The saga of Tiger Woods’ fall from grace has all the trappings of tabloid fiction. But a two-author team was able to overcome the challenge inherent in writing a fictionalized account of Woods’ image suicide without resorting to sensationalism.
Michael Bamberger and Alan Shipnuck are certainly known to golf fans. Both are with Sports Illustrated and both have written exceptionally well about the game. Bamberger’s first golf book was “The Green Road Home,” a 1986 accounting of caddying on thePGA Tour and he’s gotten better since. Shipnuck’s best can be read in “The Battle for Augusta National” and “Bud, Sweat & Tees.”
That is until now with publication of THE SWINGER.
The hard part of writing a novel about such a high profile event was not the changing the names of the main characters nor tweaking circumstances without loosing relevancy; it was doing so without going overboard.
The main character in THE SWINGER is Tree Tremont, a clever play on Woods’ name and Tremont doesn’t live in splendid isolation in suburbanOrlandobut inSt. Petersburg. His wife is Italian not Norwegian as Woods’ ex-spouse is and so on.
The authors also achieved the difficult middle ground between exposé and worshipping-fan apology slash excuse by resorting to the old standby of humor. THE SWINGER at times evokes a smile and sometimes outright laughs reflecting both the authors’ innate empathy for someone who really messed up and the hope he will recover his former greatness.
THE SWINGER
By Michael Bamberger and Alan Shipnuck
Simon & Schuster/Sports Illustrated
254 pages
$25.00
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