Tin Cup Dreams: A Long Shot Makes It on the PGA Tour - Softcover

D'Antonio, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786886471 ISBN 13: 9780786886470

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2001

Synopsis

Now available in paperback, Tin Cup Dreams is the remarkable odyssey of self-taught golfer Esteban Toledo, a former boxer who overcame poverty and the wrong side of the tracks to make it through Q School and a make-or-break season on the PGA Tour. With uncommon grit and determination, Toledo finally triumphs after a 12 year quest that took him to the depths of despair.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives a rare behind-the-scenes look at the PGA Tour while keeping readers on the edge of their seats with his chronicle of Toledo's struggles. Traditionally, golf was a dreamer's path to glory. Tin Cup Dreams shows that it still is.

About this title

About the Author

Michael D'Antonio shared the Pulitzer Prize in journalism as part of a Newsday reporting team. He has written three acclaimed non-fiction books and countless articles for GOLF Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Elle, Redbook, McCall's, and The LA Times Magazine. He is a lifelong golfer whose first paying job was as a caddie at a summer resort in New Hampshire. D'Antonio lives with his family in New York State.

From Publishers Weekly

The premise is simple and not unfamiliar: a writer attends the PGA's qualifying tournament, or Q. School, and latches on to one of the winners, whom he then follows around for a season on the tour. The resulting chronicle would have been a disaster had the player, like so many Q. School graduates, not made the cut on the tour; D'Antonio lucked out in finding Esteban Toledo, a self-taught Mexican grinder who just wants to earn enough to keep his Tour card for another year and for whom a Tour victory would represent not fame and fortune but the final step away from his dirt-poor origins in Mexicali, where his family "never had money for [Christmas] presents or a tree, or a feast." Although D'Antonio's recounting of round after round of golf grows a bit tiresome, you can't help but pull for Toledo. He overestimates his own mistakes. He practices with singular will. He has to learn to trust his well-meaning caddy. And he frequently doubts his own self-worth, especially when confronted by the racism that clearly pervades Tour events--on several occasions, Toledo is denied access to player areas because he's Mexican. On top of Toledo's quest, readers also get a fascinating look at the PGA not shown on TV, plus dozens of interesting tidbits and anecdotes from golf history. Overall, D'Antonio comes in at one under. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0786886471
• ISBN 13: 9780786886470
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304