THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE

White offers a thorough comparative study of the legendary golf careers of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

For his nonfiction debut sports book, the author takes a side-by-side look at the careers of two of professional golf’s greatest figures. He focuses on Nicklaus’ career from 1962 through 1986 and Woods’ from 1996 through 2022, noting that although the latter missed some years later in his run, due to injuries, the ages during their ranges were similar. White centers his comparative account on the Grand Slam, naturally—the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship—but he also intriguingly looks at many other elements of the two careers, working up from a granular level; for example, readers are told that Nicklaus won the Ohio State Open at age 16, qualified for the U.S. Open at 17, and won the U.S. Amateur Championship at 19 (the second-youngest at the time, after Robert Gardner in 1909), and so on. White presents exhaustive stats on both figures: the total scores, the lowest scores, the average scores, and more—all presented in dozens of charts and graphs. At various moments throughout the book, White demonstrates narrative skill, and he picks excellent epigraphs, including Nicklaus’ great line:“Professional golf is the only sport where, if you win 20% of the time, you’re the best.” Much of the book, though, is aimed exclusively at stats-saturated golf enthusiasts, who are sure to love the sheer completeness of White’s approach. Others may wish there were more narrative analysis to go along with the landslides of data.

A somewhat dry but comprehensive numbers-driven book about two legends of the links.