Tournaments Books

This book is not really just about a great golf tournament, but about what it means to grow up and become a man. The younger Payne Stewart, so hated in Europe, resembled a nice but spoilt frat boy with a golf club. Of course he wasn't really all like that, but the accusation stuck. Just as most frat boys actually grow into becoming the best fathers and husbands, this book chronicles how Payne grew to become in the late 90s, in his early 40s, the best golfer on the planet, and about the last person to really, really ignore what Tiger Woods was doing on a golf course.

Just finished reading Payne at Pinehurst--couldn't put it down.

I'm a big golf fan and that U.S. Open ranks as the best I've seen. The detail Chastain goes into was fascinating in describing Payne Stewart's path toward claiming golf's ultimate prize Chastain obviously knows his subject well and has a way with words. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone, and not just golfers.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with Mr June, and can hardly think of anything to add to his commentary on this wonderful book. It amazes me, though, how "passed over" it seems to be by the chess community. I've never seen such a great O.O.P. chess volume go for so few peanuts on the secondary market! I think that, at the current used book prices, this just has to represent the single greatest bargain on the O.O.P. used chess book market today!

I decided to embark on the complicated and often dangerous path of the closed Ruy/Spanish game, despite the stern warnings of a local master that I should stick to the less complicated exchange variation; and got my first, best introduction to the many variations and nuances of this complex opening from this single book. I was warned by this man that I should avoid 4.Ba4, as I was particularly liable to run into the Marshall Attack, which he warned was an absolute minefield for white. I played Fritz 9 (at full strength) against the Marshall recently, and 30 moves into the game, the position was still rated (=) by Fritz, after I played a variation recommended by Mr. Lane in his book.

I'm afraid I must disagree on one point with Mr. June, in that I did not find there to be too many variations or lines to choose from at all. I feel sure that I have benefitted from each and every one, and couldn't think of one line that I would have ommitted from the book. I just can't help but give this book a full 5 stars, and wholeheartedly recommend it!

Learning the Ruy Lopez can be a real pain for players -- indeed, there are many variations, and even as deep as the 9th move black retains a substantial amount of choices (Breyer, Chigorin, Zaitsev, and the Smyslov are all variations on the 9th move). Gary Lane tackles just about every significant variation (even some of the less important ones) in this book.

Each variation gets a nice preface which summarizes the variation and what the major themes are. Lane nicely presents a key example or two of how white/black want to play and what to avoid. The examples of "what not to do" are especially helpful, and Lane's book seems singular in its ability to present this.

So why should you buy this book over other Ruy books? Well, it gives a very good, precise overview of all the important variations in the Ruy. Things like the Schliemann, Archangelsk, delayed exchange, Cozio, and Berlin are all covered, in addition to the more "popular" closed systems like the Zaitsev, Chigorin etc. From the white side, buying a treatise on just ONE of these isn't going to cut it, because many black players have their own flavor of the Ruy which they like to play. In this sense, it offers a complete, solid, great reperotoire for the white player.

From the black side, there are plenty of choices. If you want to CHOOSE one of the variations in the Ruy, this is a good way to pick among them. However, if you're looking to specialize in, say, the Breyer, pick up a book on that instead.

Dave Norwood, a contemporary of Lane's, said this about openings books: "There are almost certainly more books written on chess than other sport or hobby, and yet so few can be read with anything approaching pleasure. Many opening books are little more than print-offs of ChessBase variations, with the analysis courtesy of Fritz. Any monkey could write them and I suspect that a lot of the time, they do."

The reason I think it's proper to deduct a star (and this should not necessarily deter anyone) is that occasionally there are too many variations printed. It is difficult for a reader to pick and choose the variations to play; you should know some important deviations, but it's a hassle to get bogged down with four alternatives to 13...Rd8.

Lane does a very solid job meeting Norwood's criteria for a book. Like many of the English authors, Gary Lane elucidates things textually and "Ruy Lopez for the Tournament Player" rarely comes across as a ChessBase printout.

On a personal note, this book gained me hundreds of rating points.

If you are tracking Fischer, this tournament was a pivotal point in his career--a miraculous recovery following a disappointing start, after which he seemed energized and unstoppable. Petrosian (then world champion) was clearly in decline (he placed 6th/7th, see also Larsen's queen sack against him!), while Bobby and Boris were ascendant.

