Legendary Sports Commentator Jim Nantz Wins Scottie Scheffler's First Car At Auction

Legendary sports commentator Jim Nantz has won Scottie Scheffler’s car at auction.

The CBS Sports broadcaster offered an opening bid of $50,000 for the 2012 GMC Yukon XL at a gala for the Triumph Over Kid Cancer charity in November in Houston, where he commented: “I’ll be more than happy to store Scottie’s car in my garage.”

Now, he has his wish. Per Golfweek’s Adam Schupak, after the auction, which took place between 6 and 28 December and was conducted by Heritage Auctions, it was Nantz’ bid that held up. In a text to Golfweek, he joked: “I figure just driving this SUV to the golf course should lower my handicap by at least five shots.”

The World No.1 was asked about the auction following his second round at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he was seven off the lead heading into Saturday's play. He said: “Nance and I were doing a thing in Houston for an organization we both love. A dear friend of ours, James Ragan, started a foundation called Triumph Over Kids Cancer. We were doing a Q & A session, there was a live auction after and Jim decided he wanted to get involved in the live auction.”

The car was given to Scheffler by his father after he graduated. He got plenty of use out of it, too. By 2022, it had approximately 190,000 miles on the clock after Scheffler used it to transport him to junior events and Monday qualifiers in the early days of his ownership. He even drove it to the 2022 Masters at Augusta National, where he claimed the Green Jacket for the first time.

Scheffler stands third on the all-time PGA Tour career money list with earnings of over $71m, but he opted against trading the car in for a more expensive option, and continued driving it until his son Bennett was born last May, when he took delivery of a new sponsor vehicle.

Ragan was a childhood friend of Scheffler’s who battled osteosarcoma. Scheffler has also supported the charity in other ways, including organizing the James A. Ragan Triumph Scramble, while his "Scottie's Heroes" initiative, which provides golf clubs to young cancer patients.

As well as the privilege of owning a car used by Scheffler from his days as a promising amateur to becoming the best player in the world, it also gives Nantz two of Scheffler’s signatures. One is on the right side of the dashboard with a "First Owned Vehicle" inscription and the other is on the right visor.