Diamonds in the Rough: Championship Golf on the Senior PGA Tour

We are living in the golden age of golf, and some of golf's finest players are celebrating their golden years. Legends such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Raymond Floyd, and Gary Player still make headlines, competing for $40 million on the Senior PGA Tour with fellow "over-fifty" newcomers Hale Irwin, Dr. Gil Morgan, David Graham, and Johnny Miller. In Diamonds in the Rough, journalist Mark Shaw spent a year on tour with these grand masters of the game, privy to their private thoughts and inspiring sense of play. The result: Shaw captures their dry wit, uncommon wisdom, and unforgettable personal stories of triumph and tragedy, bringing the 1997 Senior PGA Tour, now in its twentieth year, to dazzling life as never before.

It was a magical season featuring remarkable moments, including a miracle win by Vietnam veteran Buddy Allin, the spine-tingling ninth-hole playoff victory for the affable Irishman Bob Murphy, Japanese Isao Aoki's mystical round of 60, and colorful Chi Chi Rodriguez's quest for victory aided by lamb hormone shots, snake rings, and supercharged golf balls.

It was also the year Arnold Palmer, Jim Colbert, and Larry Gilbert announced they were battling cancer, recovering alcoholic Dana Quigley won his first tournament victory on the same day his father died, Gary Player achieved an inspiring win at the Senior British Open, and Dr. Gil Morgan and Hale Irwin went down to the wire for the much coveted Player of the Year honors.

It's all here--in vivid detail--the victories and bittersweet defeats. Filled with incredible play, fascinating stories, and hilarious anecdotes, Diamonds in the Rough is a true golf treasure.