I will come on to the book in a minute, but the title does rather beg an obvious question which hardened sports fans all over the world will be only too keen to try to answer. We will all have our opinion of which was the greatest game ever played, after all, it will all depend on which sport we favour, whether we were there or not, how much alcohol we consumed watching it, or how old we are.

Was it Borg against McEnroe at Wimbledon all those years ago, or Nadal’s epic triumph over Federer in 2008? The Barbarians rugby team beating the mighty All Blacks in Cardiff in 1973 (Cliff Morgan’s commentary in lyrical high-pitched meltdown, his Welsh enunciation as beautiful and as exciting as the game played out before his eyes)? Or was it the rugby when Australia played New Zealand in front of 110,000 in Sydney in 2008?

Perhaps it was cricket's famous ODI when Australia scored 438 to beat South Africa’s 434 in Johannesburg in 2006? Ricky Ponting the Aussie captain was named man of the match but insisted his opposing number got the award and his own cricket bat. Was it Roy of the Rovers’ debut for Melchester against Elbury Wanderers in the 1954 edition of The Tiger Comic (that one is right up there, believe me)? 

It goes on and on, doesn’t it, depending on your point of view? Greatest, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder after all. For some people, sport is about dizzying degrees of skill - what the Greeks referred to as "arête" - a sublime state of athletic perfection. For others it is about muscular heroism (the Rocky factor) or intellectualising the combat. Or it can be about patriotism, partisanship, kinship - a reason to belong - our team.For me, it’s all about the romance - you know - the underdog prevails despite obstacles of monumental proportions. Without romance, a sporting match or game is merely a physical contest between two opposing forces. With it, the event suddenly has many more dimensions and becomes infinitely more interesting (and much more memorable).

Back to the book then. The story is based on the US Open in 1913 at a time when golf was dominated by British players and the Americans had really very little interest in it. What happened in the match was to set alight a rivalry across the Atlantic which is as fierce today as ever, despite what Tiger Woods thinks of the Ryder Cup. The two best golfers at the time, Harry Vardon, six-time winner of the British Open, and Ted Ray entered the championship and so (much to his own suprise) did the young amateur, Francis Oumet, who had only won his first tournament three months earlier. 

The son of a French-Canadian immigrant, who had caddied at the course and who lived nearby with his parents, Oumet was an unlikely and unwelcome participant. His father had tried to dissuade him from playing golf, but young Oumet was seduced by this relatively new sport, and admired players like Vardon immensely.
This was about where you came from as much as where you wanted to go, since golf was considered an elitist game played by gentlemen. In fact, the hugely talented and successful British Harry Vardon was born into very humble circumstances on the island of Jersey and overcame tuberculosis to become Britain’s top professional golfer. However, even he could not become a member of the club which sponsored him, because to them he was an outsider.

Despite the class problem Vardon was a class act, and he recognised in Oumet a younger version of himself. Although they were from hugely different cultures and different age groups, there was a great similarity between the two men in terms of their background and desire to overcome obstacles.The skill of the author Mark Frost is that he puts into context just what it meant to both men to win this match, which obviously adds a dramatic momentum and emotional tempo to the story. 

Every shot, good or bad is recorded, chewed over like a tasty morsel, and then lovingly digested. In the same way as the Roy of the Rovers comic strip members of the crowd watching are allowed dialogue, often as the ball is travelling to the hole, time is suspended or elongated while a comment is made about the shot in question. The book is instructive in that the author takes us on little side trips of social history, explaining how golf equipment and the game developed professionally, and how it moved from the Old World to the New World.

Even though we know what the outcome will eventually be, Frost maintains the tension right to the end - a three-way play off. Of course, Oumet prevails, wins the play-off and tournament to become hugely famous on his own doorstep, and golf became global overnight. 

Rocky Balboa threw the knockout punch, MS Dhoni hit that six to win the Cricket World Cup, Jonny Wilkinson dropped that goal, Roy of The Rovers limped back on the pitch to head in the winner and Nadia Comaneci scored another perfect ten.

Isn’t sport just great?