Scottie Scheffler’s 2012 GMC Yukon XL is officially being auctioned off to raise money for Triumph Over Kid Cancer, a charity near and dear to his heart, at Heritage Auctions. Starting bid: $50,000. Golfweek was the first to share the story of how Jim Nantz set the initial bid last month at a fundraising event attended by the Scheffler family in Houston.
The story of the car is worth telling again. In 2012, Scheffler’s high school team attended the Masters and his dad drove there in the family GMC with Scottie’s sisters. But the car broke down and Scott Scheffler purchased a new white GMC Yukon on the Monday after the Masters to drive home from Masters GMC in Augusta.
“Most people get a T-shirt, I got a $50,000 car payment,” Scott Scheffler said.
Dubbed “GMC Airlines,” it transported Scottie to junior tournaments, AJGA events, and college competitions, logging countless miles on the road from coast to coast. After his son graduated from Texas, Scott gifted the car to Scottie, making it the first car Scottie owned and he drove it for eight years and 184,000 miles.
He recalled putting a new transmission in the day before he left for PGA Tour Q-School in Alabama. He drove it to mini tour events and Monday qualifiers when he first turned pro in 2018, and during his season on the Korn Ferry Tour and it remained his primary vehicle with Duct tape on the steering wheel even after he became a Tour winner and millionaire many times over.
“I definitely drove it for too long,” Scheffler said.
Two years ago, Scheffler was playing the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, not far from his home in Dallas and had commuted there in his Yukon. His caddie, Ted Scott, had done the same in his 2008 Toyota Tundra from his home in Louisiana. Standing on the range, Scheffler observed, “I think you have the only car in player parking this week that is worth less than my car.”
An argument ensued.
“He’s like, ‘No way, man, Toyotas run forever, my car is worth way more than your car,’ ” Scheffler recounted. “We had this back and forth and we kept hitting balls and I said, ‘I got it, my car is worth more than your car because mine has the Masters GMC logo on the back and I’m a Masters champion.’ ”
Scottie said it was his dad who suggested they give the car to TOKC, which was started by James Ragan, a friend from junior golf who died from osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, to auction it and raise money.
“James was a buddy that I grew up with playing golf. He passed away due to cancer but he started this foundation,” Scottie said. “It’s something we’re very passionate about.”
Scheffler signed the dash and the passenger side (on the air bag panel) with a “First Owned Vehicle” inscription and the second signature appears on the right visor (vanity mirror cover).
As the auction web site notes, “Imagine if you owned the first car that Jack Nicklaus owned and drove cross country from tournament to tournament until he won his first Masters. That’s akin to this opportunity where you can win the first vehicle of two-time Masters winner Scottie Scheffler who is only 27 years old.”
Heritage Auctions, the auction house overseeing the auction, will be donating 100 percent of its commission to TOKC.