Fans tuning into the Golf Channel to watch last week’s runaway victory by Boerne’s Jimmy Walker at the Sony Open were greeted by another familiar face — Angela Hamann, the network’s newest on-air personality.
Hamann, who grew up in Central Texas as Angela Akins, took her first shifts as a Golf Channel reporter-host on Jan. 17 on the network’s 20th anniversary. She looked right at home behind the desk in the Orlando studio, calm under pressure, unflappable and professional.
Her role will initially include delivering leaderboard updates on Golf Channel’s PGA Tour Prime Time coverage (replays of events played earlier in the day) as well as on-site reporting at selected PGA Tour and NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments.
“Getting this opportunity at Golf Channel is just so gratifying because there have been a lot of times in the past few years when others have told me ‘no,’” Hamann said. “I always felt I belonged in this business, so I just kept after it and remained positive, hoping that I would get this chance.”
Hamann, a seventh-generation Texan, played golf and basketball at Marble Falls High School before earning a golf scholarship at TCU. She transferred to Texas for her final two seasons and garnered first-team academic All-Big 12 honors.
“One of the things that really appealed to me about this job is the focus Golf Channel is putting on the college game,” Hamann said. “Having played at that level and seeing the huge amount of talent in college programs, I’m excited about getting those stories on the air.”
After stints at Austin’s KTBC as an on-air University of Texas reporter and an internship at ESPN, Hamann spent 2012-14 as a host and reporter for Fox Sports Southwest.
Sports are in Hamann’s blood. She is the granddaughter of Ray Akins, one of Texas’ most legendary high school football coaches (in 38 years, he won 293 games and had 17 playoff appearances at Gregory-Portland), the daughter of former Longhorns quarterback Marty Akins and the cousin of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
“When I first got my chance to interview at Fox Sports Southwest, I was asked if I knew anything about football and I just had to laugh,” Hamann said. “About the only sport I love more than golf is football, and Texas football is the best.”
Hamann still plays golf despite her busy schedule. She is the women’s club champion at Spanish Oaks Golf Club, her home course in Bee Cave, and plays to a stout handicap of 3.
Viewers can see her this weekend on Golf Channel’s coverage of the Humana Challenge and watch as she reports live from the Farmers’ Insurance Open Feb. 5-8.
She is also scheduled to be on site for three of the four tournaments that make up the Texas Swing, missing only the Byron Nelson Classic to cover an important college event instead.
