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Tributes are pouring in for the trailblazing golf writer Dan Jenkins, who has passed away at the age of 89.
Jenkins, considered by many to be the finest golf writer of his or indeed any generation, started his career at the Fort Worth Press following hometown hero Ben Hogan, before going to work for the likes of the Dallas Times Herald, Playboy, Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest.
The 1951 US Open, won by Hogan, was the first of over 230 majors that he covered.
He also wrote numerous books, including Dead Solid Perfect, which was later adapted into a movie starring Randy Quaid.
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In 2012, he received the PEN/ESP Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
“There have been so many great tournaments that I’ve been privileged to see, and people paid me to go watch, that I’m awfully grateful for it,” he said upon his receiving the latter honour in 2012. “And I’m so happy that I chose the profession I did.”
In a December 2017 interview with the Irish Golf Desk, Jenkins shared details of the friendship he developed with fellow Fort Worth man Hogan, above, revealing that they played golf regularly during the 1950s when the career grand slam winner was in his pomp.
“I finally got used to it and he became a friend,” said Jenkins. “Eventually, I wasn’t in awe all the time and I was able to get it around in the mid-70s playing with him.”
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In the same interview, he revealed the best advice he ever got.
“In my first job out of college, the editor told me the first obligation of a daily paper is to come out every day. So stop f**king around with that story and get it in here. I was always a fast writer, even on the magazines. Get it done. We can always go for the Pulitzer next week. My motto is ‘Get it right and get it done.’”
Jenkins is survived by wife June, sons Danny and Marty, and his daughter Sally, who is a columnist for The Washington Post.
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