MEANINGFUL PRIZES IN LIFE

AJGA, Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, NC

There’s a golfing war that‘s broken out last weekend with an opening salvo shot across the bow of the USPGA by a new Saudi backed golf league, LIV, that has romanced a number of players to join their ranks for an enticing amount of money.  The inaugural tournament was just held in London, but there are more planned for the United States this year.  They’ve introduced some interesting changes such as just three rounds VS four, hence the Roman numerals for 54 holes.  But the big attraction is more money as they lure players over to their side.  The PGA has been the fertile ground that has grown the sport’s best.

The Saudi government has some serious human rights issues to contend with on the world stage and the term “sportswashing” has surfaced referencing an attempt to use sports to wash over these negative associations.  Some folks have accused the defectors of selling their souls for a quick payout.

I finally had the downtime to finish a Christmas gift of The Match bestseller by Mark Frost while recovering from Covid-19, another plague raging across the country right now.  Coincidently, Frost touts the book as an account of “The day the game of golf changed forever.”  The book details an arranged match by two millionaires seeking to determine if two gifted amateur golfers, Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, can outmatch two outstanding professionals, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan.  The millionaires have a significant bet on the game while the four men are basically playing an unannounced match for the love of the game and the challenge of playing the best.

The book has a copyright of 2007 or fifteen years ago, but the final conclusion is uncannily germane to today’s golf war.  It hit home even more for me lately as I’ve been active in volunteering for the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) to promote amateur golf competition in this country.  The concluding thoughts expressed by Frost could have been written this week:

“Not enough meaningful prizes in life are contested solely for honor anymore, for the love of the thing itself, or the undiluted satisfaction of testing your mettle against the best you can find and, win or lose, walking away the better for it because of the truths it enabled you to face and find out about yourself…Some green, untested souls might be tempted to wonder why one should still care, but none of us are here forever, we’re not even here for long; and if it’s true that our collective past exists inside all of us, unless we take time to bear witness to the best of those who strived before us, our chance to learn from their lives will be lost forever, and we will be the poorer for it.”