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Final Round: A Novel
In the glamorous world of professional golf, one match is synonymous with excellence, tradition, and prestige. The Masters is played on the sweeping fairways of Georgia’s exclusive Augusta National Golf Club, drawing an annual pilgrimage of Lear jetting superstars, media, and throngs of fans. But this year, the tournament has attracted something else. A killer is coming to play a deadly game of his own.
For Connor Cross and John McCree, two pros who share a long friendship and a passion for golf, the competition is a chance to catch up on old times and calm each other’s nerves before the play turns serious. But when a killer strikes, things suddenly turn too serious. As Connor is drawn into the intrigue—in the company of an alluring female cop—he faces the greatest hazard ever. With one round left to play, and the body count rising while his scores are dropping, Connor Cross is the next in line to die. . . .
For Connor Cross and John McCree, two pros who share a long friendship and a passion for golf, the competition is a chance to catch up on old times and calm each other’s nerves before the play turns serious. But when a killer strikes, things suddenly turn too serious. As Connor is drawn into the intrigue—in the company of an alluring female cop—he faces the greatest hazard ever. With one round left to play, and the body count rising while his scores are dropping, Connor Cross is the next in line to die. . . .
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
64 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
William Bernhardt
96 books513 followersWilliam Bernhardt is the author of over sixty books, including the bestselling Daniel Pike and Ben Kincaid legal thrillers, the historical novels Challengers of the Dust and Nemesis, three books of poetry, and the ten Red Sneaker books on fiction writing.
In addition, Bernhardt founded the Red Sneaker Writers Center to mentor aspiring writers. The Center hosts an annual writers conference (WriterCon), small-group seminars, a monthly newsletter, and a bi-weekly podcast. More than three dozen of Bernhardt’s students have subsequently published with major houses. He is also the owner of Balkan Press, which publishes poetry and fiction as well as the literary journal Conclave.
Bernhardt has received the Southern Writers Guild’s Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (University of Pennsylvania) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (Oklahoma State), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." He has been nominated for the Oklahoma Book Award eighteen times in three different categories, and has won the award twice. Library Journal called him “the master of the courtroom drama.” The Vancouver Sun called him “the American equivalent of P.G. Wodehouse and John Mortimer.”
In addition to his novels and poetry, he has written plays, a musical (book and score), humor, children stories, biography, and puzzles. He has edited two anthologies (Legal Briefs and Natural Suspect) as fundraisers for The Nature Conservancy and the Children’s Legal Defense Fund. OSU named him “Oklahoma’s Renaissance Man.”
In his spare time, he has enjoyed surfing, digging for dinosaurs, trekking through the Himalayas, paragliding, scuba diving, caving, zip-lining over the canopy of the Costa Rican rain forest, and jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. In 2013, he became a Jeopardy! champion winning over $20,000.
When Bernhardt delivered the keynote address at the San Francisco Writers Conference, chairman Michael Larsen noted that in addition to penning novels, Bernhardt can “write a sonnet, play a sonata, plant a garden, try a lawsuit, teach a class, cook a gourmet meal, beat you at Scrabble, and work the New York Times crossword in under five minutes.”
In addition, Bernhardt founded the Red Sneaker Writers Center to mentor aspiring writers. The Center hosts an annual writers conference (WriterCon), small-group seminars, a monthly newsletter, and a bi-weekly podcast. More than three dozen of Bernhardt’s students have subsequently published with major houses. He is also the owner of Balkan Press, which publishes poetry and fiction as well as the literary journal Conclave.
Bernhardt has received the Southern Writers Guild’s Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (University of Pennsylvania) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (Oklahoma State), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." He has been nominated for the Oklahoma Book Award eighteen times in three different categories, and has won the award twice. Library Journal called him “the master of the courtroom drama.” The Vancouver Sun called him “the American equivalent of P.G. Wodehouse and John Mortimer.”
In addition to his novels and poetry, he has written plays, a musical (book and score), humor, children stories, biography, and puzzles. He has edited two anthologies (Legal Briefs and Natural Suspect) as fundraisers for The Nature Conservancy and the Children’s Legal Defense Fund. OSU named him “Oklahoma’s Renaissance Man.”
In his spare time, he has enjoyed surfing, digging for dinosaurs, trekking through the Himalayas, paragliding, scuba diving, caving, zip-lining over the canopy of the Costa Rican rain forest, and jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. In 2013, he became a Jeopardy! champion winning over $20,000.
