In The Mail: The Tiger Slam – The Inside Story Of The Greatest Golf Every Played
Arriving in the mail this week was a copy of The Tiger Slam: The Inside Story Of The Greatest Golf Ever Played.
Written by Kevin Cook, author of Tommy’s Honor, which was turned into a movie, The Tiger Slam covers the legendary 2000 – 2001 stretch in which Woods ended up with simultaneous possession of all four of the modern men’s professional majors.
From the publisher’s press release:
Twenty-five years ago, the world watched with breathless anticipation as he returns to Augusta National, aiming for a milestone no other golfer has ever achieved: four professional Grand Slam triumphs in a row. The Tiger Slam is not only golf’s greatest accomplishment but perhaps the greatest accomplishment in all of sports.
In The Tiger Slam, acclaimed journalist Kevin Cook celebrates this quarter century anniversary with a gripping, inside-the-ropes account of an astonishing streak of victories that left Woods’s rivals scrambling to keep up. Readers will hear from many of golf’s biggest names—Tiger’s caddie, his coach, his opponents, his idols, and others, all offering fresh insight into the electrifying highs of his victories and the obstacles on and off the course that threatened his relentless pursuit of perfection.
We join Tiger at the beginning of his Slam: the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach. In a notoriously grueling tournament designed to bring golfers to their knees, who could even dream of winning by a record margin of fifteen strokes? Tiger could. We follow him to the hallowed grounds of St. Andrews a few weeks later for the 2000 Open Championship, where he transforms his game to meet the singular demands of the links. Still only twenty-four, he leaves the Old Course as the youngest player ever to complete a career grand slam.
We follow Tiger to the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he fights a spectacular Sunday duel with a player he grew up idolizing, ending with a playoff that changed the course of golf history. Finally, we return to legendary Augusta National, site of his record-breaking first major championship, to see if he can be the first to sweep all four majors. Dogged by reports of an early-season slump, facing a supposedly “Tiger-proofed” course, golf’s superstar tees off against his two fiercest adversaries in an unforgettable final round.
The Tiger Slam is the epitome of greatness in sport, a feat as exhilarating today as it was twenty-five years ago. In fact, it’s even more so, now that we know we’ll never see its like again. Such dominance is unthinkable in modern golf’s era of parity. Kevin Cook invites us to close our eyes and remember a young champion at the peak of his powers: unmatched raw strength, single-minded focus, strategic genius, and utter fearlessness. The Tiger Slam takes readers behind the scenes in the thrilling months when Tiger Woods took an ancient game to new heights.
I’ll give it a read and let you know how I liked it in due course.
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