What makes this tournament book standout are the player bios and photos and the many excellent "apparati"--Player/game index, round-by-round summaries, round-by-round results and openings index. Now, to that Larsen-Petrosian game: there it was in the player/game index: game #34. The game analysis is sparse, but to the point, more to highlight the critical points in the course of each game. But unlike the singular perspective of most game collections, in Piatigorsky II there are many games where each opponent is asked to provide commentary (such as #34), exposing sometimes different insights to the same key move. However, in this case both agreed the queen sac was not difficult to calculate. Yet, Petrosian concedes that is "was beautiful and rare."

Be warned. This appears to be a photo-reproduced copy of the original. Unfortunately the player photos did not reproduce well. They are very dark. And the diagrams, too, appear to have bled a little--probably due to the fact that the master copy itself was old. (-1 star). In spite of these failings, this text is a marvel to behold.

If anything, the Second Piatigorsky Cup, organised on behalf of the millionaire Piatigorsky family by USA GM Isaac Kashdan, excelled the First Piatigorsky Cup in tension and excellence of play. Once again the competing grandmasters - including Fischer, Larsen, Petrosian and Spassky - contributed their comments to create a superlative tournament book. The race for first prize between Spassky and Fischer, the temporary eclipse of the reigning world champion Petrosian, and the classic clash of arms between Spassky and Fischer themselves, combined to elevate this to one of the supreme chess experiences of all time.

I believe the reader from Yukon is referring to a book other than the one written by Tarrasch. He writes that the book was small and had sparse annotations. I have seen that book and I believe it was published in England, though I cannot recall who the author was. The book by Tarrasch is a far cry from the book Yukon reader recalls. The notes in it a thorough and instructive and, typical of the books in Dale Brandreth's Caissa Editions series, adds notes from many other sources. Like the other books in this series, the production standard is very high and has a beautiful sturdy binding.

I saw this book back in the 1970s in the old books collection at the University of Texas. It was a very small book but it was of great historical importance for chess players. Played on the eve of World War I, this tournament featured the greatest players of the day and featured some fascinating games. It was at this tournament that the five original Grandmasters of Chess (Lasker, Alekhine, Capablanca, Marshal, and, the book's author, Tarrasch) were given their title by Tsar Nicholas. Why this book fell out of print is a mystery to me, but it should be in every chess player's library of great tournaments. Tarrasch's biases sometimes show through, but even this is of great historical interest.

I would give the book a 5-star rating if it were more thoroughly annotated, but remember that Tarrasch's work was interrupted by WWI and all the turmoil in Germany thereafter. He probably did the best he could.

I was extremely pleased at both the timeliness of the shippers response and the condition of the book. It is obvious to me that great care in packing and respect for the the book by the shipper was a primary concern! The condition of the book, as far as I am concerned, is near as perfect as possible. Again, thanks & it would be my privilage to deal with the shipper again...

I got this book as a present from one of my UT buddies; needless to say, I have a bit of an advantage over him :-) The book is most useful when it shows you the secrets of all the levels; some are really devilish to find, but really cool. It doesn't cover any of the recently released levels, and I kind of wish that they had a corresponding webpage where they covered the new levels and the like. The rest of the information about the levels was a little bit confusing, but if you glance at the book while playing a level, you should be ok. The stategies they presented were very good, but most of them can be found on UT websites. Some of the information was a little bit off, but I didn't trip over it much. Overall, the book is well worth it.

This past weekend the world watched the biennial golf match between the best professional golfers from the United States and their opponents from Europe. Each day roughly 40,000 spectators attended the matches held this year at Oakland Hills in Michigan. The worldwide television audience exceeded 100 million. Given the worldwide marketing, national fervor and hoopla of this event, some fans of the Ryder Cup might be surprised to learn that as recently as twenty years ago, the Ryder Cup was on the verge of extinction as a golfing event.

