The First Major

August 1, 2017
An exciting story of the "terror...absolute joy and absolute despair" that are the Ryder Cup matches.Noted sports columnist and prolific author Feinstein (The Legends Club: Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, and an Epic College Basketball Rivalry, 2016, etc.) returns to the world of golf with this in-depth portrait of the dramatic 2016 Ryder Cup matches between the U.S. and European teams at the Hazeltine Golf Course in Minnesota. Golf fans love Feinstein's books because he's trusted by the pros and thus can give inside information no other journalist can capture, plus he has a flair for telling a great story. He's been waiting 23 years to write a book about the Ryder Cup, and he covers a lot of material here. The author begins at the end of the matches, with Ryan Moore (the last American to make the team) putting to win the matches for the U.S., the first win since 2008. He provides a succinct history of the matches, which began in 1926, before moving on to more detailed tales about the most recent ones and the key players involved in them. Then it's on to the 2016 competition. He provides terrific behind-the-scenes information about how Davis Love was chosen as team captain for the second time in a row as well as the scrap between Phil Mickelson and Tom Watson and how Love decided to implement a strategy similar to what captain Paul Azinger used in the American's 2008 victory: the task force, which gave "the players the input they needed to be prepared to succeed." The opening ceremony had seating for 1,500. There were some 45,000 on the course, and 30,000 stayed for the ceremony. Feinstein's coverage of the actual matches only takes up about a quarter of the book, and his journalistic style of short, pithy paragraphs drives the narrative along at breakneck speed. Recommended for any sports enthusiast and a must for golfers of all handicaps.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2017

Feinstein (The Legends Club) offers insight into what is one of the few team events in golf. The sport is often an individual effort and, as Feinstein relates, the biannual Ryder Cup is one of the few exceptions. Apart from magazine articles, there is little written on the team aspect of golf. Professional golfers tend to focus solely on their own game, and, when not in contention, often leave the tournament without waiting for the winner to be announced. The Ryder Cup is an exception; in this instance, the goal is for the team to win, not simply earn a final score. Feinstein does a thorough job in describing both the drama of the event as well as its backstory. By delving into the history of the event since its founding in 1927, the more recent record, the strategy of the teams and course selection, Feinstein re-creates the drama from a team perspective. Along the way, he entertains with personalities involved with the tournament, including Phil Mickelson, David Kocher, and Danny Willets. He also effectively describes the use of golf pods in developing a team ethos. VERDICT A well-written, insider account that will appeal to many golf enthusiasts.--Steven Silkunas, Fernandina Beach, FL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 16, 2017
Feinstein (A Good Walk Spoiled), a sportswriter best known for his golf coverage, provides a colorful story of the 2016 Ryder Cup—which broke an eight-year losing streak for Americans—that even non-golfers will enjoy. Dating back to 1921, this team competition between both new and established golfers from the U.S. and Europe is now one of the sport’s premier events; it also attracts more raucous fans than other major golf tournament in the world. Tension and drama ran high for the 2016 Ryder Cup, hosted at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., just days after golf icon Arnold Palmer’s death. The Americans were in the midst of a losing streak that began in 2008 and desperate to redeem themselves. Rather than provide a hole-by-hole narrative, Feinstein uses his tight connections within pro golf’s inner circle to take readers into the lives and minds of golfers such as Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy. Context is central to understanding the significance of the Americans’ 2016 Ryder Cup victory, which is why Feinstein digs deep into the event’s illustrious history, peppering his prose with astute observations and witty lines and including an examination of Tiger Woods (“Woods had been raised by his father to believe that anyone with a club in his hand was the enemy”). Feinstein has written more than two dozen books, and this one ranks among his best.

Starred review from September 15, 2017
Using the backstory-laden structure he virtually invented more than 30 years ago in A Season on the Brink (1986), Feinstein tackles the story of golf's 2016 Ryder Cup at Minnesota's Hazeltine National Golf Club, in which the American team, which had lost six of the previous seven cups to the Europeans, finally overcame the trend of lackluster performances and internal squabbling to secure a dramatic and hard-fought victory. The Ryder Cup, contested every two years, has become perhaps the most anticipated event on golf's calendar, and Feinstein painstakingly explains how it attained that stature and the roles such luminaries as Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros played in the transformation. The backstory extends to the 2016 competitors, from Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia on the European side to Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, and Captain Davis Loveof the Americans, detailing the careers of each (and multiple others) and showing how the roles they played at Hazeltine drove the outcome. Golf fans will know what happened, of course, but Feinstein compellingly re-creates the excitement, sometimes shot by shot, especially in the classic McIlroy-Reed singles match, which has come to be a symbol of golf at its best, both for shotmaking and sportsmanship. A great moment in golf history, vividly captured.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)