Farther To Fall

My wife and I attended the Farmers Open Golf Tournament on Saturday.  It was held at the beautiful Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego and going there brought back a lot of memories for me.

The last time I attended a golf tournament at Torrey Pines was back in 2008. At that time The US Open was being played there and it would be the last time that Tiger Woods would win a major golf tournament. In 2008 Tiger was the best golfer on the planet, setting or breaking records every time he played. He walked tall, and he walked proud, and his gallery of followers were always 20 people deep at every single hole. Tiger wasn’t always friendly to the crowds, the media, or his competition back then. To me, it seemed like he considered himself the greatest athlete on the planet and practically perfect in every way. Little did he know how much things would change in the very near future.

The Tiger Woods we watched at Torrey Pines in 2018 was not the same man we watched in 2008. By that I don’t mean he wasn’t as good a golfer (although it was true since this time he finished in 23^rd place.) What I mean is that he didn’t carry himself with total arrogance anymore. He walked a little slower, took time to talk to fans, and actually smiled despite being way down the leader board. Obviously, I don’t know what he was thinking, but it seemed to me like he was truly enjoying the game for the first time in a very long time.

We were perched in the grandstands at the 15^th hole most of the day. When Tiger walked up onto the 15^th green the crowd gave him a very warm greeting. When the applause died down, a man sitting in the front row said rather loudly, “Welcome back Tiger. The game still needs you.”  I saw Tiger look over and smile at the man and acknowledge his comment. It was a moment of new found humility that made Tiger seem… well… human. And of course we all know that humans are not perfect… and never will be.

And that got me thinking… I don’t know if the game still needs Tiger Woods or not. What I do know is that when we put ourselves above everyone else, it simply means that we have that much farther to fall.

Tiger Woods approaches the 15th Green at Torrey Pines, January 27th, 2018

If only I had a little humility, I would be perfect. 

~ Ted Turner