First published 2001
Rich Beem arrives on the PGA Tour as a complete outsider. Just years earlier, he earned seven dollars an hour selling cell phones. Now he carries no sponsor logos and struggles to fit in among the country club veterans who dominate professional golf. Beem funded his Tour dream with winnings from high stakes matches across Texas, but making it to the big leagues proves only half the challenge. He must survive brutal competition and crushing self doubt while staying faithful to his girlfriend back home. His caddie Steve Duplantis brings his own baggage. Once the golden boy of Tour caddies, Duplantis worked for Jim Furyk through Ryder Cups and near Masters victories. But his appetite for nightlife cost him that lucrative position and left him a single father torn between parenting duties and life on the road. When fate pairs Beem and Duplantis, they shock the golf world by winning the Kemper Open in their first tournament together. Their unlikely partnership faces tests that will determine whether Beem can handle sudden fame and fortune, and whether Duplantis can rebuild his career and life.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, sports, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, second-chance
Setting: Texas, PGA Tour
Period: 21st-century
288 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster