Golf Legends Write for Britannica; Palmer, Nicklaus, Montgomerie and Harrington contribute history, insights
Chicago, Ill. (PRWEB) November 06, 2014 -- Encyclopaedia Britannica® has published an article on the PGA Championship tournament by Padraig Harrington, completing a four-article set on the major golf tournaments, all written by eminent golfers and former tournament winners.
In addition to the article by Harrington, the now-exclusively digital encyclopedia includes entries on the other “majors” by legends of the game: the Masters, by Arnold Palmer; the U.S. Open, by Jack Nicklaus; and the Open Championship, by Colin Montgomerie.
In commissioning articles from leading golfers, Britannica editors asked its champion-contributors to combine factual, historical treatments of each tournament and its place in the life of the sport with personal recollections of their experiences and struggles at each competition.
Reflections by golf legend Arnold Palmer on the Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters, is typical of the results: “The sun seems brighter there, the sky bluer, the wind gentler, the pines more stately, and the azaleas more colourful than on any other golf course in the world,” he writes.
“The exhilaration I felt is still hard to describe,” says Harrington, emphasizing the psychological aspect of the game and in reference to his victory in the PGA Championship. “Winning championships in golf is often more of a mental feat than a physical accomplishment.”
Nicklaus, who holds the record for most Majors won (18), describes the U.S. Open it as “a complete examination of a golfer,” one that is “a demanding, stern test of one’s golfing and mental abilities.”
Scottish golfer Colin Montgomerie discusses the Open Championship, the oldest continually run championship in the sport (begun in 1860), and highlights its uniqueness (since it’s played only on British links courses). He compares the historic tournament to “pure romance and theatre,” a “special event that every golfer dreams of winning.”
Publishing athletes is nothing new for the encyclopedia, says Executive Editor Theodore Pappas. “Britannica has a long history of publishing experts from all walks of life, including professional and Olympic athletes.”
Britannica, whose current contributors include former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Hall of Fame tennis champion Chris Evert, Olympic gold-medal skater Scott Hamilton, Pulitzer Prize historian Joseph Ellis and skateboarder Tony Hawk, is unique among general reference works for, among other things, the eminence of its writers. More than a hundred Nobel laureates have written for Britannica, and its editors continue to commission works from leading scholars and experts as they have since the days when contributors included Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Marie Curie, Leon Trotsky and George Bernard Shaw.
About Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. is a global leader in education publishing whose products are available in a range of media, including online and mobile devices. A pioneer in digital publishing since the early 1980s, the company markets a variety of curriculum products for schools, language-study courses, online learning services, encyclopedias and other reference works and language products through its Merriam-Webster subsidiary. The company is headquartered in Chicago.
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Tom Panelas, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., http://info.eb.com, +1 (312) 347-7309, [email protected]
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