it’s almost been four years, almost. When I left, at first I just like, What the f**k did I just do?”

Stay up to date with the latest from Golf across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.