GOLF'S MAJORS

One of the all-time greats offers an extensive history of golf’s most important tournaments.

“This book will examine the story behind the story of all the different ways players have won (and lost) the game of their lives,” writes Williams in the introduction. “And although winning a major championship does not guarantee greatness, not winning one guarantees that you will never be considered great. Deep in his heart, every golfer knows this.” As Player and Williams demonstrate, the four major championships—the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and the Open Championship—are the pinnacles of competition. (Player won nine.) First up is the youngest, the Masters, with its “coveted” green jacket. The authors take readers through a series of memorable tournaments, from 1935, when Gene Sarazen’s double eagle on a par 5 led to a victory in a 36-hole playoff, to 2021, when Hideki Matsuyama became the first-ever Japanese player to win the Masters. The 1923 PGA battle between Walter Hagen and Sarazen was the “greatest 38-hole match play championship of all-time.” Many readers will enjoy the authors’ accounts of the older tournaments because TV coverage wasn’t around then. Player personally witnessed the “greatest clutch putting performance” in Jerry Barber’s 1961 win, and he describes in detail his own return to form in 1962 with his PGA win at Aronimink. The U.S. Open is the “toughest tournament there is,” and Player’s win in 1965 earned him the Grand Slam, the “best achievement of my career.” The Open Championship, played in the U.K., is all about “imagination.” Player won three Opens; in 1959, he became the “youngest man to win the Open over seventy-two holes.” The book’s almanac-like approach encourages dipping in here and there rather than reading straight through.

Despite fairly dry prose, this compendious book is a breezy, fact-filled read golfers will devour.