Byron Nelson: The Most Remarkable Year in the History of Golf
This workmanlike history of Byron Nelson's landmark year on the PGA tour in 1945--11 victories in a row, 18 in total--sticks mostly to shot-by-shot accounts, but they are some shots! Nelson's feat remains one of the most remarkable in the history of sports, but it has always been somewhat disparaged on the grounds that it took place during World War II, when many touring pros were in the service. Companiotte, drawing heavily on Nelson's autobiography,How I Played the Game(1993), shows the fallacies in that argument--most of the leading pros played at least some if not all of 1945--but acknowledges the absence of Ben Hogan through most of the year. This would have been a more compelling account if the author had developed the narrative, adding a sense of the personalities involved and the human context behind the scores, much like Michael Blaine was able to do in the recentKing of Swings, about amateur champion Johnny Goodman. Still, for those interested in exactly how Nelson did what he did, this volume delivers the goods.Bill OttCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved