Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes tried to get his name on the Rock of Fame at Jim Nantz’s home
During those halcyon March days following Super Bowl LIV and before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the nation, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes took a trip to California.
On the docket was golf, and CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz, who lives in Monterey, was invited to play with Mahomes.
“I got a phone call that he was looking for a fourth to join his group. ... We ended up playing 36 holes in one day and really got to know him better than you do when you’re sitting in a production room and calling us games,” Nantz recalled Tuesday during a call with reporters.
After playing 18 holes at the Cypress Point Club in the morning, the quartet finished with a round that afternoon at Pebble Beach.
On the front nine, Mahomes sidled up next to Nantz.
“How’s that par-3 hole in your backyard?” Mahomes asked.
Nantz responded: “Yeah, I have a lot of fun up there. Would you like to come see it after the second round?”
“Man, one of the goals of my trip is to make a hole in one and get on the Rock of Fame,” Mahomes said.
That par-3 in Nantz’s backyard has been featured in Golf Digest, which noted it is a replica of the seventh hole at Pebble Beach. Nantz had bullet-proof windows installed on his mansion to protect against errant shots, the story says.
Next to the tee box is a rock with names of the people who have made a hole in one. Mahomes, just weeks removed from winning the Super Bowl MVP award, wanted his name on that Rock of Fame.
“So he came up to the house. It was raining by now and it was getting dark, I turned some lights on,” Nantz said. “He very nearly knocked it in with his first attempt. But he probably hit three dozen shots. And he was so bound and determined to try to make it which he didn’t.
“It crushed him not to make a hole in one, and he said he will be back.”
Nantz then referenced the GQ story on Mahomes that highlighted his desire to win no matter the activity.
That drive is why Nantz believes the Chiefs won’t be complacent in the 2020 season. That can be a concern for any Super Bowl championship team.
“I saw that competitive fire out on the golf course and I saw it on the tee in my backyard, that this kid is absolutely driven,” Nantz said. “There is no chance that there’s going to be any kind of letdown or ‘We got a ring so we’re going to take a little bit off of it this year.’
“This guy’s out to make some big history, he knows what (Tom) Brady’s career has looked like. He knows a lot of other superstar young quarterbacks in this league that he’s going to be contending with for a long time. But man, there’s never gonna be a lack of effort to be the greatest of all time.
“I’m not saying he is the greatest of all time. There will never be a lack of effort on his part in his quest to be the greatest of all time. He’s just getting started.”
Nantz is bullish on the Chiefs’ chances not only this season with Mahomes under center but for years to come.
After all, Mahomes is just 24 years old.
“I would be shocked if in the next 10 years he doesn’t have at least two or three more Super Bowl rings,” Nantz said, “and I might even be on the low side of it.”