When Bernhardt delivered the keynote address at the San Francisco Writers Conference, chairman Michael Larsen noted that in addition to penning novels, Bernhardt can “write a sonnet, play a sonata, plant a garden, try a lawsuit, teach a class, cook a gourmet meal, beat you at Scrabble, and work the New York Times crossword in under five minutes.”
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 30, 2008
Murder and golf. From the way I play I can understand how the two go together.
October 31, 2019
No matter where you try to hide, it will find you. No matter how hard you work to avoid it, they will always be following right behind you, making everything that you do more difficult. Competitions can be helpful, making one feel encouraged and confident. Competitions can also be intimidating and can lead to rivalry. Some people can handle rivalry, whereas others can not. Conner Cross may not have been able to handle the pressure of the competition against his friend, John McCree, at the Augusta National golf tournament. This is why Conner was accused of John McCree's murder. Final Round by William Bernhardt maintained mystery and suspense that threw me off. These red herrings made Final Round such an intriguing read.
The mystery of who killed John McCree included many conflicts that threw me off as a reader. For example, the first clue to this mystery was that the murder weapon was Conner’s very own golf club. Many concluded that John McCree was hit several times in the head by Conner because the competition was so close. No one argued that it could have been someone else who took Conner’s club because Conner locks all of his clubs up every day when he is not using them. As more evidence came up to support that Conner killed his friend, people started to say that it wasn’t Conner. This is because there had been another murder. The characters who continued to disagree with Conner’s innocent plea had conflicting personalities that made Conner’s case even more difficult. William Bernhardt includes information about golf and Conner’s past is hard to decide whether it is relevant or irrelevant to this mystery. This information made the story so engaging for me to read.
The red herrings in Final Round purposely lead me off track of solving the mystery. Conner Cross could have had a clear motive for killing his friend, but so did many other people. In Final Round, Conner did everything in his power to prove that he is innocent, but all the evidence suggests that he is guilty. The suspense and mystery keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time with each conflict that Conner Cross has to face. Therefore, anyone who likes a mystery including characters that throw you off track of the mystery, Final Round is the right book for you.
The mystery of who killed John McCree included many conflicts that threw me off as a reader. For example, the first clue to this mystery was that the murder weapon was Conner’s very own golf club. Many concluded that John McCree was hit several times in the head by Conner because the competition was so close. No one argued that it could have been someone else who took Conner’s club because Conner locks all of his clubs up every day when he is not using them. As more evidence came up to support that Conner killed his friend, people started to say that it wasn’t Conner. This is because there had been another murder. The characters who continued to disagree with Conner’s innocent plea had conflicting personalities that made Conner’s case even more difficult. William Bernhardt includes information about golf and Conner’s past is hard to decide whether it is relevant or irrelevant to this mystery. This information made the story so engaging for me to read.
The red herrings in Final Round purposely lead me off track of solving the mystery. Conner Cross could have had a clear motive for killing his friend, but so did many other people. In Final Round, Conner did everything in his power to prove that he is innocent, but all the evidence suggests that he is guilty. The suspense and mystery keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time with each conflict that Conner Cross has to face. Therefore, anyone who likes a mystery including characters that throw you off track of the mystery, Final Round is the right book for you.
August 10, 2022
This is possibly the worst and most unrealistic murder mystery I have ever read. I was intrigued by the golf and Masters angle, but it's obvious the author has no clue regarding anything related to golf. The only reason I continued reading it was to see just how many golf related screw-ups this author could include in one novel. And trust me, there were many! A few examples include the main character using a driver in the 18 hole Masters Par Three tournament (it's 9 holes, and the longest hole is less than 160 yards so no pro would ever use a driver), referring to the cart path as a "cart track", and having the main character "change into his street clothes" and head to the bar after finishing tied for the Masters lead with a few groups still on the course (I guess he decided he'd tie one on before any potential playoff). Aside from the many golf reference inaccuracies, the murder mystery itself and the characters actions were totally unrealistic and lacked for any drama. Save yourself the time and don't bother reading this one.
December 18, 2024
I selected this book because I enjoy golf. It turned out to be more of a mystery than a book about golf, but it was still enjoyable to read. In fact, some the golf references did not seem quite accurate to me. Again, I recommend it, especially to golfers.
