Fresh from Augusta, Mike Tirico set for Sunday SportsCenter from Bristol

AUGUSTA, Ga. – After spending all week at the Masters, Mike Tirico will return to his SportsCenter roots by pulling double duty on Sunday.

Tirico, who hosted ESPN’s coverage of the first two rounds of the year’s first golf major, will remain in Augusta, Ga., Saturday and Sunday for morning SportsCenter segments. But then he will depart at noon Sunday and fly to Connecticut, heading to ESPN’s Bristol studios to co-host a Masters-heavy 11 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter with John Buccigross.

He’ll arrive at ESPN in time to see the end of the Masters and prepare to lead the discussion on SportsCenter, interacting with ESPN golf analyst Andy North and host Scott Van Pelt in Augusta.

For Tirico, it’s a return to a familiar – he joined the network in 1991 as a SportsCenter anchor. And while he’s now one of ESPN’s most visible on-air personalities, including the lead commentator for Monday Night Football, he’s seldom seen on programs originating from Bristol.

“It has been a while,” Tirico said. “I think I’ll need a lot of direction to figure out what to do but I’m really looking forward to it.

“I may go months between visits to Bristol because the job takes me to wherever the games are to do the play-by-play,” he said. “And the only studio shows I do are at events like Wimbledon, U.S. Open, a little bit with the golf and the World Cup last year on the road.

“So I’m excited to see if I can still read a ‘shot sheet’ and do highlights like I did when I broke in 20-something years ago.”

Tirico will be working inside ESPN’s 10 month old Digital Center 2, the home of SportsCenter’s studios, for the first time. Has Buccigross given him an idea of what to expect?

“There haven’t been any tips yet,” he said. “I’ve only been in DC-2 once so it’s going to be all new to me.

“Since you’re standing up so much on SportsCenter now, it’d be nice if I was doing the show with someone more my size,” he said of the 6-foot, 4-inch Buccigross. “But as long as my shoes match it should be fun.”