Enjoyable (Into the Bear Pit - Mark James)

Member Name: alandooley

Product:	Into the Bear Pit - Mark James
Date:	03/08/00 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A must read for the golfing fan

Disadvantages: Could been more balanced.

Firstly Mark James is not an Author. He is a golfer so this book should be read with that in mind. James has nothing but good to say about the European team especially the 3 unfortunate players who did not feature until the singles even though subsequently there have been moans from some quarters. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if we had retained the cup it would have been considered a master stroke. As for the 'binning' of Faldo's letter, this appeared to be a joint decision which involved the players as well as the captain. James is obviously upset at some of the actions of the American team with regard to whipping the crowd into a frenzy but he has nothing but praise for the standard of golf they produced. All in all James does not comes across as some bitter and twisted individual. It would be interesting to hear the views of Monty, Westwood etc. on the subject of the book.

However, I felt that James passed up an opportunity to dispassionately portray the events in Brookline. I felt that the book was primarily an attempt to shift the failure to win from the captain's tactical failings to American jingoism and "over the top" celebrations. It would be interesting to hear in the future the views of Van der Velde, Sandelin and Coltart to their omission from the playing set up for the first two days. My personal view is that for teams to operate effectively, the burden of responsibility and performance should be spread over the resource. James didn't utilise his resource effectively and Europe didn't win.

Summary: