EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has landed film rights to the Kevin Cook book The Tiger Slam: The Inside Story of the Greatest Golf Ever Played. Reinaldo Marcus Green, whose formative tale of the rise of Serena and Venus Williams won the Best Actor Oscar for Will Smith with King Richard, will tackle the rise of Tiger Woods from child prodigy to one of the greatest athletes golf has ever produced.
Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground is in talks to produce with Irwin Winkler, the veteran behind Goodfellas, Rocky and Creed.
Scandal and injury has dominated the narrative of Woods’ later years – he just underwent Achilles surgery – but this movie will not tell that story. The book by the former Sports Illustrated senior editor and Golf Magazine editor-in-chief Cook focuses on what is still considered the greatest feat in golf history, called The Tiger Slam.
Back in 1997, Woods won the Masters by the largest margin ever, becoming the first Black golfer to win a major in the process. The popularity of golf soared as his career flourished and other golfers tried to keep up. Four years later, Woods returned to Augusta National, trying for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Grand Slam win. The book told the story through Woods’ caddie, coach, his idols and opponents, as Woods strove for perfection despite obstacles on and off the course that threatened to upend him. His combination of athleticism, and the strategic genius and fearlessness drummed into him since he was a child led to heights many feel will never be achieved again in golf.
Cook, whose book was published by the Simon & Schuster imprint Avid Reader Press, is represented by CAA and David Halpern at David Halpern Literary Management. Green is repped by WME and Granderson des Rochers.
Tiger Woods
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