• Amanda Balionis is a golf reporter for the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour.
• She was born in Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania, USA in 1987.
• She is an alumna of Hofstra University and has worked in various reporting and anchoring roles.
• She is an avid golfer and also has a 200-hour yoga instructor certificate.
• Her net worth is estimated to be around $1 million.
Contents
- 1 Early life and family
- 2 Educational background
- 3 Career
- 3.1 First steps
- 3.2 Further career
- 3.3 Golf
- 4 Personal life
- 5 Controversy with Paulina Gretzky and Dustin Johnson
- 6 Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts
- 7 Appearance, clothing style
- 8 Net worth and salary
- 8.0.1 Subscribe for the updates
Amanda Balionis is famous for being one of the golf reporters for the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour. She is keen on golf herself, and developed a successful reporting and anchoring career on TV.
Early life and family
Amanda Balionis was born on 20 June 1987, in Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania USA. Her zodiac sign is Gemini, and she holds American nationality. Amanda is the only child to her parents, who lived together for over 40 years. Her father’s name was Anthony Balionis, who died on 10 September 2018. Amanda shared the news of her loss on her Instagram account, writing that he passed away on the day Arnold Palmer, the popular American golf player, was born.
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She also stated that her father was her strongest source of support during her professional life: ‘This man has meant so much to so many and has taught me what it means to love, to be loyal, to actually live in each moment and have the best time doing it. No one loved my job more than he did because no one loves the game of golf more than my Dad’. Her mother’s name is Dana Caplan Balionis; she still lives in Lancaster, Western Pennsylvania, where the Balionis family moved from Pittsburgh when Amanda was 10 years old. Congratulating her mother on Mother’s Day, Amanda shared she has always been one of her biggest inspirations and closest friends. They wore matching outfits since Amanda studied in the local elementary school, and also wore matching Christmas pajamas on holidays and cute sweaters on St. Valentine’s Day.
Amanda also wrote her mother was her favorite travel partner, as they enjoy traveling around the globe almost every year. As of 2019, Amanda resides in San Diego, California, though she still calls Pennsylvania her home.
Educational background
After matriculating from Manheim Township High School in 2004, Amanda enrolled at Hofstra University, and in 2008 graduated with a BA degree in broadcast journalism with honors. It is also worth mentioning that Amanda has been keen on sports since her early years, and was active in playing volleyball in high school, also football and basketball, however, her biggest passion became golf, developed during high school and university years.
Career
First steps
In university, Amanda participated in many projects as a reporter and journalist, to get some relevant experience. She worked at the local radio station WRHU in various formats, being responsible for the sports news. She also participated in creating the content for the Association for Women in Communications, and the student newspaper “The Chronicle”. After this successful experience, she applied for internships in such organizations as ABC News NOW, CBS2, the New York Jets and the New York Islanders. She also worked for the local newspaper in Lancaster from 2008 to 2009 as a reporter.
As a freelance sideline reporter, Amanda worked for Verizon Sports company, with her activities there covering the news about Rutgers’ Women Sports, and also the news related to basketball in high school competitions. After that, Amanda covered various sports events for the MSG Network, including “High School Game of the Week” and similar volleyball and football events.
Further career
Starting from March 2011 Amanda worked for the PGA Tour as a reporter, a position she held for more than five years, leaving in 2017 to join the team of CBS Golf. In her interview with Golf Digest, Amanda shared that her colleagues supported her in her professional way, and gave useful advice.
Among her supporters were Jim Nantz, the popular sportscaster who worked for NFL (National Football League), NCAA Basketball Division I and also anchored the Masters Tournament since 1989, while Peter Kostis, who is one of the most experienced golf analysts and sports instructors, gave Amanda some golf lessons. Peter announced his departing from CBS on 1 November 2019, while Amanda was left in the CBS Sports Golf Team. CBS were rumored to be renewing the cast of reporters and anchors to make the golf coverage fresh and interesting for the young audience, so Amanda may replace some of her senior mentors.
Golf
Even before she started covering golf events and championships on CBS, Amanda reported from the Callaway Golf Company, creating the digital content for the source, and still remains a member of the team as of 2019.
She is very active in the community, righting updates on the latest news of golf on the company’s forum “Inside Callaway”.
Personal life
Amanda shared several times on her social media accounts that she was busy with some activities along with her boyfriend. For example, in 2014 she visited Universal Studios with her beau, but didn’t mention his name. She also shared a post hinting on her engagement, showing what seemed to be an engagement ring on her finger. However, no updates on her engagement or marriage followed that post. In February 2014 she tweeted about her alleged pregnancy writing: ‘note to self: when pregnant walk a minimum of 18 holes a day and you will look great even when ready to pop’. No one could say if that meant she was pregnant or not, but as of 2019, Amanda hasn’t share any news on her relationship status or pregnancy.
Controversy with Paulina Gretzky and Dustin Johnson
In August 2018 a picture of Amanda interviewing Dustin Johnson after a game went viral. At the beginning it was a video of Amanda asking Dustin general questions about the game he had just played, and his view on The Northern Trust tournament possible results, while Dustin’s fiancée, Paulina Gretzky was standing in the background, checking her phone and simply waiting. The Instagram account @PGAmemes cropped the picture from the interview and wrote in the caption: ‘When you’re talking to another girl and your bae is jealous AF’. The shot looked like Paulina was very displeased with Dustin and Amanda talking, but the meme spread around other sports fun sources and couldn’t be left unnoticed. A week later Paulina and Amanda met and took several photos together to say they were not battling for Dustin, and the meme was just a ‘bad joke’.
Amanda posted their mutual photo on her Instagram account with the caption: ‘Our joint statement on a recent meme: Hi Haters’. Paulina Gretzky is the famous model, Instagram personality and the daughter of Wayne Douglas Gretzky, one of the most successful and popular former professional ice hockey player from Canada. Her fiancée, Dustin Johnson, often nicknamed DJ, the world number one ranked golf player since February 2017.
Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts
Amanda has a passion for animals, especially dogs. At home, she has two dogs, a co*ckapoo and a Pug, and often posts their photos on her Instagram account. The cost of the dogs she owns is estimated to be around $2,000. Her mother is also a dog owner. Amanda’s favorite alcohol drink is red wine, while her favorite non-alcoholic drink is coffee. She is a big fan of yoga, and even has a 200-hour yoga teacher certificate, as she has been practicing yoga for many years.
Had a blast playing dress up today for the About Town 2020 Winter edition! It’s time to bring back the bell bottoms I guess ?♀️ ☮️ pic.twitter.com/fDawPVrauD
— Amanda Balionis (@Amanda_Balionis) November 14, 2019
Appearance, clothing style
Amanda has long blonde hair which she likes wearing lightly curled or up in a bun; she has brown eyes. Amanda is 5ft 5ins (1.68m) tall and weighs around 125lbs (57kgs); her vital statistics are 37-25-36. As to her clothing style, she often wears casual and sport outfits while reporting from tournaments. Her favorite accessories are bags and aviator sunglasses.
Net worth and salary
As of 2019, Amanda’s net worth is estimated to be around $1 million. As a CBS reporter and anchor, she earns up to $148,000 per annum. Amanda also benefits from sponsored posts on her Instagram account. She advertised such brands as Wanderer, sharing she was using their daily face cleanser, and FabFitFun. She also stated that she is eager to support more companies like FabFitFun, as it’s a female-founded brand.