US AGAINST THEM: An Oral History of the Ryder Cup, by Robin McMillan, follows the history of the matches from inception in 1927 to the most recent match in 2002. This year's match concluded last Sunday with the Europeans capturing a resounding victory. As in previous years, it was a hard fought and tenacious contest. But the recently concluded contest can only be appreciated by referencing the previous battles for the cup donated many years ago by Samuel Ryder. McMillan traces the history of the Cup through a series of interviews with participants, organizers and Ryder Cup captains, perhaps the most revered position in professional golf other than major tournament champion. The saga is both informative and entertaining.

The actual commencement of the Ryder Cup matches is shrouded in some confusion. What is known is that Samuel Ryder, a British businessman, established the groundwork for the matches that formally began in 1927. Prior to that year, Ryder had arranged matches between English and American professionals, but the method of choosing the teams was informal and there was no actual involvement by the Professional Golf Association of the United States. As an oral history, US AGAINST THEM suffers because very few of the originators of the Ryder Cup remain alive today to discuss the formative years. Interestingly, Peter Allis, current ABC golf commentator and eight-time Cup participant, offers history through the reminiscences of his father, Percy Allis. Despite that source of information, it is fair to say that information of the early Ryder Cup years is not the strength of this book.

If there is a shortcoming to this oral history it comes from two sources, both beyond the author's control. Obviously, many of the Ryder Cup participants from the years immediately after World War II, when interest in the transatlantic battles began to grow, are no longer available to be interviewed. Thus, there are no recollections from Hogan, Snead, Henry Cotton or Dai Rees, all frequent Cup opponents in the '40s and '50s. Many of the golfing greats from more recent Ryder Cups --- Nicklaus, Palmer, Woods, Montgomerie and Garcia --- apparently declined to be interviewed for this book. But those who agreed to be interviewed have much to offer about the matches on the course and some behind-the-scenes battles as well. In 1975, Arnold Palmer was U.S. Captain at Laurel Valley Golf Club, Arnie's home course. The club had a strict policy against women in the dining room. Jack Nicklaus told Palmer what he thought of that rule. "Never mind the rules and all that crap, Arnold. If my wife is not sitting down to have lunch with me tomorrow, I'm going home." The rule was relaxed to allow women to dine between 11 am and 1 pm.

By the late 1970s, the Cup matches had become so one-sided that interest had waned substantially. In 1977, American Tom Weiskopf chose to go hunting rather than participate. But a man whose name most American golfers would not even recognize, Colin Snape, the executive director of the British PGA, saved the Cup from extinction by bringing European professionals into the matches. The struggles of the '80s and '90s made golfing history with closely fought matches and strong patriotic fervor ringing from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The battle for the Ryder Cup is now an eagerly anticipated event.

This year's Cup battle is now completed. If this was the first year you followed the match and wish to learn more about previous Ryder Cup battles, then US AGAINST THEM is for you. If you are a Ryder Cup or golfing fan in general, you will enjoy this well-written history of one of golf's premier events.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

This is simply awesome for golf aficianado, for it is oral history beginning after WWII with individuals from both sides, along side the author's running commentary of the history and sidelights.

What is fascinating about this enjoyable read is all the great views and opinions about what occurred at the some of the major development stages of this spectacular and increasingly significant golfing drama.

Glad to see that the Ryder Cup has been changed to make it more the major drama golfing event that it is with the move to European players. Not impressed by utter comeptiveness of some who destroy the sportmanship angle of this competition, restored at the Belfry by captians Strange and Torrance.

Being a huge John Jacobs fan, was pleasantly surprised to see him get his due to having solidified the European PGA tour and then his Ryder Cup experience.

Can't Feherty and Torrance say more than two sentences without the "f" word? I enjoy both of these guys, but moreso when they're on camera and can't let loose the vulgarity.

Author did nice job interviewing, then culling and editing the salient parts for us readers to relish. This is great timing with upcoming Cup at Oakland Hills.

Well worth the purchase and read. Great addition to golf fan library.

This book has not aged well. It successfully recaps the 1994 season, but fails in nearly every other regard. It doesn't give a great sense of what it is like to play on the PGA Tour, it offers little new information, it covers too much territory too thinly, and most damaging of all, it is boring.

Much of the book reads like a newspaper recap of the year's highlights. It uses a dry and repeatable format that doesn't give the reader much more than scores and a bland summary of events. For those not interested in this particular season, the book has little to offer.

