HAVERHILL - At the edge of a parking lot filled with luxury sedans, about 80 people stood before an auctioneer as he was announcing what appeared to be the winning bid.

The item for sale - the elite Renaissance Golf Club on Kenoza Street, on the auction block due to foreclosure.

"Eight million (dollars) going once, going twice," said auctioneer Paul Saperstein. He was interrupted.

Standing to the side, wearing wraparound sunglasses on an overcast day and a tan trench coat, was Boxford lawyer John Ferrante. He raised his arm.

"Thirteen," he said.

Subdued gasps could be heard from the crowd, many of them club members, when they realized he just bid $13 million.

Ferrante won the bidding with the surprise offer, buying the golf course for a client he would not reveal. He has 30 days to legally finalize the deal, at which time the new owner could be named.

Timothy Cole, president of Newton-based Southworth Golf Management, the golf management firm that runs Renaissance, said the bidding surprised him.

Cole said he does not know who Ferrante represents.

"It's kind of unusual for an auction to jump from $8 million to $13 million," Cole said. "I was very surprised, as were a lot of people."

Several members were asked to comment on the sale, but declined.

The golf complex, which sprawls across 197 acres in the city's rural Kenoza Street area, opened in 2005 with nine holes and added another nine last summer. Membership costs $6,750 a year for a family and $5,500 a year for an individual.

The club's 165 members can begin teeing off for the season starting today, Cole said.

Renaissance was originally owned by Plaistow, N.H., developer Paul Quinn before the foreclosure. Southworth took over full management of the club when the foreclosure happened, Cole has said.

The owner of the golf club's mortgage is Fairway Onshore Loan Fund of Wisconsin, which approved of the bidding price yesterday through its lawyer Edward Rainen of Boston.

Rainen was at the auction, holding a telephone to his ear throughout the proceedings. On the other end was Fairway Onshore, which listened in and agreed to accept the $13 million bid.

There were six bidders, each fronting a check for $200,000 to become eligible to bid. The auction company would not reveal the names of the six bidders.