Jim Nantz, three-time Emmy winner and lead anchor of CBS Sports’ golf team, will be the recipient of the 2021 Old Tom Morris award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
Nantz will receive the award Feb. 2 during the Opening Session of the virtual 2021 Golf Industry Show. The award has been presented annually since 1983 to an individual, who through a lifetime commitment to the game of golf, has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris. Morris, a four-time British Open winner, was the long-time superintendent at St. Andrews in Scotland until his death in 1908.
Nantz joined the CBS Sports golf team in 1986 and became the lead anchor of the network’s golf coverage in April 1994, partnering with 1998 Old Tom Morris Award winner Ken Venturi until June 2002. He currently partners with six-time major championship winner Sir Nick Faldo. In addition to his golf broadcast responsibilities, Nantz is also the lead play-by-play announcer for the network’s NFL and college basketball coverage.
“For more than three decades, Jim Nantz has been the face and voice to lead viewers through golf’s biggest events,” said Rhett Evans, GCSAA CEO. “Through his insight and analysis, we have all felt a deeper connection to the game. His respect for and recognition of superintendents throughout his career make him an exemplary choice for the Old Tom Morris Award.”
A native of Charlotte, N.C., Nantz began covering sports while he was a student at the University of Houston, where he was also a member of the golf team. After graduating in 1981 with a degree in radio/television, he worked at CBS affiliates in Houston and Salt Lake City before joining CBS Sports in 1985.
In 2007, Nantz became the first commentator in history to call the Super Bowl, the NCAA Men’s Final Four and the Masters all in the same year, repeating this feat in 2010, 2013 and 2016. In 2019, Nantz completed an even-rarer achievement — calling the AFC Championship, Super Bowl, Final Four, Masters and PGA Championship, all in a span of 120 days.
Other accolades for Nantz include being a member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame and being named National Sportscaster of the Year five times.
“The Old Tom Morris Award is a big one,” Nantz said. “I treasure the relationship that I have with many superintendents around the country, and I value their efforts so much. They work so hard and they don’t get the acclaim I feel they deserve. They’re so incredibly well educated and trained on all issues involving agronomy. It’s been an eye-opener for me the last 35 years.”
Outside of broadcasting, in 2011 he teamed with Houston Methodist Hospital to create the Nantz National Alzheimer Center (NNAC). The NNAC has become a world-renowned research center dedcated to funding innovative diagnostic discoveries for early and accurate detection of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementing illnesses. Nantz wrote a New York Times Bestseller chronicling his father’s battle with the disease, “Always By My Side,” in 2008.
Nantz lives in Pebble Beach, Calif., with his wife, Courtney. They have two daughters, Caroline and Finley, and a son, Jameson. A list of past Old Tom Morris Award winners is available at https://www.gcsaa.org/about-gcsaa/awards/old-tom-morris-award