Feinstein does track individual golfers, but it's nearly impossible to care about any of them because they all feel like carbon copies of one another. There are too many examples of the pretty good player who is so close to breaking through, but instead is constantly struggling to make cuts, keep his card, stop playing the Nike Tour, etc. Also too many examples of the established professional golfer who isn't in danger of losing his card, but can't recapture the swing he had when he was really successful. Everything runs together in a forgettable blur. Feinstein presents John Daly as spoiled brat (which is no doubt accurate), but Daly is one of the few people in the book whose escapades don't put the reader to sleep.

Excellent work on a frustrating and fun game. The background info was particularly interesting.

You would think from all of the hype over the years that Mark Feinstein uttered the phrase, " a good walk spoiled". Not true. Mark Twain said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled". Nice try Feinstein.


David Pendergrass

My real rating is 1.5 stars. The book won't put you to sleep, but it's not going to teach you anything you won't have known glancing through newspaper articles for a few years.
Readers will learn nothing about golf if they have any acquaintence with the sport: though the closest I've ever gotten to golf in my 47 years is frequently passing by a club shop in my neighborhood, I learned almost nothing about the sport from this book save uninteresting gossip about golfers who are now no longer prominent.
Feinstein makes no attempt at analysis and no attempt to fit any of what he writes into any context: what the reader gets here is a sketch of an insular world with no acknoledgment of that insularity. Hence, for any but the big golf fan who wishes cereal-box writing to pass time, the book will be useless.
Bad points: besides that mentioned, the prose is (as mentioned in my title) in large measure cliches and reads, as other reviewers have pointed out, like a newspaper article knocked out under deadline and length pressure. For newspaper articles, such is no great handicap, but for a book is makes for tediousness. Next is a quibble, perhaps, but in the trade paperback edition I picked up the four photos on the cover are far better than the bubblegum snaps in the interior of the book. The book photos do nothing to enhance the content and waste paper.
If you're looking for extremely light reading that will tax you none (as I was when I selected this book to read in a period of extreme exhaustion), "A good walk spoiled" will suffice. If you're looking for a good book, look elsewhere.

This book is an interesting read, written during the 1995 PGA season. The timing of it is such that Tiger Woods hadn't really hit the scene yet. Because of his dominance in golf, the comparisons in the book are really out of date. This is not a reflection on the author, he worked with what he had at the time, and did a splendid job. At that time on the tour, a three win season was a spectacular feat, where now it is not the case any more for the elite players. The game has changed. A lot of the players who got extra attention in the book are still on the scene, and it was interesting to compare the perception of them in the mid-90's to what it is now. Still very much worth the read.

John Feinstein is a sports reporter in real life and translates that into one of his finest pieces of literature titled The Last Shot. In this book, John Feinstein explains how trouble strikes the NCAA Basketball Tournament. He dives deep into elaboration and explains very profound details of someone who is being framed for something that could change their life.

Feinstein is currently a reporter for "The Sports Reporters" and a columnist for Chapin Times and the Washington Post. Feinstein not only writes for a living, but is a professor at Duke University in the Journalism department as well. In his recent books like Cover up and Season on the Brink he brings out his inner sports fanatic and is rewarded with his books being top selling ones.

The author of this book accomplishes his goal by putting you in the human position of someone of witnesses a framing and becomes apart of the solution rather than the problem. With Feinstein being a writer himself, he clearly puts his love for being a journalist into the book because the whole point of this book is a kid winning a chance to be a journalist at the NCAA tournament which seemed to be one of his dreams as a child.

The strengths of this book are the fact that Feinstein also sticks to the perspective of one character instead of putting you into confuse-mode by sifting around from character to character. Another strength would be that he goes through the book in chronological order instead of having flashbacks every 5 pages like some books do. One weakness about this book is the fact that the characters and time moves by so quickly that you would get lost skimming through this book. Keeping focus and keeping interest in the topic will get you through this book with ease. I recommend this book to anyone who has a passion for sports and loves mystery

Last Shot Knopf, 2005, 251 p.p., $16.95
John Feinstein 0-375-83168-1




Steven Thomas is living a dream. After winning a writing contest, he is in New Orleans as a reporter covering the Final Four. But, the dream takes a turn when Steven and fellow winner Susan Carol overhear a warning to MSU's star point guard to lose the championship game, or else. As Steven and Susan Carol start to uncover the mystery, the less real answers they get.
Last Shot by John Feinstein is a sports mystery thriller. The page-turner is best for ages eight to fourteen. It is told in third person. The book wil make you begging for more. Stevie and Susan Carol will make you laugh out loud with their jokes and lies and beg for mercy with what they get themselves into.
If you have read and liked Matt Christipher books, and also like mysteries, you will thouroughly enjoy this. I reccomend this for anyone who would like to both laugh and be scared out of their wits all in two-hundred fifty-one pages of nonstop action.

