Former LPGAer Dottie Pepper’s "last day at work" for NBC Sports was Sunday at the PNC Father-Son Challenge in Orlando as she announced her retirement after eight years as an on-air analyst, according to Doug Ferguson of the AP. Pepper decided at the Ryder Cup in September to "leave her role as the most prominent female golf analyst and join the PGA of America's board of directors, where she can work on developing junior golf programs.” NBC Golf Exec Producer Tommy Roy said, “The great thing about Dottie is not many players could come over from the LPGA and analyze in a critical way ... the PGA Tour players and still be respected by those players. She garnered so much respect from the players. She came over and fit right in.” Roy said that he would “like to have another LPGA Tour player work the U.S. Women's Open next summer on Long Island, though it is not imperative for the NBC team to find another woman to fill Pepper's role.” Pepper said, “I was treated as a reporter and an analyst, not because I was a woman. I was expected to toe the line. No matter how bad the weather was, how tough the walk was, I was to do everything the guys did. And that's how I wanted it.” Ferguson wrote Pepper was “never lacking in intensity and honesty, sometimes to a fault” (AP, 12/18).
