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Thomas Rhett Covers “Georgia On My Mind” For ESPN’s 2026 Masters Tournament Campaign
ESPN and the Masters called upon a country star to be the voice of the beloved golf tournament coming in April.
With just over two weeks until the Masters officially tees off, ESPN has unveiled its new “Georgia On My Mind” campaign for everyone’s favorite major tournament. The brought in Thomas Rhett to record a cover, and it’s still not the favorite choice if you ask Masters fans (most think they should stick with Ray Charles’ rendition), but it is going over better than last year, when ESPN had Noah Kahan do the cover.
To make a long story short, people hated Kahan’s recording of the song last year. That’s because a) some considered it to be out of the “Stick Season” singer’s vocal range and b) he’s from Vermont.
Ray Charles’ version of “Georgia On My Mind” just makes sense. He’s from Georgia, and the song highlights all of the southern state’s great features. Hell, the state of Georgia even recognizes Charles’ rendition as their state’s official song. And with Augusta National Golf Club (home of the Masters) nestled in Augusta, Georgia, it just makes too much sense.
So I’ll give ESPN credit… they at least went out and got a singer from Georgia this time around. Rhett hails from Valdosta, Georgia, and he said that having his cover of the song be the official song for ESPN’s Masters tournament campaign was a dream come true:
“Recording ‘Georgia On My Mind’ was a pretty surreal moment for me. Being from Georgia, sports and music are both just in my blood. Obviously nobody can touch the original, but it meant a lot to me to be asked to honor both the song and tradition of the Masters.”
Smart of Rhett to admit that no one is going to touch the original.
And a cover song can always be tricky. I think that’s partly why people disliked Noah Kahan’s stab at it last year… he tried to make it his own. Thomas Rhett, on the other hand, stayed true to the Ray Charles’ recording, and I believe that greatly benefited him (even though some people still dislike it).
The country star says the song means a lot to him already, and now means even more since he’s got his own cover out there:
“As long as this song has been in my brain, it has meant ‘Go Dawgs’ for me in Athens, and it’s April in Augusta. I’m immediately transported to my home town of Valdosta, Georgia, watching the Masters with both sets of my grandparents. That song will forever have a special place in my heart. It’ll always make me think of the Masters.”
Excited to have @ThomasRhett sing this year’s rendition of “Georgia on My Mind” for @TheMasters pic.twitter.com/CKtspwDqQ1
— ESPN (@espn) March 23, 2026
Pretty solid, if you ask me.
You’ll likely be hearing Thomas Rhett a lot in the next couple of weeks if you tune into ESPN. His song will be accompanied by beautiful footage from the Masters, and ESPN actually went ahead and released the ad spot earlier today. It leans heavily into the storied history of Augusta National Golf Club, and Rhett’s “Georgia on my Mind” pairs up well with scenes from The Masters:
Here's ESPN's 2026 campaign for @TheMasters. Thomas Rhett covering "Georgia on my Mind." pic.twitter.com/BWOdSinhYD
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) March 23, 2026
Not bad, right?
There’s been more positive things said about it than negative, but the haters are out in full force in the reply section. The consensus is that it’s better than the version they rolled out in 2025, but that they’d still be better off going with the original:
Better than last year with Noah Kahan, but just give us the classic
— Spencer May (@mayjspencer) March 23, 2026
Serious question – why do they keep messing around with any version except the original? Thomas Rhett isn’t going to bring any additional eyeballs covering a song in a commercial, so what’s the motivation? All they’re doing is pissing off the core audience.
— Timely Bogey (@timelybogey) March 23, 2026
In my opinion, an improvement over the Noah Kahan version, but still offensively bad. Ray Charles erasure is incredulous.
— Walker (@yearning_tree) March 23, 2026
Not good but better than Noah Kahan last year
— Ray Sutton (@raysutton_21) March 23, 2026
Hey… you can’t make everyone happy. But the power ranking sure seems to go:
3) Noah Kahan
2) Thomas Rhett
1) Ray Charles
While Rhett’s version is still fresh on your noggin, go ahead and fire up Ray’s version. The country star did the song justice, but it’s still hard to beat the original:
“Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles
And here’s the country star’s full version of the song, in case you wanted to give it a listen too:
“Georgia on My Mind” by Thomas Rhett
The post Thomas Rhett Covers “Georgia On My Mind” For ESPN’s 2026 Masters Tournament Campaign first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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