Not Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus but This Legendary Golfer Was Amanda Balionis’s Ultimate Dream Interview

Every journalist has that one interview they dream about. For Amanda Balionis, CBS Sports’ premier golf reporter, the answer might surprise you. It’s not Tiger Woods. It’s not Jack Nicklaus either. The name that haunts her? Arnold Palmer.

Balionis opened up about this career regret during her recent appearance on the Well Played podcast on September 24, 2025. The hosts asked about her dream athlete to interview. Her response came without hesitation. “My biggest regret is never getting the chance to actually shake the hand of and talk to Arnold Palmer,” she revealed. “As a Pittsburgh girl, I was around him. I was at his tournament multiple times. Never had the chance to do it.”

The confession carried extra weight given her unique connection to “The King.” Palmer called Latrobe home, just outside Pittsburgh, where Balionis grew up before moving to Lancaster in fourth grade. She was literally in his backyard. Multiple opportunities presented themselves. Yet she never seized them.

via Imago

Palmer passed away on September 25, 2016. “That would have been a really cool one to do,” Balionis admitted with clear regret in her voice. The hosts pressed further, asking if she’d have the courage now to shake someone’s hand if she was really feeling it. “No, that one was a lesson learned for sure,” she responded. The hosts understood immediately. “You almost need to learn that lesson though and like gain the confidence to do it.”

Pittsburgh roots shaped Amanda Balionis’s golf journalism journey

Growing up in Palmer’s backyard meant living in the shadow of golf royalty. Palmer’s seven major championships transformed the sport into a television phenomenon. His approachability with fans and media became legendary. That legacy still shapes golf today, with players like Keegan Bradley potentially becoming the first playing captain since Palmer accomplished the feat in 1963.

Balionis’s Pittsburgh roots shaped her career trajectory in a way that was unexpected. She grew up a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Those Sunday afternoons watching games with her grandmother planted the seeds for her broadcasting dreams. “All I ever cared about was being on the NFL sidelines,” she shared on the podcast. Football was her first love. Golf came later by accident.

Her journey into golf journalism started with a phone call in 2011. A family friend mentioned an opening at the PGA Tour for an in-house reporter. Balionis saw it as a free vacation to Jacksonville during a brutal New York winter. She was working freelance at MSG Network at the time, covering high school sports. She lived in a 300-square-foot apartment with a roommate. The pay was minimal.

The PGA Tour offered her the position. She accepted. Suddenly, the football girl from Pittsburgh became the golf girl. “A few years later, I was then only known as the golf girl,” she recalled. Nobody would hire her for football positions anymore.

CBS Sports brought her aboard in 2017 as a part-time golf reporter. By 2018, she earned a full-time position covering both golf and the NFL. The Pittsburgh girl who dreamed of being on NFL sidelines now excels in both sports at the highest level. Her journey from Palmer’s backyard to golf’s biggest stages came full circle. Just without that one conversation, she’ll always wish she had.

What opportunities are slipping past you right now?