October 24, 2017
Bernhardt proves he is a good writer without his usual cast.
November 10, 2017
Not my kind of story
July 16, 2018
O.K. if you are a crazy avid golfer but just marginally well written and believable.
August 12, 2019
interesting twists in the golfing world
February 1, 2022
Quick read. A little contrived but fun.
February 22, 2025
not worth your time
The main character , Conner, is so obnoxious he makes it hard to read. Then his blasphemy of the Lord’s name ended it for me.
The main character , Conner, is so obnoxious he makes it hard to read. Then his blasphemy of the Lord’s name ended it for me.
August 3, 2025
If you are going to use Augusta National do the research. Otherwise use a fictional course for this poorly written novel. Clearly better choices in this genre.
July 22, 2016
The mystery was interesting and well conceived. The main character was worth following. The setting was very beautiful and historic. Unfortunately the references to golf were a distraction, as the author was obviously not familiar with the game. A few examples: tee-off is what you do not where you do it (usually referred to as tee box or more commonly tee - as in the first tee); no one would ever tee off on a 450 yd hole with a nine iron, nor would such a hole be part of a three par tournament; the term is water hazard, not water trap; and the PGA did not ban facial hair in 2001 - does the name Craig Stadler ring a bell. If all of these things were fixed, the story would be much more engaging.
August 7, 2017
Great book
I love golf. I especially love the masters. I really like a good read. I especially like reluctant deceive stories. You put all four of those together and you have this book. If you like two or more of those things get yourself a copy of the book tout sweet! You will not be disappointed!
There were a few inaccuracies in the book but no one other than a fairly knowledgable golf fan would even catch then. I had no problems overlooking those inaccuracies. When you have a book this fast paced with subject material I like this much I can forgive a lot!
This would be a great book for a casual read anytime any place! I read this in about 4 sittings over the course of roughly 36 hours. As I said above it is a fast paced quick read and just a great book!
I love golf. I especially love the masters. I really like a good read. I especially like reluctant deceive stories. You put all four of those together and you have this book. If you like two or more of those things get yourself a copy of the book tout sweet! You will not be disappointed!
There were a few inaccuracies in the book but no one other than a fairly knowledgable golf fan would even catch then. I had no problems overlooking those inaccuracies. When you have a book this fast paced with subject material I like this much I can forgive a lot!
This would be a great book for a casual read anytime any place! I read this in about 4 sittings over the course of roughly 36 hours. As I said above it is a fast paced quick read and just a great book!
August 1, 2008
Okay read. The author knew very little about golf considering it was a murder-mystery surrounding the Masters tournament. He made many, many errors on club selection, how golf scoring works, how the pros approach a tournament, etc. He also takes liberties with how the cops interact with a prime murder suspect.
May 18, 2014
This,so far, is my favorite Bernhardt book.
There is violence, but not to the extend of all the other novels I've read by him.
Connor is a cool protagonist, sort of her-do-well.
I rarely give five stars, but I thought it was wonderful escape reading.
Good Job!!
Must let my son know about a murder mystery set at the Masters.
There is violence, but not to the extend of all the other novels I've read by him.
Connor is a cool protagonist, sort of her-do-well.
I rarely give five stars, but I thought it was wonderful escape reading.
Good Job!!
Must let my son know about a murder mystery set at the Masters.
April 12, 2012
A departure for Bernhardt but a good departure. I am not a big golf fan but was able to understand the story and setting which provided Bernhardt a nice playground in which to set this thriller. I hope he continues to work on both his series and these unique projects.
July 6, 2012
A fairly enjoyable mystery, but there were too many situations that pushed the limits of believability. I don't mind stretching the imagination at all, but some of the situations in this book simply had me rolling my eyes.
June 30, 2014
Bernhardt's snappy and funny dialogue is unique and lighthearted. As I began reading this book, I thought is felt familiar. Turns out I had read it a long time ago, but didn't remember how the plot worked out. Surprise ending did the story proud.
Read
May 28, 2018No stars. Bernhardt might be a great mystery writer but ihis admitted lack of Golf knowledge made it impossible for me to keep reading. I know Golf is only the “vehicle” to carry the story but this threw a rod pulling out of the driveway.
August 16, 2013
Don't like golf, so I'm not the best one to judge. The book was just OK. Not bad enought to quit give up on, but a little hokey. Probably a guy book.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews