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The Loop

Holly Sonders leaving Golf Channel for Fox Sports

July 11, 2014

By John Strege

Holly Sonders, a popular host of Golf Channel's "Morning Drive" show, is leaving the network to join Fox Sports as a golf reporter and sideline reporter on NFL games, according to a Golf Channel source.

Sonders reached an impasse on contract negotiations with Golf Channel, for whom she has worked since January, 2011. At Golf Channel, she also was a regular on "Playing Lessons with the Pros."

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Getty Images

Holly Sonders playing in the Humana Challenge earlier this year. (Getty Images photo)

A Golf Channel spokesman said only, "We wish her the best in her future endeavors," and had no further comment.

A four-year member of the women's golf team at Michigan State, Sonders came to Golf Channel from KATV in Little Rock, Ark., for which she was a news and sports reporter. She began her career in Columbus, Ohio, as a contributor to the live weekly show, "The Average Joe Sports Show," on WBNS-10.

Sonders appeared on the cover of Golf Digest's fitness issue in May, 2013.

Fox Sports will begin televising United States Golf Association events, including the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open, in 2015, the first year of a 12-year contract.