Title/Author:
“The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016
Ryder Cup” by John Feinstein
Tags:
Golf, professional, championship
Publish date:
October 24, 2017
Length:
320 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (Outstanding)
Review:
What started as a relatively friendly competition between groups of
professional golfers in the United States and Europe, the Ryder Cup, has become
one of the most emotional and pressure-packed events in golf. The 2016 edition was no different and the
entire competition, as well as the history of the event, is captured in this
book written by best-selling author John Feinstein, who is a very respected
author on the sport.
Having read every book for an adult audience that Feinstein has written, I
opened the book with very high expectations. The first half of the book was
very informative as it gave a very good account of the history of the Ryder Cup
as many legendary golfers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean have competed in
the competition. Some golfers have performed
better on this stage than the tourneys in which a golfer’s own individual score
is his only concern, not that of a team. An example of a player with this
reputation is Colin Montgomery, an outstanding European Ryder Cup player. Feinstein shares the story of the Ryder Cup
through descriptions of stories of Montgomery and many others who have gone
through the joy and the agony of the tourney.
As a reader, I found this part of the book a little difficult to follow.
One reason is that when something takes place at a past Ryder Cup, the year isn’t
given but instead the location such as Gleneagles (2014) or Medinah
(2012). Until I got used to this, I had
to frequently look back to find out what year that particular incident took
place. Also, the pace of these stories,
while fascinating and entertaining (especially the Phil Mickelson press
conference at Gleneagles), was fairly slow.
However, once the book shifted from the history of the competition to the
actual 2016 Ryder Cup played at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minnesota, then the
writing was pure Feinstein magic that his fans like me have come to know and
love about his books. Even though I knew
who won the tournament, it read like a gripping drama, complete with great
golf, emotional speeches by the players, unruly fans and eventually a
championship won in which the winners were elated and the spirits of the losers
were deflated. I look at this ending like a round for a golfer who struggled on
the front nine, but once he or she made the turn, the shots were going straight
and the putts were finding the cup. The
writing about the actual tournament was so good, if it were the golf round
described above, Feinstein would have been threatening to shoot under 30 on the
back nine.
Golf fans and fans of
Feinstein’s work will want to add this book to their libraries as it is another
work in the long line of excellent golf books by the author. If the reader has
not heard of Feinstein, this is an excellent introduction to his writing.
I wish to thank
Doubleday Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for
an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
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