The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 737 ratings

Price: 17.72

Last update: 06-29-2024


Top reviews from the United States

rob ron
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any golf fan.
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018
If you are a fan of golf then do yourself a favor and read this book. You will not be disappointed. It offers critical history, meaningful insights with the players and essential details of the 2016 Ryder Cup. It left me with greater appreciation for the Ryder Cup, many of the players and certainly for the two captains. Well done Mr. Feinstein, well done.
John Jenkins
4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book somewhat marred by imperfect proof-reading
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2017
John Feinstein does a fine job of supporting his thesis – that the Ryder Cup is the most intense and emotional and the best major event in golf. I fully agree with him and, if anything, I think Mr. Feinstein understates the status of the Ryder Cup – I find it to be the most compelling event in all of sports, not just golf. In addition to intensity and emotion, the Ryder Cup combines the elements of match play, teamwork and a wonderful tradition with exciting finishes. I have been to the last four Ryder Cups, so I know much of what he is writing about, but I was very impressed with his research that enables him to present many anecdotes that had not been told before and to answer some questions about why certain decisions were made or not made.

The book is about the 2016 Ryder Cup, but the author traces its roots back to the first Ryder Cup in 1927 and before. He then goes into more detail about each competition after the Ryder Cup became competitive in 1983. Almost all of the author’s opinions are logical and well-supported, but his criticism of the Official World Golf Ranking as a “flawed system” seems oversimplified. He criticizes the use of players' records over a two-year period without mentioning that the older tournaments carry less weight than current tournaments. The system might be imperfect, but I think using two years makes sense. For example, although Rory McIlroy only finished #58 in the 2016/2017 FedEx Cup standings, he is #6 in the OWGR based mostly on what he did in 2016. Presumably Mr. Feinstein thinks McIlroy should be ranked closer to #58 than #6, but I still consider him a top 10 golfer.

This book has more than enough positive elements to merit a rating of 5, but there are also enough proof-reading issues that cause me to lower that rating to 4. It serves little purpose to list the proof-reading errors in this review, so I am showing nine examples in the first comment to the review.
Jimbo F.
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2023
Awesomeness!
John B
5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievably great read
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2018
This is the first John Feinstein book I have read and I must say I am a fan. I was at the 2016 Ryder Cup and this book brought such a rich of backstory. This was the first book in a long time where i stayed up until 2 AM because i could not put it down.
Karla Cohlmia
5.0 out of 5 stars Ryder Cup
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2018
Having played in 16 local club Ryder Cup tourneys at Quail Creek Golf and Country Club called “Lebanese vs Free World” (I was on the Leb team and finished 8-7-1), I can tell you each of our participants on both teams will attest the added stress. Our club pro called it “When you get shit up in your neck.” I can only imagine the stress of playing in the real Ryder Cup. This book gave as accurate description as I can imagine. I loved this book and may give it to each of my Ryder Cup partners. Screw those guys on the other team. George Cohlmia (tell ‘em I said it)
Jerry
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a few shortcomings
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2017
A must read for anyone interested in Ryder Cup golf, and in particular the 2016 event. Feinstein does a great job showing how this event is so different from any of the Majors from the players perspective. The book is full of interesting anecdotes, insights into the players' thinking, etc. Unfortunately, it is also crammed full of trivial, uninteresting information that makes it seem like Feinstein is trying to prove how much detailed research he did. And more disappointing, one of the key elements of the 2016 Ryder Cup was the effort known as the "Ryder Cup Committee" - aka the Task Force - which seemed to be such a crucial element in the planning and subsequent success of the American team, not to mention laying the groundwork for subsequent Ryder Cup teams, was given pretty short shrift in light of its importance. Nonetheless, this is a good book worth reading.
Greg
5.0 out of 5 stars Great, easy read.
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2017
Loved the insights into what has become one of my favorite events in sports. Feinstein does his homework and gives golf fans a great backstage view of the Ryder Cup, with tons of human interest stories to boot.
MJR_Mpls
3.0 out of 5 stars Okay read, but clearly NOT his best, even though he had GREAT material to work with.
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2017
I've read a couple of Feinstein's books. I was really looking forward to this one, after hearing a couple of interviews and having worked at the 2016 Ryder Cup as a volunteer. I really wanted to, expected to, get a very insiders view of the planning and goings on during the week of the Ryder Cup. What I got was a book that was 80% known information about the history of the Ryder Cup and some of the already public information about the 2016 event ... things that a fan of the event would already know. There were some new insights, but it was disappointing how little new information/insights there were. Also, in reading the book, I couldn't help to think that Feinstein either ran out of schedule or struggled to get to the word count he was looking for in writing the final book. There had to be 10 times that he reiterated and repeated a point-of-view (e.g., the fact that Patrick Reed appeared to NOT be the favorite of other players, UNTIL they got to know him better at the Ryder Cup. Literally, he repeated his stories multiple times, and I'm not at all sure why he did it outside of it was filler (i.e., more words to word count) OR it was lack of attention to detail (or editing) that let the reiterations slip through. SO, it was an OKAY read, but clearly not his best. AND, he had GREAT material to work with????!?!?!

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