The Match

The definitive account of a little-known but extraordinary match between two golfing legends and two young amateurs on the eve of Bing Crosby's pro-am tournament in 1956.

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The year: 1956. Four decades have passed since Eddie Lowery came to fame as the ten-year-old caddie to US Open Champion Francis Ouimet. Now a wealthy car dealer and avid supporter of amateur golf, Lowery boasts to George Coleman - an equally important figure in golf circles and a fellow millionaire - that two of his car salesmen are the best players in the world. These two, US amateur champion Harvie Ward and up-and-coming star Ken Venturi, could beat any two golfers in the world in a best ball match, he claims. Coleman asks Lowery how he plans to prove it, and Lowery puts his money where his mouth is: 'Bring any two golfers of your choice to the course at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning,' he tells Coleman, 'and we'll settle the issue - for a substantial amount of cash.' Coleman shows up, all right - with Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, the game's greatest living professionals, with fourteen major championships between them.
In Mark Frost's peerless hands, complete with the recollections of all the participants, the story of this immortal foursome and the game they played that day - legendarily known in golf circles as the greatest private match ever played - come to life with powerful emotional impact and edge-of-your-seat suspense.