Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
Dan Jenkins has covered 197 of golf’s major championships over the last 60 years—a record that is likely to stand as long as Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. This collection brings together 94 of Jenkins’ pieces on the majors, written mostly for Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest; strung together, Jenkins says in his introduction, “they would make the longest par five in the history of journalism.” Not only the longest, but one of the most entertaining. Jenkins is known for his raucous humor—the defining quality in his best-selling novels, including Semi-Tough—and that signature wit is everywhere evident in his golf journalism as well. But it’s easy to forget just how good a writer Jenkins is. Sportswriters could go to school on his leads: here’s Jenkins on Jackie Burke’s victory over then-amateur Ken Venturi, who had led the 1956 Masters for 70 of the 72 holes: “Jackie Burke’s victory in the 1956 Masters ruined more newspaper leads than a worn-out typewriter ribbon.” Golf fans will treasure this collection both for the history it reports and the spot-on voice of the peerless reporter. --Bill Ott