Planet Roger

"One thing I learned about having two sons, if you are a player, other people see you playing in tournaments," he says. "But when you're home, you're working on your golf game. You have to. You're at the golf course every day. Kids don't care if you're across town or across the country. You're not home. When I'm done with TV, I go home and it's my time."

But in 2003, Koch invited Maltbie to team with him at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in the Raphael Division—two-man better ball. Surprisingly, they won. The next two years, Koch was eligible to play in the individual competition. "He thought I threw him under the bus," Koch jokes.

In 2006 and 2007 they joined forces again and finished second to the team of Tom Watson and Andy North, a fellow broadcaster. In the lead-up to the Legends in '06, Koch was in contention at the ACE Group Classic with nine holes to play. He didn't win, but he accepted the congratulations of many who praised his good play—with one exception.

"I know everybody was pulling for you, but I wasn't," Maltbie told Koch.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Koch said. "I thought we were buddies."

"Man, you would have won this thing, you'd have an exemption, you'd have gotten me an exemption and I'd be playing three days from the back tees," Maltbie said. "That wasn't going to work."

Koch and Maltbie teamed at the Legends again this year and won for the second time in the Raphael Division, shooting a 12-under-par 60 in the second round. But it wasn't without danger.

"Roger is on the eighth hole, a par 3, with a 9-iron, and he cold-shanked it," Koch remembers. "On the next hole he's got a second shot and, guess what, he's got a 9-iron. He said, 'What do I do? I've got a 9-iron.' I told him to be a man and step up and hit it.

"He hit it to within six feet and made the birdie," Koch says. "On the last 10 holes he was five under on his own ball."

Among golf insiders Maltbie is renowned for his expertise around a wine list and a fine-dining menu. He has a well-deserved reputation among golf journalists for being one of the game's last true raconteurs for his ability to hold court and spin a tale at a moment's notice. But it's his knack for holding the attention of viewers that has kept him following the final group on the weekends.

"What I came to find out is that doing live television is like playing tournament golf," he says. "When it's your turn, you've got to be ready to play. You're going to make mistakes. If you dwell on the mistake, there's more to follow. And when you do it right, it's like hitting one on the screws. You know it immediately."