I watched most of the Players Golf Tournament Sunday afternoon. It is a fun Course to watch the pros play. It is more than a long-hitter Course. Water is everywhere. Greens slope to the water. There is an island green on seventeen. I had a special reason to watch since my favorite player, David Toms, was in the lead. His wife and kids had flown in from Louisiana. I met him several years ago at a tournament in Portland, Texas, for those who hadn't yet made it big. He was a real gentleman and thanked Lester Thorp and me for being in his gallery of less than ten. I started hoping then he would make the big-time. He did, and won big, but back injuries and a heart problem slowed him down He hadn't won a major tournament in five years.I recently saw his e-mail address and sent him one. He answered, and even remembered the day in Portland years ago.
He was leading by ONE stroke with two holes to play.K.J. Choi, the Korean golfer who now lives with his family in Houston, was in the same three-some and one stroke out. David hit a shot from way out toward the green on sixteen. It was a daring shot, and unlike the way Toms plays. The ball took off to the right and splashed the water near the green. It would give him a bogie and they would tie. Tied at the end of regulation they played seventeen, that fabulous water hole, where he missed a three-foot putt and lost.
Golf has some ways of being like real life. We can go along doing great in our pursuit of whatever, then in a moment, make a costly mistake of judgment that will haunt us a lifetime. We cannot take it back or do it over. We take the penalty our error brings and go on with the game of life. How much better it would be to take those extra moments before some critical decision and get help from our Divine life-coach. If He says, don't try that shot we should heed His advice. He never calls a wrong one for us. David will see that ball plopping in the clear Florida lake at Sawgrass for the rest of his life. That errant shot cost him a bundle of money and a major championship. He also made a good sum. It wasn't all bad. We are not always so fortunate in the game of life.
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