Of all the awful aspects of Fox Sports’ debut in covering the U.S. Open, perhaps the worst was Holly Sonders, a former Golf Channel host tasked with interviewing players after their rounds, a gig that went about as well as Tiger Woods’ two rounds at Chambers Bay. She was woefully out of her element all week and topped off her championship by asking winner Jordan Spieth just two questions following his thrilling win, one of which was about whether he had packed another set of clothes for a potential Monday playoff. It was basically The Chris Farley Show in floral golf attire.

Sonders has been reassigned by Fox prior to this week’s U.S. Women’s Open, according to Aaron Kasinitz of pennlive.com. The reason for that reassignment/demotion is up for discussion, as long as you’re a Fox employee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GP1Lcjjg54

“We’re not reassigning Holly because she did a bad job,” Fox’s coordinating producer Mark Loomis told Kasinitz. “I think Holly’s been great for us. It’s just that she can’t do both the postgame show and the interviews.”

That’s true, I guess, though no one believes Sonders was reassigned because she was needed on any postgame show. Fox seemed like it had dozens and dozens of on-air talent at the U.S. Open. There were obviously enough talking heads to sit on one of the network’s many sets after each round. No, Sonders was moved because Fox needed someone who knows how to do live interviews without them being a complete embarrassment by incorporating recently completed events into the questions.

“What I would tell Holly is that it was her first time doing an interview in that situation,” Loomis also said.

So he’d tell her something she already knew, a fact that eventually led to her removal from the position she had just started and thus won’t be able to improve upon? Woof, you know it’s bad when even the people tasked with spinning can’t even spin a situation.

Fox was defensive after it was criticized in various publications, including in The New York Times and on this site. John Entz, Fox Sports president of production and executive producer, was particularly incensed, telling Sports Business Daily:

“For someone to come in and say, ‘Here’s all the things that went wrong. You need to get better at this,’ it’s like, ‘Oh, really? You think? You thought we were going to be perfect on our first show, which happens to be the size of the Super Bowl?’ Being realistic would go a little way for people that are out looking for blood.”

But that missed the mark completely. The reviews weren’t bad because people were out for blood, the reviews were bad because the product deserved them. And now Fox seems to realize this, getting the ball rolling on what will clearly will be a major shuffle by the time the men tee it up next year at Oakmont.

Update: Dan Bell, vice president of communications for Fox Sports, told FTW Sonders will “serve dual roles for us” and her movement is merely a “shift in responsibilities.”