Dan Jenkins has covered professional golf as a newspaper and magazine writer for nearly six full decades, beginning in 1951 when Ben Hogan won the U.S. Open.
At last count, he had been there for 58 Masters Tournaments, 55 U.S. Opens, 44 PGAs, and 40 British Opens – 197 majors in all, and still going.
He has collected edited versions of 94 of his favorite stories, columns, and feature articles into Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World’s Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger (Doubleday, $26.95).
Jenkins wrote for the Fort Worth Press and Dallas Times Herald before moving onto the national sports stage at Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest. He’s had the privilege of knowing personally all of the major golf stars in his lifetime, including Byron Nelson, who actually had retired from the game before Jenkins came along.
Nelson, he writes, “was as lovely a gentleman and as great a champion as ever played the game.”
About Ben Hogan, Jenkins says, “I suppose earning Ben Hogan’s friendship, coooperation, and, to some degree, his respect has been the greatest treasure of this journey.” He has high marks for other superstars like Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.
He pays special tribute to Nicklaus, calling him “the most interesting,, cooperative, and informative athlete I’ve ever interviewed in any sport, ever.”
