Alun Evans' The Golf Majors Book, 2017

Alun Evans' now annual addictive chunk of Golf Majors facts and figures covers the epic events of the 2016 Grand Slams, as well as the usual pot pourri of results and player CVs going back to 1860; comparison tables; venues; and then 40 pages of records of all kinds associated with golf's most important Championships. In 2016, all four Majors threw up a new Major Champion: the unlikely, but well-deserving Englishman, Danny Willett, won the Masters after erstwhile boy wonder Jordan Spieth blew up on Augusta's back nine; Dustin Johnson overcame some curious officiating and a post-round stroke penalty to win an overdue Major at Oakmont's US Open; the heroic battle over the links of Royal Troon in the Open Championship saw the Swede Henrik Stenson shooting a last-round 63 to repel the maverick veteran Phil Mickelson; and Jimmy Walker's long walk to fame, successful in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol, his first Major after 17 years of trying. All these events are featured in detailed reports, backed up with performance details of every player who teed off in the year's four classics; full leaderboards (including all those who missed the cut or failed to reach the end); round leaders and low scores per round. The year's events are then summarized in a league table of the best players, based on Evans' unique scoring system. Tables are provided, too, using the same technique, to compare players of different eras, and culminate in the popular, provocative 'Hall of Fame', the Top 100 players in Major Championship history. Evans, whose 'From Old Tom to the Tiger' was shortlisted for Sports Book of the Year in 2012, continues to produce record books 'par excellence', but with an engagingly light narrative to caress them into the titanic human and sporting storylines the Majors seem to create, year in, year out, without them appearing nerdy or obtrusive. Jack Nicklaus has hailed the Golf Majors series of books because he felt, 'readers and golf fans alike can easily recall their memories of the Major Championships of the world'; and Jack's greatest rival and good friend, the late, great Arnold Palmer commented, 'Alun Evans has compiled such a great summary...of the four Major Championships'. 'Alun Evans' Golf Majors Book, 2017' is a must for all golf, indeed all sports, fans. As the Daily Mail's Derek Lawrenson succinctly put it, 'When it comes to the Major Championships, look no further than Alun Evans'.