Van Pelt began his career in sportscasting at WTTG-TV, a FOX affiliate in Washington, D.C. in 1990 and then moved on to the Golf Channel, where he worked from 1995 to 2000 as a studio host for some of the network's signature programs. He left the channel in 2001 to join ESPN, where he serves as a presenter for "SportsCenter" and is one of the network's top golf correspondents, covering major tournaments such as the Masters Tournament. After acquiring the cable rights to the tournament, Van Pelt also appeared on ESPN's coverage of The Open Championship. He also is a prominent personality for ESPN Radio, where he was the co-host of "Tirico and Van Pelt" alongside Mike Tirico before the program was canceled and replaced with Van Pelt's own three-hour program, "The Scott Van Pelt Show", in 2009. The show was renamed "SVP & Russillo" in October 2012. He is a studio presenter for the ESPN Network's Friday night College Football on ESPN.