-Townes Bouchard-Dean

Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery
Two teenage sports reporters win a contest with the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and get to go to the Final Four. They experience blackmail and basketball first hand in this book. Find of if the realistic fiction basketball novel is a slam dunk or an air ball.
When eighth graders Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson win the writing contest the pair has won a trip to the Final Four in New Orleans and a chance to see what it takes to cover the event as working journalists. They each get an extra ticket for which they both decide to bring their dads. Once they get there they also get media pass credentials to be able to watch all the practices, press conferences, and games to be able to write a story each day.
So as if the Final Four isn't crazy enough they are walking around and overhear a kid named Chip Graber who is being blackmailed and suppose to throw the championship game. The two kids try to tell people but they don't take them very seriously, so they put their heads together and try to figure out what's going on.
This book is very fast-paced read which helps you keep wanting to read and more enjoyable to read about this tension and competitive packed book between the two kids Stevie and Susan Carol. Stevie is short kid from the East Coast who absolutely hates Duke, while Susan Carol is a tall girl from the South who loves Duke. Stevie thinks he knows more about college hoops than Susan Carol and hates that he is spending all his time with a Duke fan. They each get over it and put their differences aside and try to solve this blackmail mystery. In the end they end up with a strong friendship and the two opposites come together.
Last Shot is a great story because it combines mystery and an inside look on how things work in the Final Four, what more could you ask for. The author, John Feinstein, is a sports reporter who has covered the tournament several times and he can show you the great behind-the-scenes details of the Final Four. He also makes you feel how tense it can be to be a kid playing in the game. He is also a sportswriter and commentator. He writes for the Washington post and is a guest commentator for National Public Radio, and also commentates for the college football team NAVY. He is also a contributor to Tony Kornheiser Show and Jim Rome Show. He wrote for The Chronicle while he went to school at Duke University. He has written twenty-three books and his most recent is the Last Shot. So if you love college basketball and mystery you will love the Last Shot.

This is a highly enjoyable mystery set at the NCAA Final Four. The two heroes are a 13 year old girl and a 13 year old boy who have won a writing contest and have press passes to the Final Four. They are likeable, realistic characters and the mystery they solve is surprisingly plausible. My 11 year old son loved this book.

I really liked this book because it was about friendship, romance, sports, adventure and suspense. The characters are interesting and the plot was very creative and enjoyable. Yet I didnt like some points of the story that were corny, usually about the kids liking each other. The idea of a famous basketball player being helped by these kids was also hard to buy into. Yet for someone who doesnt like basketball, I really enjoyed the book.
Suggested age: 10-15
Reading Level- 6-7th grade

More of a leisure book then anything.

Give it a try

Good read, especially good at giving an inside view of the golfers themselves, who they are, what they value, how they interact with each other and how they, individually and as a group, view the Majors. Very good read, especially about the golfers, how they they encourage and compete with one another--Lee Janzen's exchange with Scott Stricker is particularly memorable--and about how they approach and play the Majors. Readers may have a concern about this book being dated, and from a historical standpoint, it may be---But it is also like the old television series from long ago--"You Are There"--which effectively recreated great moments in history as if we, the viewers, were in deed there when it was happening. So it is with this book. Yes, we know who won the tournament, but when the final putts fall on these pages, there is still a sense of wonder, pride and accomplishment for the golfer. Feinstein has done his job well. Reading this book makes us feel like we are there when it happened, even though it happened several years ago. The "you are there" part is what makes this book a must read for golfers, for would-be golfers and for those who love and appreciate the game and those who play or try to play it.

