With millions in prize money up for grabs, can the outcome of professional golf tournaments be rigged? Such is the crux of this suspenseful, tender, sometimes raunchy novel. Charismatic up-and-comer Peter Frazier marries the daughter and only child of wealthy Arizona industrialist Julius Giles. Frazier joins Giles company, becomes vice president and settles into a cushy lifestyle. Meanwhile, North Carolinian Byron Pickens is growing up with a golf club in his hands and the ancient-and-noble game on his mind. Uncommonly talented, the baby-faced standout is wooed by college coaches. In a fateful decision he chooses a nearby, traditional school where he finds the love of his life in tennis whiz Lauren Cobb and sees his own game skyrocket. Frazier and Pickens meet when paired in a glamorous USGA golf tournament. A friendship develops, and Frazier keeps the doors open to a potential superstar. Turning arrogant, Frazier, a philanderer, finds his salary pink-slipped by a disgusted father-in-law. After Giles suffers a stroke, however, Frazier envisions supplementing his income through cunning abuses. One is a scheme apt to win handsome payoffs by stealthily managing golf tournament outcomes. When Pickens becomes Fraziers target, can he be protected by golfs mythical but steadfast Guild of Honor?
About the author
One landmark sentence “In 1896 Henry Ford putt-putted down Detroit’s Bagley Avenue in the funny little machine with a leather-belt drive that completely revolutionized transportation.” is credited by Andrew Collins with launching his star, i.e., a sound education, a lifelong love of writing and, years later, this novel.
Collins’ catchy opening, part of a researched essay titled, “The Value of the Motor Trucking Industry to South Carolina,” likely won him his Pilot Freight Carriers scholarship to Clemson University.
Collins worked as a chemical engineer, completed a DMD curriculum and a MSD orthodontic residency, and practiced orthodontics for 43 years. He writes during his “free” time.