Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season » (Bargain)

Bob Smiley is a television writer and golf columnist for ESPN.com. He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his family.

With an eye for vivid detail and indefatigable determination, ESPN.com contributer Bob Smiley tracked Tiger Woods for all 604 holes of his 2008 season, from the seaside cliffs of San Diego to the deserts of Dubai, through the hallowed gates of Augusta National, and, ultimately, back to California for the greatest U.S. Open of all time. There, at Torrey Pines, it took Tiger 91 holes to beat charismatic journeyman Rocco Mediate to win his fourteenth major—on one leg.

Chronicling every dramatic and often hysterical moment from the gallery, Follow the Roar is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure through the most spectacular and inspiring season in Tiger Woods's celebrated career.

Lee Arnold - Library Journal

During the writer's strike, TV writer Smiley persuaded ESPN.com to allow him to write a humor column on golf as a freelancer. This morphed into the goal of following Tiger Woods on every hole during the 2008 golf season. Smiley financed the project himself, which is significant because he was without other income. He shares some behind-the-scenes stories from Dubai, the Masters, and the U.S. Open. As golf quests go, this is interesting but not nearly as remarkable as, say, Andre Tolme's I Golfed Across Mongolia. The most notable book of many written about individuals' golfing quests is perhaps Tom Coyne's Paper Tiger; Turk Pipkin wrote of his strivings in The Old Man and the Tee. Smiley's coverage of the Tavistock Cup (a neighborhood competition by the PGA from Lake Nona and Isleworth-with a purse of over $3 million) trumps the televised version, which misses the full flavor of the event. Still, while this may be of interest to die-hard Tiger Woods fans, it will have a short shelf life. An optional purchase.

Preface xi

Lonely at the Top xiii

The Machine 1

Eldrick of Arabia 51

Fist Pumps of Fury 106

Hats Off for the King 158

Drive for Show, Putt for ... D'oh! 205

Chez Tiger 252

A National Travesty 272

Periscope Down 323

The Man 339

Afterword 415

Acknowledgments 421