In Arnold Palmer in Augusta Country

When Jim Nantz called back, I headed south along the I-95 in Swampland, North Carolina. I was surprised. It was Monday afternoon, and his beloved Houston Cougar would play the Florida Crocodile for the men’s NCAA basketball champion. I think he would be at a prayer meeting or something. He is a fan again.

Nantz, 65, is no longer the final game of his college basketball season for CBS Sports. He quit that show two years ago. With his extra time, he can show up early in Augusta, with a little rest. It’s always one thing, Jim Nantz Trains, planes and cars.

Sports role legend John Feinstein once did the same thing, moving from the NCAA final to the Masters. Last month, John, 69, died suddenly, and the death of natural causes shocked and saddened Nantz. John has a huge heart and a bad guy, and he doesn’t do much to help. He stopped flying after the September 11 attack, so the movie title of his travel story is shorter: car. John’s own car is always a mess. Nantz has neat genes.

“Where are you?” I asked Nanz.

“In the hotel room in San Antonio,” Nanz said. His voice on the phone was like on TV – Silk from the spool of silk. The final game of this 2024-’25 college season was played in San Antonio, the Alamo.

You can send the Ryder Cup team with Nantz’s People People on Monday afternoon. Bill Rogers played golf in Houston in the early 1970s and won the 1981 British Open. The Freds played golf in Houston in the late 1970s and won the 1992 Masters. Fred (and Nanz) Houston suit, Blaine McCallister, won five tours. Nantz can’t play in this basketball game, even if he doesn’t work.

Two of the most famous things Nantz has in his work life were in the NCAA basketball final one Monday night in early April, and six days later, the fourth round of the Masters. You can count on both, such as room service at the O’Hare Marriott Hotel. There are many other events starring Nantz’s work life, but Augusta’s final four and final rounds sunbathe on the top of the mountain.

In his private life, Nanz has a relationship with two older men who shape his life. You know two names. You may not know that they are all members of the World Golf Hall of Fame: Arnold Palmer and George HW Bush. Whenever I talk to Nantz, there are certain names that appear. His own father, first of all. CBS legendary director Chuck Will and Frank Chirkinian. Old Bush, as Charles Barkley calls HW (to distinguish him from W. (aka Young Bush.) and Arnold.

Nantz and I are both Arnold-O-Philes. We go from Feinstein to Palmer, from basketball to golf. I asked Nantz the last time he met Palmer at the 2016 Masters.

In the early hours of Thursday of the 16 Masters, Gary players, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer gathered on the first tee. Walking music is Let’s start this party. The players and Big Jack stand out. Arnie viewed and provided his trademark. Lift your right thumb and shoulders high. He was 86 years old at the time, very fragile, but smart. He sat down from the folding chair without helping paying homage to the two shots his friend had just hit.

“Then Arnie and Alastair Johnston and the kit went into the club’s breakfast,” Jim told me. Johnston, a long-time business consultant for Palmer, was a lifeguard at IMG. Kit is Palmer’s second wife. “I asked Alastair if he could have an interview at Butler Cabin after breakfast. He said he would ask, but if he did, it could be short.” That means yes.

Arnold took a bus to Butler, Johnston and Nantz at the clubhouse. Arnold performed so much. He always does this. He fears to disappoint someone who has never seen him before.

Last year, I saw the interview for the first time. This is very powerful. Palmer said at the end, “That’s it.” Then, I told Jim, “As usual, he said very little. That’s it. I said goodbye. ”

Jim then said, “I believe Arnold knows he will never be back there. I believe that’s the way he said it. Just seeing him sitting there, knowing the end is approaching, bringing tears to your tears.”

After the interview, Nantz took Arnold in a waiting car, White Mercedes driven by Johnston. Kit in the back seat. Arnold wore a green member’s coat. He rode a shotgun. They are going to the airport. Yes, Arnold left the hotel in his club coat. Do you think anyone called him?

Nanz said: “I watched the car leave and I thought, ‘The man and his wife arrived here in a Winniebago in 1955.’ At the time, Arnold was on the tour’s first year, lowercase t. During those days, there was a rule for apprenticeships in the US PGA that in the first half of the year, you could not cash the check. But the Masters is a private club event and Arnold may be paid – the T10 ticket costs $696. He then won the championship in ’60s, ’62 and ’64. He invented modern masters, sports events, wonders and TV shows. The ritual of spring is like a basketball tournament.

Jim Nantz is too young to appreciate Arnold’s peak. He is a child. “He filled the gap,” Nanz told me. Arnold’s life and time connects us with Dwight Eisenhower, a member of the Augusta country and Palmer’s friend. For Ben Hogan, Arnold’s golf and personality opposite, he is also the central figure in the master’s legend; for Bobby Jones, he started the whole thing. If you love golf, it’s hard not to love Arnold Palmer. He played this life and did his life while playing.

I asked Nantz about the last thing he said to Arnold that Thursday.

“I told him I love him,” Nanz said. Nantz rides his white car with his palm. Kit and Arnold go home. Six months later, Arnold died in a Pittsburgh hospital.

“Should I be afraid?” he asked the doctor.

No, the doctor said.

“Then I won’t.”

Arnold recorded hundreds of days and nights in Augusta. Nantz saw a lot, was attracted to everything, and brought it to us millions of us. When Arnold was there, he was there. His coat has wool, arm sleeves, bones forearms in his hands. all is well. Arnold’s blue-gray eyes, atomizing as he ages and any other way. The almost silent engine in his racing car. Clear path.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments via michael.bamberger@golf.com.