As regular readers know, I'm a golf fan. I love the rare occasions when I get to play and I love to watch the pros, whether in person or on television. In a recent tournament I watched on television, Vijay Singh, of Fiji, won the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii, an event limited to winners in the preceding season. He has now won 30 times on the US PGA tour, 17 times since turning 40. There are only 15 players in the history of the tour who have won more times than Singh. He has won more tournaments since turning 40 than anyone else in history. He has won more times than any other non-American player. He can also claim victories on the European tour and elsewhere.

                                                       He didn't have an easy time in life. He was poor when he started playing golf and it took quite a struggle to overcome the many difficulties he faced. Even today, when his success is apparent, he is viewed as the hardest-working player on the PGA tour. When the other players have left for dinner or recreation, he is seen practicing or engaged in physical training in a continual effort to improve. With this work ethic, I've always believed him deserving of all the success he gets and, although I usually admire all the professional golfers I see, I admire him a little more. Although I have little skill at golf, I would like to improve and Singh is my role model when I get the chance to practice.

                                                       I often find myself wondering what it would be like to play golf for a living. After a bad shot, my golf friends and I often say how lucky we are that we don't depend on our golf for our living. We'd likely starve. Any yet all of us wish we had the skill even to attempt to play professionally. At some level we all envy those who do have that skill.

                                                       When I think about it, I realize that those lucky few work as hard at golf as the rest of us work in our own jobs. Vijay Singh may be the hardest-working but his peers also work hard, sacrificing recreational opportunities in their own quests to improve. In part, we envy them because we think their play is like our play- pleasurable, carefree, diverting, fun. But it's not. Their golf is their living in the same way our jobs are our living. Their disappointments are no less painful than our own.

                                                       The lesson I take from this is to remember that our play may be someone else's work. Admire those with skill at whatever they do, not just those who work in glamorous, well-paid jobs. Admire those who work hard at their tasks whether you think you would enjoy them or not. Work hard and do your best at whatever you're doing. In that way, you will be as praise-worthy as Vijay Singh.

1-15-07