I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to Johnny Miller in the wake of NBC losing the U.S. Open. So when Miller and Brandel Chamblee appeared on a conference call today, I asked him not only about the Open but also his future in the booth.

Miller, 66, has two years left on his contract with NBC. It gradually pares down to his duties to 10 tournaments in 2015.

As usual Miller was candid about the Open and his future. Here’s a text of the exchange.

Has it sunk in for you that next year is going to be your last U.S. Open? Just wondering if that’s going to impact anything with you going forward in the future as far as continuing to be an analyst?

JOHNNY MILLER:  Yeah, we weren’t going to talk too much about that.  But the bottom line is, I’ve got this year and two more years as an analyst.  And yeah, it’s sad not to do the Open, Senior Open or Women’s Open, or whatever they ask me to do.

I just wish FOX all the best.  I thought it was a pretty amazing decision.  But, again, the train is already going down the tracks.  That’s already happened.  It’s something that’s pretty sad for me ‑‑ my whole year, U.S. Open was always my championship and it’s what I was groomed to do, to play; growing up at Olympic Club and Pebble Beach, and I just always got up for the Open and loved it.  But, I’ll still love it.  I just won’t be covering it.

All of us, even Golf Channel, but especially NBC/Golf Channel put their heart and soul into it, couldn’t have tried harder, Tommy Roy and everybody.  That was the focal point of everything we did.

So I just hope that FOX does the same and puts together a team that can ‑‑ not only at announcers but the cameramen and everybody else, I absolutely wish them absolutely the best.  It’s such a great championship.

It’s not going to really impact my decision on what I do as an announcer.  I really don’t know what NBC/Golf Channel has in store for me after two years.  I would think they are starting to think about grooming a new Johnny Miller‑type announcer but I don’t know who it is, and I’ll probably to do some things, I just don’t know how much.  We’ll just have to see.

Is it a matter of your schedule?  I know you have a lot of projects; you mentioned your various courses and stuff like that.  Are you weighing how much you want to do at a certain point in your life?

JOHNNY MILLER:  Well, my brain is still working reasonably well, so I can do all the things that I need to do but I actually have a lot of time off.  I have about half the year off, and I do that on purpose.

So I have cut down on the amount of outings and I have some real responsibilities with Silverado Country Club, being an owner there, and of course Fry’s coming there next year.  Things are really good family‑wise and I’ve got a pretty good balance.  The announcing, I’m down to 10 events (in 2015) contractually.  That’s just the way it was.  It goes 15 and then next year 13 and then 10 the last year.

So 10 events isn’t exactly stretching me too much.  I think Brandel would like that schedule.

*******

My guess is that Miller continues to work through at least 2016. NBC will want him to be the featured analyst for golf’s debut in the 2016 Olympics. Also, it is a Ryder Cup year, with the U.S. hosting at Hazeltine. That should be an attractive plate for Miller.

However, with Miller cutting back, it will be interesting to see who NBC inserts as his replacement. Really, it should be a no-brainer. It has to be Chamblee. He has climbed into the Miller stratosphere as golf’s best analysts.