PEBBLE BEACH — Jim Nantz is big on dates, and Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of his first trip to Pebble Beach Golf Links for CBS Sports. It’s a sure bet that he will have a much larger role this weekend than he did for his first assignment.
MORE: Flyover of every hole at Pebble Beach
The first golf tournament Nantz worked for the network was the 1986 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and he used that term loosely. He remembered the occasion well, and on Tuesday night he shared with pro-am participants at the tournament’s pairings party the highlights of that debut. Which didn’t actually materialize.
“I was in the 14th tower; I never got on [the air] the entire weekend,” Nantz said with a wry smile. “Frank Chirkinian, the famous legendary golf producer and father of golf television, was afraid to put on this kid just three-and-a-half years removed from college. So I was there with a headset and everything. If you go back and look at the tape, you’ll never hear me.
“Some say it was my best work,” he added, throwing in a punchline, “but I was here.”
Nantz, 65, who loves Pebble Beach so much that he now owns a home here, did make it on the air from the Monterey Peninsula the following year—after impressing Chirkinian enough to be included on the ‘86 Masters broadcast—but that opportunity was nearly scuttled by a potential problem of his own making. He nearly knocked James Bond out of the event.
During what turned out to be a late dinner with Chirkinian, Pat Summerall, Ken Venturi and some of the celebrity participants, including Vic Damone, Nantz was pulled aside by Chirkininan, who realized he wouldn’t make his tee time the next morning at Cypress Point Club, and he told Nantz to go in his place.
“Frank said, ‘Go fill in for me kid. You’re going to meet one of the greatest guys you’ll ever meet Jim Langley [the head pro]. Go in and tell him you’re playing for me.’ So I go and introduce myself to Jim Langley and he says, ‘Young man, you’re on the tee right now, and you’re playing with Sean Connery.
“I’ve never been so scared on the first tee,” Nantz continued. “My hands were shaking. I could barely get the ball to stay on the tee, but I gave myself a little talk. We’re not going to let Bond know that I’m a huge fan of 007.”
By the way, Nantz does a serviceable impression of the late actor.
The round proceeded without incident, but afterward Connery asked Nantz to drive him a lift back to his hotel. Gulp.
“I’m 27 years old and I’m luxuriating in the Lodge of Pebble Beach for the second year in row, and of course I’m eager to shepherd him back to his quarters,” Nantz said. “And there was another member of our group named Howard Keel who’s a famous Broadway actor, on Show Boat, Dallas, the TV show, and all that. He sat up front, Bond was sitting behind me, and I put all the bags in the back of my rental car and I gave myself another little talk. ‘We got to stay on 17-Mile Drive. I cannot run this thing off the road. I got one mile to negotiate. I can handle this.’”
Eager to be of service, Nantz noticed that Connery’s door was still open, so before he slid behind the steering wheel, he slammed Connery’s door—right on Connery’s ankle.
“Connery had his left leg still on the pavement. I had not noticed that,” Nantz said. “It landed right in that tender spot between the ankle and the shin, and blood was coming through his trousers, and now I’m going to go back and explain to Frank Chirkinian that the star of our Pro-Am is not going to be able to play because I’m taking him out of the tournament.
“Mercifully, he showed those great legendary James Bond powers of recovery. I wasn’t Blofeld or any of these guys from Spectre, but I did bloody him, and I still, though, was relieved to see him recover, come back.”
Nantz, thankfully, has been coming back ever since.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com