Texas Children's Houston Open

Memorial Park Golf Course



The Loop

Golf Digest contributor Dave Anderson on PEN/ESPN Award: 'I put that on same level as Pulitzer'

July 30, 2014

Dave Anderson, a Golf Digest Contributing Editor and long-time New York Times columnist, has been named the recipient of the PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing.

/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2015/07/20/55ad7995add713143b429cf9_blogs-the-loop-Dave%20Anderson.jpg

"I put that right on the same level as the Pulitzer Prize," Anderson said via telephone from his New Jersey home. Anderson, whose career has spanned more than 50 years, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1981.

The PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award is "given to one living American or U.S.-based writer each year to celebrate their body of work and long-time contributions to the field of literary sports writing."

Anderson is the fourth winner of the award, joining Roger Angell, Golf Digest's Dan Jenkins, and Frank Deford, "three of my great heroes in life," Anderson said.

The judges — Kostya Kennedy, David Rosenthal and John Schulian — noted that "for more than half a century, Dave Anderson has waded into the hurly-burly of sportswriting with quiet dignity and a true craftsman's regard for the language. You didn't read him for bombast or half-cocked opinion. You read him because, quite simply, he knew whereof he wrote…His integrity never wavered, his grace never disappeared on deadline, and his readers never got cheated. That's the way pros operate, and Dave Anderson was the ultimate pro."

Anderson has been a frequent contributor to Golf World, as well. His most recent column was on Babe Ruth's golf obsession and can be read here.

(Getty Images photo)