FINAL ROUND

Bernhardt leaves the courtroom battles of Tulsa lawyer Ben Kincaid (Murder One, 2001, etc.) behind—or does he?—for a murderous tour of the Master’s Tournament in faraway Augusta, Georgia. His hero, PGA bad boy Conner Cross, hales from Oklahoma, of course, but otherwise he couldn’t be more different from straitlaced Ben: He wenches, wears gonzo outfits, and overflows with cheap wisecracks in defiance of Augusta National’s strict rules. Conner’s careless putting game has always been his weakness, but once he finds the body of his boyhood friend and mentor John McCree buried in a sand trap on the 18th hole, his drives begin to go awry too, just as he’s talking himself into deeper trouble off the links. Despite doing everything wrong, though—ignoring his veteran caddie’s sage advice, antagonizing Augusta cop Nikki O’Brien, shaving his head, starting a food fight at the Champions’ Dinner—Conner, like Ben, miraculously makes all the shots that count and survives the all-important third-round cut, which John’s wife Jodie (Conner’s former girlfriend, naturally) and even scruffier golfer Freddy Granger fail to survive even literally. Can Conner withstand the intense pressure on his game and the withering scrutiny of O’Brien and her colleagues to turn in a respectable performance in John’s memory, handle an extortion payoff for the hated Augusta brass, and incidentally nab the killer? What do you think, Ben?

Genre fans may cavil at the anemic mystery, the blandly forgettable suspects, and the nonstop clichés. Golfers, though, will respond with enthusiasm to Bernhardt’s loving evocation of the Master’s.