Book Summary

Shows us the greatest golfers of our time under the greatest pressure they ever experience.

The four tournaments known as the majors-the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship-are the absolute pinnacle of golf, competitions played at a level of pressure guaranteed to give even the greatest golfers the shakes. The 1998 majors were no exception, and they produced indelible moments: Mark O'Meara capturing two titles and making a strong run at a third, Lee Janzen having his lost ball drop out of a tree at the U.S. Open, Brian Watts making an amazing bunker shot on the final hole of the British Open, Vijay Singh banking his shot off a tree on Sunday at Sahalee.

But for each of those cinematic moments, there are hundreds more that are equally powerful but virtually unknown. In The Majors, bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein accompanies a dozen top golfers as they play these tournaments, revealing what it is that makes them so demanding-and what it takes to win such exalted prizes. He takes us onto the courses and into the back rooms to show us how decisions are made on what players will be paired together and where the holes will be placed on different days-including the disastrous hole placement that caused such outrage at the U.S. Open.

Most of all, The Majors shows us the greatest golfers of our time under the greatest pressure they ever experience-how Payne Stewart manages to sleep when he has the lead at the U.S. Open, how Mark O'Meara paces himself for a masterful Sunday, how John Daly deals with frustration and maintains his sobriety. Just as he explored the daily demands of a year on tour in his bestseller A Good Walk Spoiled, John Feinstein here reveals how champions get their putters back when the championship is on the line. Written with the absolute authority of a master of his subject, The Majors will fascinate and amaze anyone who thinks they know the game of golf.