Winning is everything

Most people either watched, listened to or heard about Tom Watson's seemingly impossible quest to capture the British Open golf championship in Scotland last week. It was a story that resonated not only within the golfing community but with the non-golfing public as well because Tom Watson is 59 years old. Watson was an elite golfer in his heyday some 25 years ago when he would often battle the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, and Gary Player and, as often as not, would win. In fact he's won the British Open five times, an accomplishment achieved by only a handful of golfers. But his last victory in that venue came over 25 years ago. His entry in this year's championship was seen as nothing more than a token gesture at competition because old guy's don't win championships.

But there he was at the top of the leaderboard, day after day. And when the final day of the competition rolled around on Sunday, he was still there, guaranteeing a huge final day television audience. Most of us were surprised he was still leading, thinking the competition, the stress and strain, and the quality of his opponents would wear him down as the week progressed but it didn't. As ABC broadcast his every shot from the opening hole, the seemingly impossible became more and more possible as he fended off every challenge and led by one stroke going to the final hole. It appeared it really was going to happen and I doubt there were few men over 50 anywhere in the world who weren't pulling for him because we all still want to win, regardless of who our opponent is, and Tom Watson was wearing that heavy mantle around his neck as his tee-shot on 18 was dead perfect and he walked towards his ball, needing only to find the green with his second shot and two putt for the win.

But that's when things began to change. The television announcers believed he would hit his second shot short and run it up to the green, taking no chances of going long. But he flushed an 8 iron, sending it soaring to the middle of the green and, as the commentators feared, the ball ran through the green, down a small incline, and into the short rough surrounding the green. Later, during his press conference, Watson said he thought he hit a perfect shot and so did his playing partner. All he needed was for the ball to stop anywhere on the green and victory was surely his. But it didn't, leaving him with a tough thrd shot. Again the speculation was rife. Should he chip or putt? Watson has always been known as one of the premier short game players in the world and it has been his putter that has failed him in recent years but on this crucial third shot, he decided to putt rather than chip and rolled it some eight feet past the hole. Now the whole golfing world is holding its collective breath as Watson stands over his putt. If it goes in, he is the British Open Champion once again, if it doesn't, he faces a playoff with Stewart Cink. To the disappointment and dismay of practically everyone but Cink and his family, Watson hits the weakest putt of any he made during the tournament, misses it to the right and he and Cink go to a four hole playoff. It was no contest. Cink beats Watson by six strokes in those four brief holes and the dream of being a major champion at 59 is dashed not only for Watson but for all the other 50-something and older competitors in the world.

The television commentators were saying as the playoff started that Stewart Cink was also in a strange, precarious situation because he was a big Tom Watson fan too and wondering out loud how that would affect his play. One of them finally said that Cink's admiration of Watson wouldn't affect his play at all because Watson was the only person standing between Cink and the Championship and now it was only about competition and not personalities.

Which brings me to the real purpose for this week's column. We live in a competitive society. We grow up with competition and the emphasis in our culture is on winning. We love winners and we tend not to curry favor toward the losers. It's like that at every level and situation we face. Jim and Carol Lemon retired here from Colorado, bought a house on the golf course and he and I play golf five days a week during the summer months. We are good friends and would give each other the shirt off our backs if that's what the situation called for but when we tee off every day we both want to win. And we both want to win badly. He and I were just discussing this the other day.

We both compliment each other whenever a good shot is made but down deep, we're dismayed and disconcerted, knowing that shot might end up beating us. We played on Tuesday with Dan Loper and I led both of them by two as we teed it off on the final hole. My shot was fortunately down the middle of the fairway and Jim commented that was the best drive I had on that hole in quite some time. The three of us all ended up bogeying the hole and my two-shot lead was preserved. But later in the clubhouse, Jim told me that as he was complimenting me on my drive, he was secretly hoping that I would hit a bad drive, one that would put me in a situation where me might could still win. And I told him I felt the same way on every good shot he hits, every single day. Our friendship is solid and we always praise the other person when they make a good shot, but inwardly we really want each other to fail because we want to win.

That's what the commentators were talking about last Sunday when it came to Stewart Cink's feelings playing in a playoff with Tom Watson. Regardless of how much Cink admired and respected Tom Watson, Cink wanted to win. He could win if Watson played well but it would be much easier to win if Watson played poorly, which he did.

Because in the end, for most of the people most of the time, the point of competition is winning. Regardless of how well I play, if I don't win, I'm disappointed; whether I'm competing in sports, work, love or anything else in life.

I want to win. I expect to win. And when I don't, the disappointment is real and enduring until I'm able to try and remedy it the next time around.