One thought: You might want to consider reading this book in parts, reading about the Masters before and during Masters Week, the U.S. Open before and during Open Week, and the same for "The" Open and for the PGA. That was my plan and it was a good play, but the book was so engrossing, I read is straight through...either way it is a book to be enjoyed and a book golfers should read. Don't hesitate. Go for it!

Feinstein's book chronicles the 1998 PGA Tour Season highlighting the Majors which are the Masters, the US Open, the British Open and the PGA.

This book avoids becoming the run-of-the-mill 1998 PGA Tour Season review by providing us with information on the Major tournaments we cannot get in magazines [tidbits on the US Open "unfair" hole locations, champions' locker rooms(Masters), payment for trophy replicas etc...]

Interesting backgrounders on major protagonists such as Mark O'Meara, Fred Couples, Vijay Singh, Tom Watson etc are provided as well as stories of golfers at the lower rung of the pecking order whose names we may never see again in the entry list.

In short, this book tells us of life in the PGA Tour in the context of the 1998 season. I'm reading this in 2004 and still found it to be quite a good read.

And oh, Colin Montgomerie does have a sense of humor.

John Feinstein reports the stories of the 1998 major golf championships through the lives of several players who were contending for one or more of them that year. The Majors are, of course, The Masters, The US Open, The Open Championship (British Open), and the PGA Championship. Saying that Mark O'Meara won The Masters and the British Open, Lee Janzen the US Open, and Vijay Singh the PGA Championship says almost nothing about the character, history, and the dynamic nature of life and competition on the PGA tour.

Mr. Feinstein helps us get to know some of these players as people. We learn some things about their health, how the got to the PGA tour, how qualifying for the various majors is done (and other tournaments, for that matter). Of course, the author reports actual competitions and how the leaders changed position and finally emerged victorious.

All of this is told in a rather meandering and leisurely style. If you want crisp, concise, and beginning to end reporting this book really isn't for you. However, if love golfing anecdotes and enjoy reading about golfing events, I think you will enjoy this book as much as I did. I learned about players I didn't know and learned more about some that I did know. Certainly, I learned more about these events we call the Majors and my enjoyment of them has been enhanced because I have read this book. Thanks to Mr. Feinstein for that favor.

Is a book a book because an author says it is? Or is it a book because it is about something?

John Feinstein seems to take the former "I write therefore it is" approach. As a result, I never quite got what "The Majors" was about. My fault? I don't think so. I not only "got" the point of Feinstein's previous golf book, "A Good Walk Spoiled," but enjoyed it. That book belongs on any sports lover's shelf, and is worth any novice's time as well.

"A Good Walk Spoiled" is about the lives and trials of the pro golfer. "The Majors," despite the title, is about much the same thing, not so much the four events that make up the biggest trophies in pro golf but the elite PGA Tour pros who compete for these titles.

Frankly, if you aren't hot for golf, you aren't going to relate to these millionaires and their quest to buck the dread acronym BPNTHWAM (best player never to have won a major) the way you will to the fringe folk and dewsweepers that made up the cast of "A Good Walk Spoiled," for whom making the cut was the difference between survival and doom.

There are some decent profiles here, like that of Mark O'Meara, who won two of the four majors in 1998, the year of Feinstein's narrative. O'Meara seems affable, but I got no sense of hunger from the guy. Brad Faxon offers some revealing insights, but since he didn't contend for any majors, he seemed a waste of time in the ultimate scheme of the book. A lot of golfers Feinstein profiles are like that. Meanwhile, players who did contend in 1998 majors are skimmed over, like PGA Championship winner Vijay Singh, British Open runner-up Brian Watts, and most crucially, Tiger Woods. Feinstein probably couldn't get the same level of access to these guys he could to those he dotes on, but that shouldn't be the reader's problem, should it?

Unlike "A Good Walk Spoiled," the writing feels tired. The humor is forced. He throws in some clunky metaphors. A caddy "studies the wind the way a political pollster studies trends." Tiger Woods' security entourage are "like the guys chasing Butch and Sundance: You could see them coming from miles away." This makes the rote approach to the subject all the more apparent, and enervating.

