I am an emotional man. I cry at every wedding, United Negro College Fund TV commercials used to crush me (the grandpa seeing his grandson off to college), even “Modern Family” usually gets me.
But yesterday, my heart leapt out of my chest and tears poured down my cheeks when Phil Mickelson sank the final putt then embraced his wife, kissed her, thanked her. It felt like light at the end of their tunnel. Wow, humanity won today. More importantly, the right MAN won.
On day one of the Masters, I confess I was happy to see Tiger Woods back on the course doing what he does best – captivate audiences. But soon, the novelty wore off. Tiger had several outbursts like this one:
“Tiger Woods, you suck! God damn it!” I also heard a “Jesus Christ” out of him at least once. T, if your gonna call Jesus by name, especially at this point, I’d make sure it’s to thank him for the gracious reception.
Post play, Tiger told CBS that he’s planning to “take a little time off and reevaluate things”…I really hope this isn’t mostly about club selection. During Monday’s press conference he suggested the ‘new’ Tiger would include a change of on course behavior. It didn’t seem that way today…Tiger squandered a ton of good will.
By the way, the UK’s Lee Westwood…now there’s a gracious loser. Gracious, humble, classy, respectable, likeable. I got the feeling that if he walked into my house for dinner, he’d take his hat off, thank my wife, look my kids in the eye as he spoke to them gently but not like babies.
Back to Phil Mickelson. His win at the Masters was emotional. It doesn’t equal an “all clear” report for his wife in her fight against breast cancer, but instead of worrying, fighting, consulting, in this moment Phil, Amy and their girls were celebrating…
Tonight I will pray for Amy to close out her battle just like Phil did on Sunday.
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