Tournament Week : Inside the Ropes and Behind the Scenes on the PGA Tour - Hardcover

Strege, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060196696 ISBN 13: 9780060196691

Publisher: Harper, 2000

Synopsis

Professional golf is among the most intimate of sports. Only a thin rope separates the players from the fans. Yet the reality is that the rope is a substantial barrier that permits only a glimpse of the world of professional tournament golf. John Strege, author of Tiger: A Biography of Tiger Woods and Golf World writer, takes you through a high-pressure week on the PGA Tour, providing a vivid portrait of what the professional golfer experiences each day of tournament week.

Tournament Week begins on Monday, with the red carpet rolled out for players upon their arrival, some in private jets, a Citation X in Tiger Woods's case. Perks available to players include courtesy cars, luxurious lodgings, entertainment for wives and children, outings away from the course, lavish meals, and parties. Tuesday is the practice round, which often involves gambling among the players to inject interest in an otherwise meaningless round. John Huston once shot 62 at the Augusta National in a Masters tune-up and won ten bets from David Duval. Neighbors Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara bet whenever they practice together at a tournament site, often resulting in Woods reluctantly parting with a few dollars of his vast wealth. Wednesday is the longest day of the pro-am, principally because of the "am" part of the equation, the amateurs with their eyesore swings and misguided shots into the gallery. And then finally it's Thursday and the play begins, building to the final round on Sunday, which is the defining day in professional golf, when the pressure mounts and even chainpions choke.

John Strege covers the manner in which players view their equipment, from the idiosyncratic Mark O'Meara's requirement that his clubs look new to the eccentric Jesper Parnevik's perpetual tinkering. Strege reveals how players intentionally mislead the public into thinking they are using a particular brand of club, one they are paid to endorse, when in fact they are using a competing brand. And there's an entire chapter on what the pros carry in their golf bags. Strege dramatically portrays the life of the alternates, the game's unwitting vultures who are waiting for the opportunity to join the field, and the caddies' milieu, where golf's underappreciated laborers serve the game's spoiled aristocracy. He reports on what the players do to stay in shape and how some of them travel with trainers and sports psychologists with whom they work after a round rather than succumbing to the temptations of the proverbial nineteenth hole.

Filled with entertaining stories and the very wry wit of the players, this is a must read for anyone who loves the game of golf. If you ever wondered what really happens on the PGA Tour, you will be riveted by this rare, behind-the-scenes tour of Tournament Week.

About this title

Review:

There are seven days in the golf week, but the fans are usually privy to just the four of competition. In Tournament Week, John Strege cuts down the ropes and invites us in for the other three as well, providing an all-access pass to sport's best traveling circus.

A tournament week is indeed a circus. From the moment the players arrive--some in private jets, though Greg Norman occasionally shows up in his private yacht or his private helicopter--and are given the keys to their courtesy cars and condos, appearance fees (against Tour rules), and other perks such as cell phones, on-site massages, expenses for spouses, and free child care, the fun begins. Cocktail party receptions on Monday. Heavy wooing from equipment representatives. (If you play the game, you'll love the detailed look into what players carry in their bags.) Practice rounds (with some heavy gambling, also against Tour rules) on Tuesday. The Wednesday pro-am, which the pros detest, unless one of their high-paying partners can offer some good business or investment tips. Then, of course, there's the pressure of tournament golf itself.

Rather than chronicle a single tournament week, Strege fills Tournament Week with tales old and new, naming names and places, some bathed in good light--Tiger Woods falling asleep holding his new green jacket after winning the Masters--while others--Woods, a few months later, throwing a small tantrum after the first round of the '97 U.S. Open--show some dirt. There's priceless stuff here for golf aficionados, such as John Daly tanking a round so he could go home after taking a big appearance fee, Jack Nicklaus's requirements for his custom-built clubs, club pro Scott Spence carrying his father's ashes in his golf bag when he qualified for the '99 PGA, Lanny Wadkins mistakenly throwing his PGA winner's check in a Pebble Beach fireplace, and David Duval's propensity to celebrate victories with a sip from a $1,500 bottle of Louis XIII cognac. Given today's exorbitant prize money, endorsement and commercial fees, and under-the-table appearance checks, the real surprise of Tournament Week may be that Duval's taste is that inexpensive. --Jeff Silverman

About the Author:

John Strege is the author of five books, including When War Played Through, which won the United States Golf Association's Herbert Warren Wind Book Award in 2005, and the bestselling Tiger: A Biography of Tiger Woods. He has covered golf for more than thirty years, and now writers for Golf Digest. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Marlene, and daughter, Hannah, in San Diego, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0060196696
• ISBN 13: 9780060196691
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240