The Masters may be my favorite sporting event of the year to watch. Yesterday, I was pulling for Rory McIlroy but it was not to be. He had a 4 stroke lead going into the final round but had a crash of Hindenburg proportions.
Today Joe Crispin, who is also a professional athlete, reflects on McIlroy’s fourth round collapse on Z’s blog:
I’m not sure how many of you watched the final round of the Master’s Golf Tournament yesterday, but if you saw any of it you know that the young man who went into the final round with a four shot lead, Rory McIlroy, played some of the worst golf of his life on the last nine holes. When all was said and done, he shot a final round of 80 and lost the tournament by 10 strokes.
In case you don’t know, a final round of 80 is like a round of 100 or 125 for you or I. Or worse, depending upon your golf game. So while I watched him fall apart yesterday I did a few things. First, I prayed that CBS would stop showing his shots live. I couldn’t take much more (thankfully, the Lord answered that prayer rather promptly). Second, I thought about the basics of sports psychology. A few thoughts came to mind.
1) The basics of sports psychology are easy to know and difficult to apply.
2) The basics of sports psychology don’t go deep enough.
I trust no one will be surprised by the first point. After all, no matter what our field of expertise may be, we know that reading about something and gaining a general understanding of something is much different than a full application of what we learn. Experiential embodiment is much different than a basic knowledge of facts or theories. The college student getting straight A’s in Mechanical Engineering is not equal to the 20 year veteran. The young theology student might have his facts straight, but he is not equal to the seasoned pastor who has faithfully applied those theological realities to countless real-life situations throughout the years. Knowledge is good, but it is not enough. And so it is in sports.
Rory McIlroy is 21 years-old. And yesterday he found himself on the biggest stage of professional golf, with the highest of expectations.
Read the rest here.
