Nantz had to correct Arnold Palmer after making – Sports News
Jim Nantz spent an unforgettable night on the White House with Arnold Palmer (Image: Getty)
Jim Nantz is one of the best storytellers in sports activities, and he has a lot to inform, notably in regards to the iconic Arnold Palmer.
His favourite comes from a barely plausible dinner on the White House in 2007, when CBS announcer Nantz acquired an invitation from President George W. Bush.
Nantz was delighted to see his great pal Palmer sitting subsequent to him when he arrived at his desk, however he was shocked when the 2 remaining seats on the desk had been stuffed by President Bush and Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen was making her first go to to the White House in more than a decade, and Nantz helped Her Majesty have interaction with seven-time main champion Palmer, who was exhausting of listening to in his latter years.
“I went to a White House dinner with him,” Nantz instructed the ‘Vanity Index’ podcast. “It was for Queen Elizabeth. Her Majesty was making her first social visit to the White House in 16 years, and by some miracle, I got on that guest list. And when I went to my table, lo and behold, my dear friend Arnie is sitting to my left.
Queen Elizabeth II made a rare visit to the White House in 2007 (Image: Getty)
“And it only got a little bit better because we’re two open seats and they said ‘the President of the United States escorting the Queen of England.’ And they circled through the tables, and lo and behold, they’re at our table.
“I had dinner with the Queen. I started to engage with Her Majesty, and I got nowhere. She was not having any of it. So finally she took this into her own hands, and she said, ‘Mr. Palmer may I ask you a question?’
“Arnie could not hear at the end. He wore hearing aids in both ears, double barrel. And she said, ‘How many people in your lifetime do you figure you’ve played golf with? And you cannot count the same person more than once.’ [Palmer] looked at me and said, ‘Huh?’”
The Arnold Palmer Invitational tees off at Bay Hill on Thursday (Image: Getty)
Nantz shouted ‘Her Majesty wants to know’ earlier than explaining the query to Palmer. Nantz continued: “So I interpret the question for him, and he [shrugged]. So she blurted out ‘A hundred thousand people?’, and I looked at Arnie and [loudly] said: “A hundred thousand people?”
Nantz says Palmer gestured to say more, to which Queen Elizabeth adopted up with: “500,000 people?”
“Looked at Arnie and he thought about it,” Nantz stated. “And he finally looked at her, and then that grin came out. He [raised his thumb]. So there was the answer.”
Nantz caught up with Palmer after the dinner and had to query him about his flawed math.
Nantz recalled: “So about two weeks later, we were in Maryland. He said, ‘Why don’t you ask me that question the Queen asked me? You’ve never asked me that before.’ And I said, ‘I would ask you, but the math does not add up.’
“He said, ‘How do you figure?’ [I said] ‘If you came out of the womb day one and they put a diaper on you with the umbrella logo, the drink, the drink, you got your Kettle One and a sippy cup, and you got your uncle Jerry, your dad, and another guy, but we can’t count them again. Round numbers, that’d be a thousand people a year. You have to be 500 years old. Can only count Jack Nicklaus one time.’”
The cogs turned in Palmer’s head earlier than replying: “Oh yeah, I guess you’re right. I guess you’re right.”
Nantz delivered a eulogy at Palmer’s funeral after he died aged 87 in 2016l, and the story supplied one of the lighter moments in a heartfelt speech.
“Arnie felt like he touched and he did hundreds of thousands and millions of people with his kindness and warmth,” Nantz added “And he’s going to be gone 10 years this September. And he’s still talked about all the time. People love him.”
Nantz won’t be on the call for this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, as Golf Channel and NBC holds the printed rights. The match begins on Thursday.
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