This blogsite is essentially about Rob and my journey in Junior Golf together, however, the inspiration and questions arising from a PGA junior All-Star team match play competition played by Bear and his partner, JMJ, last night are worth an entry.
I don’t really know how it all works. I suspect none of us do. Except perhaps some highly evolved monk sitting on a mountain in Tibet.
I believe talent is not enough. I believe in hard work, grinding it out, and the sheer power of perseverance.
On the other hand, is it possible that the Universe steps in to play sometimes? Possibly to teach humility to an obviously older and stronger team who started out supremely confident in an easy win and ended up resorting to gamesmanship under pressure? Or to inspire confidence to the underdog in the many opportunities available in the great game of golf to shine if you don’t let yourself (or in this case your opponents) get in your head?
In life, are we too obsessed with making things happen? Do we have too little faith in just letting things work out as they will? We fight. We rage against the machine. We stress and plan. Attack and retreat. Can we afford to just let it be? Can we afford not to?
Bear wasn’t going to play the afternoon team match due to playing in another PGA Junior tournament 2 hours away, but his Sunday morning tournament tee time was early enough to make the trip back for the team match. He wasn’t even going to play with JMJ, but on arrival saw JMJ’s scheduled partner sitting sick and weak on a bench too ill to start, so a new scramble team paring was put in place.
After a long 36 hole weekend tournament 2 hours away (which, incidentally Bear won) we arrived with only 5 minutes before tee time for the team scramble event against an opposing junior team which will undoubtedly go through to the National Championships of the PGA Junior Team scramble competition again this year. They are a highly talented group of junior golfers, some of the best 12 to 14 year olds in the country.
Bear and JMJ found themselves paired against the other team’s top pairing – both a year older than our guys and both top ranking National players.
In what turned out to be an epic battle, the underdogs played riveting golf to go into the last hole all tied up and win the match with a birdie on the 9th for a total of 7-under par for the 9 hole match.
Before the match JMJ’s dad (a former collegiate player) had this to say to the boys : On any given course. On any given day. You can beat anybody.
And they did.