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 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.

A couple good things have happened in professional golf, which otherwise has been roiled by the stunning collaboration among the PGA Tour, the DP Tour, and the Saudi Defense Fund (which funds LIV Golf).

First, yesterday, Canadian Nick Taylor won the Canadian Open with a stunning 72-foot putt on the fourth playoff hole, thus becoming the first Canadian players in nearly 70 years to win his country’s tournament.

His won touched off a wild celebration on the 18^th green.

As for other piece of good news?

Well, it didn’t generate near the celebration as the one for Taylor, but it did illustrate something important about golf and life.

What did professional golfer Victor Hovland do after he won the Memorial Golf Tournament a weekend ago, taking home $3.6 million in the process?

The next day, a Monday, he went out to a qualifier for the U.S. Open and, as a caddy, carried the golf bag for his friend and former college roommate, Zach Bauchou. 

Say what?

Operated as a caddy?

He could have been relishing his Memorial win and counting his money, which pushed him to about $10 million over lasts couple months.  Instead, he did all the menial tasks caddies do – carrying a golf bag, washing golf balls, tending the flagstick, etc.

Unfortunately for this story, Bauchou did not qualify, but played pretty well… with a champion on his bag.

Hovland’s unselfish act illustrated a great story about golf – and life.

To put a final point on it, Hovland has become one of my favorite golfers.  For one thing, he hails from Norway and is the only professional golfer with that pedigree.

For another, my forbears also came from Norway, so Hovland and I share the same status.  Norwegian golfers both!