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.

Before Sunday’s final round of The Masters’ golf tournament, I said I hoped Scottie Scheffler, one of my new favorite golfers, would find a way to win.

He did.

On TV, it looked like he did not have his best stuff on the course, missing fairways, and greens, but chipping and putting to save himself.

His rise to The Masters’ pinnacle was one of the fastest on record.  He won in only his third start at Augusta National and, beyond The Masters’ win, has prevailed in four of the last six professional golf events.  That’s four victories over about six weeks!

I also have been struck by Scheffler’s seemingly even temperament under pressure.

On Saturday, in the third round, he showed that when he hit a terrible drive to the left on hole #18.  He found his golf ball in the brush, took a penalty, then hit a remarkable 3-iron more than 240 yards just over the green.  From there, he got up and down for an unlikely bogey.  It could have been far worse.

Various stories in advance of Sunday’s final round indicated that Scheffler woke up Sunday morning not feeling confident about the task ahead.  With several hours before teeing off, he spent time with his wife, Meredith, who reportedly told him he was up to the task and should go out and have fun as he tried to win.

It worked.  He came to the course in a solid frame of mind and the rest is history.

Scheffler also says he owes a lot to his still relatively new caddie Ted Scott, who, with Scheffler’s win yesterday, now has carried the bag for three Masters’ wins, two for Bubba Watson and one for Scheffler.

Here is how GolfWeek’s on-line magazine described how Scheffler and Scott got together.

“When Scottie Scheffler heard that Bubba Watson and caddie Ted Scott had parted ways in the fall, Scheffler figured it was worth a call to see what Scott, who had been on the bag for Watson’s two Masters’ victories and double-digit wins, planned to do next.  After all, it’s not every day that a veteran caddie with Scott’s resume becomes available.

“Scheffler, 25, and Scott, 48, had met in bible study a year earlier and Scheffler got to know him best during the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in late April when Scheffler partnered with Watson in the two-man team event.

“’I already thought the world of him as a person,’ Scheffler said.

“Scott said he thought he was done with caddying, but that changed when his phone rang.

“’He called me up and said, ‘I really want to work with a Christian.’  ‘That’s how I try to live my life,’ Scott said on Sunday. The other thing he said was, ‘I really like competing.’  I said, ‘I like competing.’  Thought it could be a fun thing. We hashed out the details.”

“That actually is an over-simplification of a difficult decision that he and his family prayed about.  Scott has been teaching golf since he was 27 years old, and counts Division I golfers and those he teaches on-line in Scotland and Ireland among his students.  Four years ago, he had a simulator installed at home and he considered coaching full time after 21 years on the bag for the likes of Paul Azinger, Grant Waite and Watson.

“’If I was going to go back to caddying, I didn’t want it to be where the only thing in this world is winning golf tournaments.  It would have to be a pretty special opportunity.  I want to get better at life as well.  I kept asking myself, ‘What is it that’s going to make me want to do it?’  

“’There wasn’t a lot of possibilities in my head until Scottie called and he touched all the things that I like,’ Scott said.  Even though he’s only 25, Scottie’s very mature and I knew he would sharpen me up in a lot of ways and I could sharpen him in a lot of ways. It was a lot more than I could go caddie for a great player and win a bunch of tournaments.

“After Scheffler’s offer, Scott left the decision in his family’s hands.

“I asked my family to pray upon it for a week.  They came back and said to go caddie for Scottie. I said, ‘Let’s pray upon it for another week.’  It wasn’t even my decision,’ he said.”

There.  That’s why I like how Scheffler – and Scott – approach life.  They say golf is what they do, together, not who they are.

I hope the tandem keeps going in golf and in life.

**********

And, for me, another great day of texting back and forth with my daughter as we watched our favorite tournament from disparate locations, Woodinville, Washington for her and La Quinta, California for me.  A great father-daughter experience no matter the distance.