'The Greatest Game Ever Played' is the astonishing story of the birth of modern golf. It is the tale of Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet and the 1913 US Open championship: the tournament that captured the public imagination and turned a nation on to golf.
Before 1913 golf had been a minority sport in the USA. A British import, it was a game dominated by its creators, and none more so than Harry Vardon. Vardon had risen from his humble Jersey origins to become multiple British Open champion and 'King of Clubs'. Tuberculosis threatened to curtail his career, but somehow Vardon recovered, albeit cursed with the yips for life.
Mark Frost's magnificent account is sports writing at its finest: part biography, part social history, part dramatic confrontation, his description of the 1913 US Open is wonderfully rich in detail and characterisation. Bringing one of the definitive sporting battles brilliantly to life, 'The Greatest Game Ever Played' will surely take its place in the pantheon of golf classics.
