Slaying the Tiger

A Year Inside the Ropes on the New PGA Tour

By: Shane Ryan

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

For more than a decade, golf was dominated by one galvanizing figure: Eldrick "Tiger" Woods. But as his star has fallen, a new, ambitious generation has stepped up to claim the crown. Once the domain of veterans, golf saw a youth revolution in 2014. In Slaying the Tiger, Shane Ryan introduces us to the volatile, colorful crop of heirs apparent who are storming the barricades of this traditionally old-fashioned sport.

As the golf writer for Bill Simmons' Grantland, Shane Ryan is the perfect herald for the sport's new age. In Slaying the Tiger, he embeds himself for a season on the PGA Tour, where he finds the game far removed from the genteel rhythms of yesteryear. Instead he discovers a group of mercurial talents driven to greatness by their fear of failure and their relentless perfectionism. From Augusta to Scotland, with an irreverent and energetic voice, Ryan documents every transcendent moment, every press tent tirade, and every controversy that made the 2014 tour one of the most exciting and unpredictable in recent memory.

©2015 Shane Ryan (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[R]ecommended for anyone who wants to get real insights on the players and the sport." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great book with a terrible narration

I don’t think I’m prone to hyperbole and with that said, this may be the worst narration I’ve ever heard. Shane Ryan’s book is great and still holds up years later. I would love to ask him how Sean Pratt landed this job and got the constant mispronunciations through editing. Mr. Pratt’s voice is fine but with the book written in the author’s voice as a golfer. It undermines his credibility when 1/3 of the golfers names along with golf courses they are playing on are mispronounced. I can only imagine Shane Ryan’s dismay at the final product…

Good book bu the narration ruined it.

The stories were very interesting, but the narrator mispronounces the names of players and courses throughout. It’s obvious the narrator didn’t take the time to learn about golf. He calls Rory “Roy” the entire book and it drive me nuts. Rory is a mainstay in the book so you have to hear his name mispronounced hundreds of times.

Decent story, mixed narrator

Narrator mispronounced a good portion of the names of courses and players, but had a nice pace. Clearly a professional, but not a golfer.

Poorly narrated

I found it very annoying as the narrator frequently mispronounced the names of some of the most famous golf courses and golfers in the world. The author should consider "slaying the narrator".

Incredible book, weak narrator

He mispronounced several of Golf's notable names. Some examples include calling Rory "Roy", referring to Jason Dufner as Justin Dufner, and butchering the pronunciation of Kiawah, Olazabal, Koepka and Zoeller.

The book, however, may have been my favorite ever.