are an excellent mix of men and women golfers, plus other important contributors to the game. The chapters spotlight, Amy Alcott, Ben Crenshaw, Padraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer, Nancy Lopez, Jack Nicklaus, Dottie Petter, Gary Player, Renee Powell, Annika Sorenstam, Jan Stephenson and Tom Watson. Those names should spark any golfer’s interest. One of the special anecdotes in the book come from the 1985 Masters, in which Bernhard Langer and Seve Ballesteros played in the nextto-the last pairing on Sunday, just ahead of Raymond Floyd and Curtis Strange. Langer and Ballesteros were great rivals in Europe and both, of course, were Masters champions. On the first tee, Ballesteros turned to Langer and said, ``Good luck, and let’s make sure one of us wins and not the Americans.’’ Langer, went on to win his first Green Jacket that day and said he found extra meaning in the comment, ``No doubt about it. Even at the Masters, which is so individualistic, obviously (Seve) wanted to win it, but if he couldn’t then the next best thing was just to keep it away from the Americans.’’ That singular comment stills resonates today, when we watch the European Ryder Cup Team want so badly to beat the American team. The Legendary Caddies of Augusta National The author of “The Legendary Caddies of Augusta National,” Ward Clayton, was the sports editor for the Augusta Chronicle for ten years, and produced a 2019 television documentary, ``The Caddie’s Long Walk.’’ He is more than qualified to write a book on Augusta National caddies. The caddies nicknamed, Stovepipe, Burnt Biscuits, Skillet, Skinny and Marble Eye witnessed some great moments, both public and private, in their days on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National. New Books If you get through those interesting reads, there were two new books released last month. ``Rainmaker’’ is the autobiography of Hughes Norton, with George Peper and ``Drive, the Lasting Legacy of Tiger Woods,’’ was written by Bob Harig. Norton was Woods’ first agent and a tantalizing excerpt of the book has run in Golf Digest. Harig previously authored the book, ``Tiger and Phil’’ and has been a leader in the ongoing coverage of developments involving the PGA Tour and LIV Golf League. When you aren’t on the course and head to the beach this summer grab a couple of these interesting reads. American Golf Journal
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