Jenkins at the Majors

April 15, 2009
Dan Jenkins has covered 197 of golfs major championships over the last 60 yearsa record that is likely to stand as long as Joe DiMaggios 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 humorthe defining quality in his best-selling novels, including Semi-Toughand that signature wit is everywhere evident in his golf journalism as well. But its easy to forget just how good a writer Jenkins is. Sportswriters could go to school on his leads: heres Jenkins on Jackie Burkes victory over then-amateur Ken Venturi, who had led the 1956 Masters for 70 of the 72 holes: Jackie Burkes 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)