Lessons from the Masters

I’ve spent much of today reliving Rory McIlroy’s epic win at the Masters Tournament yesterday. I’ve always loved watching golf, and the gorgeous scenes at Augusta National - sunshine, bright azaleas, soaring trees - are always so magical.

For the last 25 years, I’ve not watched much US golf as the coverage is on premium sports channels here in the UK (and I long stopped paying for those). I’ve instead been relegated to listening on the radio and bringing up the images in my mind’s eye, occasionally hearing the voice of Jim Nantz and some of the US commentary team that takes me back to being a kid and spending an entire weekend with golf on CBS. Being awestruck at how good these golfers were, how lush and beautiful the course was, and thinking the commentators had the best job ever to talk us viewers through what was going on. I can still hear the birds chirping in the background as the hush would come over the crowd and the commentators would hold their talk while waiting for a player to putt.

Yesterday I stayed up late into the night, following the drama of Rory completing the career Grand Slam, after such an epic quest to make his dream happen. I got tearful when he finally delivered that putt to seal the win in the play-off, and listened to the description of the emotion and relief he had as he fell to his knees on the 18th. I got tearful when he choked up when thanking his parents for all the support they’ve given him, in his interview in the Butler Cabin. I got tearful at Justin Rose’s valiant challenge and how painful it must be for him to finish second again, in another play-off. It was so interesting to hear from Rory’s sports psychologist Bob Rotella about the work on his mindset, and to think how proud the team around a sportsperson must feel when they’re on the winning side.

Mostly I thought about the lessons from losing, how someone described this win as being so much sweeter because of the long wait to make the career Grand Slam happen. How every time Rory failed to get to his goal, he came back, relentless in his pursuit of that quest. Many people think the likelihood is that he’ll be able to play with so much more freedom, now that he’s unburdened of the pressure to achieve the career Grand Slam.

Obviously professional athletes are something special - humans, of course, but many of them with such incredible talent, determination, and drive to be successful in their sports that they’re kind of not on the same planet as many of us amateurs. But this story was just so captivating to me, because of the resilience and spirit Rory showed. Because it seemed like he might never get there, or throw it away just as he was so close.

In his speech where he told his 4-year-old daughter to always follow her dreams, I was again struck by the power of sports and the incredible inspiration that athletes can give us. It’s incredible to think that while he was experiencing personal success of a kind that I can probably really not even imagine, he’s also using that moment to share a message to someone else to believe in herself.

I also loved hearing that the Masters is a phone-free event and marvelled at the impact of that in terms of the spectators being so present and undistracted by technology. Just thousands of them crowding Amen Corner, paying attention to the golf, with the birds and the azaleas setting the scene. Sounds amazing.

Resilience, self-belief, and presence are what I’ve been pondering today. Thank you, Rory McIlroy, for the inspiration.