Far Hills, N.J. – Kevin Cook’s “Tommy’s Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf’s Founding Father and Son” has been named the recipient of the United States Golf Association’s 2007 Herbert Warren Wind Book Award.
“Tommy’s Honor” provides a wonderfully detailed historical account of Old and Young Tom Morris, the father and son from St. Andrews who dominated professional golf in Scotland during the latter half of the 19th century. The book depicts the dawn of professional golf, highlighting the rivalry between the two as they competed against one another and their peers in the early years of the British Open Championship. The personalities of Old and Young Tom are richly portrayed. The result is a textured evocation of one of the most important periods in the game’s formation.
“It’s a great pleasure to get the Herbert Warren Wind Award,” said Cook. “I fell in love with the Morrises’ story in 1986 on my first trip to St. Andrews. I hope the award brings readers to the book.”
A former editor-in-chief of Golf Magazine, Cook has written about the game for 25 years. He also was a senior editor at Sports Illustrated and executive editor of T&L Golf, and has written for GQ, Men’s Journal, Portfolio, Golf Digest and many other magazines.
Cook will be given the award on April 9 in Augusta, Ga., at the Golf Writers Association of America’s annual awards dinner during the week of the Masters Tournament.
The Herbert Warren Wind Book Award was established in 1987. The award recognizes and honors outstanding contributions to golf literature while attempting to broaden the public’s interest in, and knowledge of, the game of golf.
Wind, who died in 2005, was the famed New Yorker and Sports Illustrated writer who coined the phrase “Amen Corner” at Augusta National. He is the only writer to win the Bob Jones Award, the USGA’s highest honor.
The USGA is currently accepting submissions for the 2008 Herbert Warren Wind Book Award. For more information, contact Doug Stark, the USGA Museum’s curator of education, at (908) 234-2300 or dstark@usga.org.
To be eligible, a book must be an original full-length work about golf, written in English, and published in the preceding year. “Tommy’s Honor” was published by Gotham Books, a division of the Penguin Group of New York, N.Y. It was selected from among more than 40 submissions.
“Tommy’s Honor” can be purchased by contacting the USGA Order Department at (800) 336-4446 orwww.usgapubs.com.
The USGA is the national governing body of golf in this country and Mexico, a combined territory that includes more than half the world’s golfers and golf courses.
The Association’s most visible role is played out each season in conducting 13 national championships, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open. Ten additional USGA national championships are exclusively for amateurs, and include the U.S. Amateur and the U.S Women’s Amateur.
The USGA also writes the Rules of Golf, conducts equipment testing, provides expert course maintenance consultations, funds research for better turf and a better environment, maintains a Handicap System and administers an ongoing "For the Good of the Game" grants program, which has allocated more than $58 million over 11 years to successful programs that bring the game’s values to youths from disadvantaged backgrounds and people with disabilities. For more information about the USGA, visit www.usga.org.
Contact:
Craig Smith (csmith@usga.org)
