High stakes & hard lessons

Golfers are defined by their ability to deal with failure more than their victories

- Meraj Shah

"HOW STUPID, I am," Roberto Di Vincenzo told the press after he signed an incorrect scorecard that cost him a chance to win the 1968 Masters Tournament. "This isn't a funeral you know...It's a great disappointment, and it tears at my gut...but it was not to be," said 59-year-old Tom Watson to lighten the mood after he came up just short of winning the 2009 Open Championship. Phil Mickelson was clearly out of sorts after giving away a two-shot lead with three to play at the 2006 US Open: "I'm still in shock that I did that. I'm such an idiot," he said wryly. Jean Van De Velde was even more introspective, squandering a three-shot lead on the final hole of the 1999 Open Championship. "I wouldn't say I wasn't focused...I think I wasn't humble enough," he said. And no one could accuse Rocco Mediate of not being humble after he summoned the courage to spend over an hour with the press, dissecting his 18-hole playoff loss at the 2008 US Open to Tiger Woods. Stuff like this is golf lore: moments of courage and inner strength in the face of devastating loss; to be able to lay themselves bare at their most vulnerable moments without fear of undermining their confidence. Victories are the obvious yardstick, but often it's how players deal with, and conduct themselves in the face of their biggest failures, that comes to define them.