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.

If you want a little relief from political wrongdoings, just look at recent developments in sports.

Sportswriter John Feinstein wrote about three very positive developments:

• Novak Djovick won the French Open tennis tournament for his 23^rd grand slam title, the most of any player in history.
• Canadian golfer Nick Taylor sunk a 72-foot on the fourth hole of a playoff to win his country’s open, the first Canadian to do so in nearly 70 years.
• Serbian player Nikola Jokic led the Denver Nuggets to their first National Basketball Association title in years, doing it by almost literally carrying his team on his back in the final game.

Great sports, all.

And, there was one more today. 

I just finished watching the U.S. Golf Open at Los Angeles Country Club and former University of Oregon golfer Wyndham Clark produced a tight win against other top players, including by one stroke over Rory McIlroy.

In winning, Clark gave credit to his late mother who died a few years ago after a battle with breast cancer and told her son, before she left this life, to do something beyond himself, thus becoming a role model for others.

He lived up to that dream today, looking up to the sky often during his 18-holes, as if his mother was looking down on him.

The scene on the 18^th green after his two-putt for par was emotional.  He greeted his family and gave great credit to his caddy, John Ellis, who left a job as assistant golf coach at the U of O to take a job as Clark’s caddy.

They performed very well together.

Focusing on these developments game me a respite from too much politics, especially all the developments in the multiple indictments Donald Trump faces.

Better to revel in sports than be repelled by dumb politics which seem to be all around us these days.