The
Chosen One: Tiger Woods and the Dilemma of Greatness
by David Owen
Book Description:
Earl Woods, the father of young Eldrick "Tiger" Woods, was widely ridiculed
in 1996 when, in an article anointing his son as Sports Illustrated's Sportsman
of the Year, he likened Tiger's potential impact to that of a messiah.
This unseemly proclamation appeared to embody all the worst elements of
the dreaded sports-parent who seeks financial windfall and personal validation
by pushing his child to excel on the diamond, the gridiron, the court,
or the fairways. But in light of all we know now about Tiger Woods, David
Owen asks in The Chosen One, who is to say that it wasn't Tiger's transcendent
greatness all along that induced his father to guide him, rather than the
father pushing the son?
Not since the dawn of competitive tournament golf has anyone distanced
himself from the rest of the world the way Tiger has. He is the best there
is at nearly every aspect of the game: the longest driver, the strongest
iron player, the most creative around the greens, and so sharp a clutch
putter that when he putts well the tournament is over, and when he putts
badly he often wins anyway. He is a breakthrough athlete in a sport remarkably
resistant to them; in every tournament, Tiger has to beat a hundred-plus
competitors, any of whom can take away a title with a four-day hot streak.
When Michael Jordan won all his back-to-back championships, each night
he only had to beat one team.
Tiger is also a breakthrough athlete as one of the first true multicultural
icons. There are African-American, Asian, Native American, and Caucasian
elements to his roots; he carries with him parts of so many ethnicities
that he not only shatters stereotypes but renders the whole notion of racial
classification irrelevant. It is ironic that such an athlete would emerge
in golf, America's most tradition-bound and racially insensitive sport.
In The Chosen One, gifted essayist David Owen ponders the social, economic,
and athletic implications of this amazing young man. We are only beginning
to see all the ways that Tiger Woods might reshape the world. Owen's thoughtful,
incisive, elegant, and provocative work examines this phenomenon unlike
any the fields of play have ever seen, in a book that will stand alongside
John
McPhee's A Sense of Where You Are (about Princeton forward Bill Bradley)
among the classic works of sports philosophy.
(Hardcover) |
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In
Search of Tiger: A Journey Through Golf With Tiger Woods
by Tom Callahan
Book Description:
Tom Callahan has written the seminal book on golfing great Tiger Woods.
Woods, who has gone out of his way to protect his privacy, has never allowed
himself to get close enough to a writer to be properly examined on the
page. And, as a consequence, his fans know relatively little about him
except what’s divulged in quick tournament interviews or the
scarce information parsed out on occasion by one of his handlers. Which
is to say, we know next to nothing about one of the most famous people
in the world. Callahan, commonly regarded as one of the best all-round
sports writers in the country, has followed Tiger around the world of golf
for more than seven years, enjoying a certain access to the man and his
family. He even went so far as to travel to Vietnam to learn the fate of
the South Vietnamese soldier who was Earl Wood’s best friend
during the war—and his son’s namesake.
Tiger is twenty years old when the book opens and twenty-seven when
it closes. During those years, Callahan covered Woods at all the Majors,
including the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the British Open, culminating
in Tiger’s heart-stopping race to make history by clinching
the string of Majors affectionately nicknamed the Tiger Slam. As the pulse
of golf was measured by the curve of his swing, Tiger made everyone’s
heart skip a beat as he attempted to win the Grand Slam a year later.
Along the way, Tom Callahan hears from everyone who is anyone in the
world of Tiger Woods, including Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, David Duval,
Butch Harmon, Ernie Els, and, of course, Tiger’s rather ubiquitous
mother and father. As much as we learn about Tiger—how he
sees himself in relation to the courses he plays on and the players he
has learned from and competed with—we also enjoy a bird’s-eye
view of golf as it is now with Tiger on the scene, and as it was for
centuries before.
Hardcover from Crown Publishing Group
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How
I Play Golf
by Tiger Woods, Golf Digest (Editor)
No athlete has changed his sport the way Tiger Woods has transformed
the world of golf. The Tiger phenomenon has created a new legion of golfers,
seduced by Woods's almost effortless mastery of this most difficult game.
In How I Play Golf Woods reveals the many facets of his game and offers
a plethora of tips and advice aimed at all levels of play. Unlike most
golf guides, and perhaps somewhat surprising from a player best known for
his long game, How I Play Golf begins with the short game--putting, chipping,
and pitching--before moving onto swing mechanics and hitting off the tee.
Produced in conjunction with the editors of Golf Digest, the book is lavishly
photographed and illustrated and offers a gold mine of useful ideas and
mental images Tiger has collected over the years. Throughout, Tiger recounts
memorable shots from his relatively brief career; for example, his only
"perfect" shot (a 3-wood on No. 14 at St. Andrews) and his first putt at
the 1995 Masters (a 20-footer for birdie on No. 1 that missed and rolled
off the green). How I Play Golf is not only a first-rate instructional
guide, it also communicates a passion and respect for the game that beginners,
hackers, and low handicappers should find inspiring. Highly recommended.
--Harry C. Edwards, Amazon.com
Hardcover - 320 pages (October 9, )
Warner Books; ISBN: 0446529311
Tiger
Woods : Drive to Greatness
by Mark Stewart
(Paperback)
Tiger Woods Made Me Look Like a Genius : 5 Simple Ways to Take 10
Strokes Off Your Game
by Don Crosby, et al
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (March 15, )
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0740704729
Out of Print - Try Used
Books
The
Tiger Woods Way : An Analysis of Tiger Woods' Power-Swing Technique
by John Andrisani
(Paperback)
The
Short Game Magic of Tiger Woods : An Analysis of Tiger Woods' Pitching,
Chipping, Sand Play, and Putting Techniques
by John Andrisani
(Paperback)
Tiger
: A Biography of Tiger Woods
by John Strege
(Paperback)
Tiger Woods : The Grandest Slam
Hardcover - 112 pages
Triumph Books
Out of Print - Try Used
Books
On
the Course With... Tiger Woods (Matt Christopher Sports Biographies)
by Matt Christopher, Glenn Stout
(Paperback)
Uneven Lies : The Heroic Story of African-Americans In Golf
by Pete McDaniel, et al
Listed under History of Golf
Raising
the Bar : The Championship Years of Tiger Woods
by Tim Rosaforte
(Hardcover)
The
First Coming : Tiger Woods : Master or Martyr (Library of Contemporary
Thought)
by John Feinstein
(Paperback)
Sports
Guy: In Search of Corkball, Warroad Hockey, Hooters Golf, Tiger Woods,
and the Big, Big Game
by Charles P. Pierce, Roy, Jr. Blount
(Paperback)
Quotable
Tiger
by Tiger Woods, Rich Skyzinski
(Hardcover)
