This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Masters’ golf tournament leader Scottie Scheffler proved he was human as he teed off on hole #18 in yesterday’s third round.

He did what any golfer would recognize, either on the last tee or any other tee for that matter:  He hit a terrible drive, ending up in the weeds, not sure his golf ball would be found.

But, as he walked up #18, to his relief, his golf ball was found within the allotted three minutes.  But, then, he had to decide what to do in an attempt to retain his lead heading toward the Masters’ final round on Sunday.

Here’s how the Wall Street Journal described the situation and his reaction under this headline:

“Facing calamity, Scottie Scheffler remained calm.  Does a Masters’ title await?”

“At times on a frigid and fraught Saturday, Scottie Scheffler appeared in the process of strangling Augusta National Golf Club, a Masters’ assault that might seem built on the Texan’s pulse, which may not register on an oximeter.

“It seemed that way when he was rolling along with a six-shot lead.  It seemed that way at 18, when an army of people was foraging for his golf ball in a thicket.

“Once found, a reasoned discussion began.

“’I really feel like I’m allowed to move the pine straw,’ Scheffler flatly said to a rules official, a moment before asking, ‘Am I allowed to replace that?’

“His heart rate, in all of that?

“’It went up when I saw that they couldn’t find the ball,’ Scheffler said afterward.  ‘But then it went back down when they found it.’

“This could have been a calamity.  He handled it calmly — and then unleashed a blistering 3-iron of some 240 yards that served as a tourniquet. He finished with a bogey.  He staved off much worse.”

The more I learn and know about Scheffler, the more I like him.

He treasures his family and his faith.  He loves golf, but, as one of his good friends put it, “golf is what he does, not what he is.”

Here’s more from the Wall Street Journal:

“What Scheffler is doing — leading the Masters at 9 under par after a mostly steady 71 in which he courted disaster but coolly staved it off — would appear to be a continuation of the golf he has played over the past two months.

“What it is, really, is merely an unveiling of the foundation Scheffler built at Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas.  It is a place where pros roam.  Even at 9 or 10, Scheffler would settle in on the range.  He would watch.  And he would work.

“He was pretty quiet, as he is now,” said one of those pros, Justin Leonard, a major champion and Ryder Cup hero. “He didn’t ask a lot of questions. He just kind of took things in. But he wouldn’t just sit there all day long, either. He was working a lot on his own stuff.”

“If Scheffler was the sponge as a kid, he is wringing out every drop of what he learned all around Augusta this week.  His lead headed into Sunday’s final round is three shots over Australian Cam Smith, five shots over South Korean Sungjae Im and seven shots over Irishman Shane Lowry and South African Charl Schwartzel.

“It is not the blowout Saturday seemed destined to produce.  What it is:  An opportunity for Scheffler to show those who don’t know him — read, non-golf nerds — the game he built and the mind that allows him to put it on display.

“’For me, it’s best to probably stay in the moment,’ Scheffler said earlier in the week, ‘because I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to play golf out here.’

“That sounds like something uttered by someone at 45, wondering how long he can hang on.  Scheffler is 25 and decidedly on the rise — at the moment the top-ranked player in the world.  Two months ago, he hadn’t won an event on the PGA Tour.  Now he has won three of his past five.

“Yet understanding that such status could be fleeting has to be grounded in those days learning how very good golfers become elite professionals, both in work and humility.  He is married to his high school sweetheart and passes the time between rounds here with board games, not beers.  His plan for a nervy Saturday night: kick back and watch a few episodes of “The Office” with his wife.

“’He isn’t necessarily defined by golf, so I think that will serve him well because obviously golf is very difficult and you’re going to have great stretches and you’re going to have some bad stretches,’ said Sam Burns, another 25-year-old who probably is Scheffler’s best friend on tour.  ‘At the end of the day, he knows that golf isn’t everything.  It’s not who he is.  It’s what he does.’”

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As I said above, the more I know and learn about Scheffler, the more I like him.

Here’s wishing him success on this day, the day, as it is said, “The Masters starts on the back nine on Sunday.”