As if right from the script, complete with the lengthening shadows and the setting sun falling on the emerald green grass of Augusta National, Rory McIIroy won the 89th annual Masters Tournament on Sunday evening in a one-hole playoff over Justin Rose of England.
Just after sinking the winning putt, Rory stepped off the green, hugged and kissed his wife, Erica, and then stooped down to pick up and hug and kiss his daughter, Poppy.
It wasn’t the first time a child stole the show in Georgia.
Golf fans might remember Bubba Watson’s son Caleb toddling over to the green back in 2014 to congratulate his father. At the time, Watson, who is a Christian, shared how much his family grounds him. Bubba and his wife, Angie, adopted Caleb in 2012.
“He (my son) puts life in perspective,” Watson said. “Golf is a game. When I play bad, he doesn’t care. When I play great, he doesn’t care. All he cares about is, ‘Daddy give him a hug, Daddy pick him up.’ Looking at my son, I want to be as Christ-like as possible. I’ll never be perfect, I’m always going to mess up, but my whole goal is to be the role model for my son.”
Fans are sometimes given a glimpse of an athlete’s family after an event but rarely see them in the middle of all the training and work. To be sure, some do a better job than others of balancing the pressures of the personal and the professional. Of course, that’s the case in any line of work.
Prior to this weekend’s Masters, McIIroy shared how great it was to have Poppy with them at the tournament. He called her “an amazing addition to life.”
The focus on family in the midst of high-pressure athletic competition brings to mind a video from 2017 that my wife recently shared with me. With the explosion and expansion of social media platforms, clips from long ago often resurface. The timeless ones, like this particular video featuring a press conference with Sarunas Jasikevicius of a Lithuanian basketball team, survive a long time.
Coach Jasikevicius was asked by a reporter about the team’s center missing a playoff game in order to be present for the birth of his son. Here is a transcript of the exchange, which was in Lithuanian.
Reporter: Coach, what do you think about Augusto Lima going away in the midst of a series to attend the birth of his child?
Jasikevicius: What do I think about it? I allowed him to go. Do you have kids? When you have kids, youngster, you’ll understand. Because that’s the height of a human experience. Wow, that’s a good question, really. Do you think basketball is the most important thing in life?
Reporter: No, but a semifinal is important.
Jasikevicius: To whom is it important?
Reporter: The team.
Jasikevicius: Which one?
Reporter: Zalgiris (Lima’s team)
Jasikevicius: Did you see the number of fans at the game? Important? When you see your first child, you will understand what the most important thing in life is. Because nothing can be more majestic in the world than the birth of a child. Not titles, not anything else. Augusto Lima is now in heaven emotionally. I’m really happy for him.
After the Limas’ child was born, Augusto wrote on Instagram, “It is undoubtedly the best gift of my life.”
The concept of “work-life balance” is a relatively new concept. Prior to the industrial revolution, most people worked within their community. Entire families were often involved in the endeavor. Factories changed that dynamic. There are plenty of examples of people working long hours in those jobs, a trend that resulted in the evolution of unions and more employment regulation.
But whether formal or not, you can be sure breadwinners have long struggled to provide enough while all the while being present and rightly prioritizing their families.
King Solomon seemed to have a nuanced view of work and rest or work and family, writing, “The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind” (Ecc. 4:5-6).
Whether Rory McIIroy, Bubba Watson or Augusto Lima, it’s refreshing to see successful people acknowledge and give thanks for their loved ones.
Photo from Getty Images.
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