Feinstein seemed to be trading in on the good will he engendered on the pro circuit with "A Good Walk Spoiled." That's great, if he gives the reader something for his new access. But whereas "Good Walk" was a candid and often blunt description of what went on inside the ropes, "The Majors" seems more an exercise in puffery and back-patting, never more egregious than with Fred Couples, a decent golfer and a good guy who Feinstein blows totally out of proportion in his narrative. Couples doesn't contend except at the Masters, but Feinstein can't let go of him for more than a chapter at a time.

The biggest problem about this book is it isn't about the title subject. He doesn't give equal time to the four majors, doesn't really relate any of the day-to-day drama, and offers little insight as to the courses or the final-day fields. He reports the winners, and some key shots, but that's it. If you want majors excitement, read Herbert Warren Wind or "Massacre At Winged Foot."

"The Majors" won't interest people who don't care much about golf, and though it has some interesting insights that made it more than a one-star read for me, it's not something that knowledgeable golf readers are going to find that illuminating.

The year was 1998 and the winners were Mark O'Meara (The Masters at Augusta National and The British Open at Royal Birkdale), Lee Janzen (The U.S. Open at the Olympic Club), and Vijay Singh (The P.G.A. Championship at Sahalee Country Club). Although all four Majors are conducted under the collaborative supervision of the U.S.G.A. and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club organizations, each has its own terms and conditions for participation as well as stages of qualification to compete with those who, for various reasons, are automatically eligible. For me, one of this book's most fascinating subjects is the qualifying process to which many are called but few are eventually chosen. Perhaps only the annual process to earn a P.G.A card creates greater tension and frustration for those involved.

To the extent that space allows, Feinstein examines wannabes as well as perennial and promising contenders for each of the championships in 1998. He includes hundreds of vignettes and anecdotes about them, thus giving human significance to the names on the scoreboard. I also appreciate having historical information which creates a context for each Major, three of which have a different course location each year. Only the Masters has a permanent site.

P.G.A. golf competition is unique among professional sports in that players are essentially self-regulated, personally assume all costs of participation (travel, accommodations, caddy, etc.), and earn nothing if they fail to make the 36-hole cut. It is not uncommon for one player to prevent another from inadvertently breaking a rule as Tom Kite once did near the end of the final round when he was in contention. Later, Kite was astonished that anyone was surprised by his initiative which probably denied him victory in that tournament. (The player he assisted won it.) Feinstein skillfully captures the flavor and nuances of what can be ferocious competition but also the fact that it is (with rare exceptions) conducted with dignity, style, and grace as well as with exceptional skill.

For those who love the game of golf and especially for golfers who are eager to know what it is like to compete in the Majors, this is the book to read. It reads more like a novel than an almanac. It reveals "the joy of victory" for some and the "agony of defeat for others" while celebrating certain values which seem to have become less common each day...except on a golf course. For whatever it may be worth, over the years I have played probably 500 rounds of golf on several dozen different golf courses (both public and private) and do not remember a single "ugly" encounter with another player. Having said that, I feel obliged to point out that "golf" is "flog" spelled backwards. On numerous occasions, it really has been for me "a good walk spoiled" but my passion for the game and my respect for those who play it so well remain undiminished.

Beginning in 1960, Theodore H. White wrote several "The Making of the President" accounts. I was reminded of that as I read this book, wishing that Feinstein or another author of comparable talent would write an annual volume in (let's call it) "The Making of Majors' Champions" series. This would enable avid golfers such as I to return in time to memorable moments during past Majors competition. End-of-year DVDs featuring such moments plus commentaries among special features would also be much appreciated. Meanwhile, we have Feinstein's lively as well as informative book which recreates (to the extent a text can) stirring triumphs by O'Meara, Janzen, and Singh as well as dozens of other human subplots associated with those victories eight years ago.

I enjoyed the book. I think it gives the reader a look behind the curtain of PGA tour golf that you would not get from a seasoned player or writer. I only heard of the book when it was reported the Steve Duplantis was struck and killed by a car while a PGA event was held in San Diego. The news article said Duplantis, made famous by the book Bud, Sweat and Tees and lead me to look it up. As a golfer reading the book you can't help but have some feelings about talent wasted, and many poor decisions, and it seem Rich's father is especially bitter. But, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it but only for people that already know a good deal about the tour and want to look at what it's like a a rookie.

Wonderfully entertaining look at the PGA Tour.

I couldn't put it down.

