It's just a small chunk of pine tree

By Shea Fite, The Narrows, April 12th 2010

Sometimes the littlest things can send a man into self destruct mode. What is it about professional golf that intrigues me? It is the battle with self. It is the internal agonizing that goes on in the heart of man. I was watching the The Masters this weekend hoping to observe how Tiger Woods was going to perform under the enormous personal pressure of his sin being revealed to millions and his desire to perform well. He proved me wrong. I thought the pressure would crush him. He was still able to perform at a high level in spite of an extremely complex personal life marked by failure.

The real story is one that I did not expect. The real story is Phil Mickleson. He also has an extremely complex personal life. The contrast between these two men is glaring. One article this morning characterized him as the “Anti-Tiger”. My heart goes out to Tiger and his family. My heart is lit on fire when I think about what Phil is going through. No man at the top of his game is immune from opposition. The opposition comes both in the arena of battle and also in the dark recesses of our hidden places. And the biggest misconception is that real leaders do not allow one to affect the other.

About this time last year, Phil’s wife Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer. This evil comes randomly ravaging the body and confounding us. Many talk about how hard it would be as a lady to have to endure an enemy that mutilates the body and strikes at the core of every princess’s heart- beauty. And the husband must stand by and watch this enemy from within do its work. It is completely outside of his control. The good men support, love, protect and provide as the cancer battle ensues. The surgeries, the vows; the body is tested, the marriage is tested. And guys like Phil Mickleson have to decide if they are going to see this through. Phil immediately announced a break from the tour back in 2009 until he and his wife could figure out the next steps to take.

I bet Elin Woods craves a marriage like Amy’s. When this cancer battle was going down in the Mickleson household, Tiger was consumed by his struggle to hold it all together. He was struggling to hide it all and not be found out. Maybe Tiger could learn a few lessons from Phil.

Following up Amy Mickleson's fight with breast cancer was another battle. This one is with Phil’s mother. She also was diagnosed with this disease. And there is no other battle that you face in life like the battle for your health. So much of it is capsulated in the randomness of disease. Each one of us will face this battle even if it is when we become old men. Most of us will face it first when it touches someone closest to us. Phil Mickleson is in the middle of the battle. Tiger is in the middle of the battle.

This clip blew my mind. The battle is raging and Phil is trying to keep his concentration:
 

You would think that Phil had the justification to give up at this point. My human nature would have caused me to hurl my putter into the nearest water hole, fall to my knees and while yelling expletives to the sky, and scream God why? How random is a chunk of pine tree falling in the path of a perfectly laid put?. And how random is breast cancer? 

Come on, it’s just one put in many. What is the big deal? The heart of a warrior possesses a singular focus unlike most men. That quality is what men admire the most in other men. It is only found when we men put ourselves in the battle over and over again. To have a quiet discipline to stay on track in front of massive adversity is only found in experiencing adversity over and over and over. It is only done with God’s help.

I hope Tiger can come full circle. He was by no means a failure this time at Augusta. In fact, coming up fourth at The Masters is unbelievable for any golfer and to be in the top five over and over again like Tiger Woods is unprecedented. It is just below his potential. His behavior on the course was marked by frustration and anxiety. His wife was not by his side. This weekend Phil Mickleson’s behavior captured my soul. It intrigued me and showed me a few things about how to become a winner at my craft. It was just a small chunk of a pine tree but then again, he walked off the course wearing the coveted Green Coat.