Jim Nantz was Masters winners roommate at college | Golf News

Fred Couples has nothing but the very best reward for Jim Nantz, having shared a room with the broadcasting legend during their time at the University of Houston.

The two giants of their respective fields go back a long time and will come together once again at this 12 months’s Masters. Couples is a major champion, having claimed his Green Jacket in 1992, while Nantz is a broadcast legend, famend for his intensive coverage of the NFL, golf and NCAA males’s basketball.

Couples competed in the Par-3 contest on Wednesday alongside teenage beginner Jackson Herrington, who was making his Masters debut. Afterward, the major champion was requested to replicate on his college days.

“I roomed with Jim Nantz and Blaine McCallister, who won five times, and we had a very old coach who, before we played a lot of tournaments, I’d have to go get a haircut, and if I didn’t go, I wouldn’t be able to play,” he said.

“People ask me why I went there. My mom is the one who loved Coach Williams. So that’s why I went to Houston. There’s no other reason.

“Jim Nantz and I’ve been lifelong pals… to go to college with him was superb. But faculty, the golf was unimaginable. It’s approach different now. These guys, they’re so a lot better. I was a actually good participant and as it seems, I’ve had an unbelievable profession. But they’re approach better than we had been.

“I know Jack Nicklaus is the best and Tiger Woods, but Scottie Scheffler and all the other guys and the college kids, they’re really, really talented. And for me it’s fun to see.”

Herrington boasts an spectacular early profession, having claimed the Tennessee State Championship in 2024. The following 12 months, he completed as runner-up at the 2025 US Amateur, where he was defeated by Mason Howell, another beginner competing at this 12 months’s Masters.

When it comes to assessing Herrington’s expertise, it is clear that Couples holds the younger participant in high regard.

“Well, I remember how far all these guys hit it and he’s one of them that joined that crowd. Watched him play last year in the U.S. Am. Know all about it,” he said.

“In my life I have a lot of younger friends that I try and help in certain different ways, just because I like the way they play, and he’s a great player.”