RIP Steve Duplantis =( (He was recently killed by a taxi cab while crossing the street)

Alan Shipnuck is the best young golf writer going, and the proof is in "Bud, Sweat, & Tees." Was it a newshound's instinct that led him to chronicle the debut win of a by-no-means young rookie in a mid-level PGA Tour event in 1999, three years before that golfer would do what no other golfer ever managed to do, go head-to-head with a charging Tiger Woods in a major and win?

No, of course not. He just got lucky. But so do golf readers, because this wry, perceptive, and utterly addictive account of Rich Beem's trials and tribulations, and that of his caddie, Steve Duplantis, is surely a once-in-a-lifetime event. It's hard to imagine any other PGA golfer, at any point in his career, opening up to the degree Beem does here, as well as be complimented by the perspective of Duplantis, a once-promising caddy who bounced back with Beem after losing top contender Jim Furyk's bag a few weeks before.

Beem's a deserving center of attention, particularly in a moment-by-moment account of the first tournament Beem and Duplantis ever worked together, the Kemper Open in Maryland, the one Beem won. But Duplantis may be the most enduring character here, a guy who makes his own worst luck, but wins you over by wearing his heart on his sleeve.

As Shipnuck relates, Duplantis hits on a succession of strip-bar performers, then wonders why he can't have a steady relationship. He shows up late for practice rounds, and wonders why golfers lose patience with him. But when he says of Beem: "Does he want to be responsible and treat this like a job or does he want to get ----faced and stay out all night?" you know what he means even if it is pot-on-kettle commentary.

Beem has fierce drive, guts, and creativity with his iron shots, but what seems to drive him most is a desire for a good time. He ogles waitresses, downs Jack and cokes, and talks about hitting on Tour groupies in a way few golfers do, at least when someone with a pen or tape recorder is around.

All this candor could have blown up in Beem's face, but two things prevent it. One is Beem doesn't seem to care that much what people think. He's beyond social embarrassment. Two is that Shipnuck is not writing some leering tell-all to titillate the masses, but a very finely-tuned account of what makes pro golfers tick, namely what separates the good from the great. Reading about Beem makes you appreciate more a man like Tiger Woods, who stays hungry win-after-win. Beem's first victory, hard-earned and glorious to read, put him in a bit of a glidepath which went on for the next two years. You know from reading this that Beem has it in him to excel, but will he?

Add to this examination Shipnuck's way with metaphors, his unerring ear for the right quote, and an occasional way with a phrase that would make Herbert Warren Wind proud: "There is no room to write excuses on the scorecard, just numbers," Shipnuck writes, but golf is a game of color and life, and in "Bud, Sweat, & Tees" Shipnuck delivers both like nothing you've ever read before.

There is an ancient story of a man and his journey, this is the modern equivalent. In this book you get the story of Rich Beem [before he won a major] and his caddy Steve Duplantis. This has to be the most entertaining story I�ve seen in a long time, and it�s all true. We see the Rich Beem, former cell phone salesman and well-traveled golfer, shoot for his dream. In his quest he finds a companion in the form of Steve Duplantis, a love torn caddy that has problems in his personal life.

This is a great book first and foremost because it is superbly written. Alan Shipnuck has a relaxed and well-organized structure to his writing. Shipnuck, who writes for Sports Illustrated, took a gamble on writing this book, at the time Rich Beem hadn�t won a major, and stories of colorful, yet still second rate professional golfers don�t float amongst the bestseller lists all that often.

At a PG-13 level we see Rich and Steve live their lives in tour, under the microscope, and learn about events that neither would be proud of. There�s an intimacy here you don�t normally get in biographies. Rich wins a PGA tour event in his rookie year on the tour, Steve Duplantis has a good job with Rich, but do they hold it together for an entire season? The book will leave you interested in finding out more about Beem and Co. Maybe a sequel Mr. Shipnuck?

It�s a need to read for those interested in golf, and it�s an quick and entertaining story for those who really don�t care about golf.

A terrific read. The story of two guys each with his own hangups, or shall I say self descructive traits, who find each other only to end up like the divorced couple that can't find true happiness apart. Great insight into the pressures of the tour showing how easy it is to fall from grace overnight. Fast paced and tough to put down.