PEPPER’S PERSPECTIVE: 42 DAYS AND AMERICAN TOP 40

Time for reflection after another memorable year of PGA Tour events on CBS Sports. All in, it was 42 days of live broadcasting for me and a privilege every day I put that announce pack on and have grass (and sometimes sand, mud, pine straw and twigs) under my feet.

It was a year for us that started with 45 year old Justin Rose setting a new 72 hole scoring record at Torrey Pines, running away with the final Farmers Insurance Open (don’t worry, we’ll be back at Torrey in late January with “The Sentry”) and ended with Scottie Scheffler putting any questions about the 2026 PGA Tour Player of the Year firmly to rest with a come-from-behind three shot victory at the Tour Championship. So confident was Scheffler, who usually doesn’t get overly vocal in his self-belief, when asked in an unaired interview Saturday evening what the winning score would be, simply said, “whatever I shoot.” Take that! Scheffler led the tour in 23 of the 50 tracked statistics including the all-around ranking, birdie average (nearly five per round), final round scoring average (67.32), greens in regulation (almost 73%) and scrambling when he missed the green. Three wins, including two of the last three weeks he played. It was a full body of work most worthy of the Player of the Year.

In between, we were treated to a series of comebacks of either personal or competitive nature like Collin Morikawa at Pebble Beach, Chris Gotterup at Phoenix and John Deere, Aaron Rai coming home in 31 strokes to win the PGA Championship, another “Rorycoaster” for Rory McIlroy defending his Masters title, the resurgence of Matt Fitzpatrick and Tom Kim, validation by Cameron Young, a massive about-face by Wyndham Clark, first time wins where the air seemed to be very thin at the finish line by Jacob Bridgeman and Bud Cauley, a hammer-down and fast-paced win by Ryan Fox at The Open and then three look-to-the-future wins as the regular season ended by Jackson Koivun, Michael Thorbjornsen and Michael Brennan. What a year. To be able to cover so many of those stories with our broadcast team is, again, a privilege. Did we do it all perfectly? Of course the answer is no, but you will not find a harder working team or one more dedicated to improvement in all of televised sports, both in front of and behind the camera.

In closing, I’ve received many messages about the knee sleeve I wore for most of the season. I had a successful UKR (unilateral knee replacement) in December of 2024, but on March 2 of this year I was skiing and fell unexpectedly in a low-risk situation. I was doing something I love and have been doing since I was three years old. At first, I was just surprised and then I realized it hurt like you-know-what. Final diagnosis: pelvis broken in 4 places, but nothing of a displaced nature. That knee was asked to do a lot more than normal, hence the support sleeve. I’m still waiting for one break to completely resolve but this “crash test dummy” is beyond grateful for family, friends, medical specialists and CBS teammates who helped in my recovery, pushed me when needed, slowed me down when needed even more and above all, the guiding Hands from Above. All a part of His plan, even when it hurts.

And as for skiing this winter, as one of my doctors said, "This is going to be a Casey Kasem (the former host of American Top 40) winter where we keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.” That I will!

Thanks for sharing this journey and look forward to being back with all of you again on January 29.