Losing the Match, Winning in Life

 

Over the weekend, 22-year-old professional golfer Akshay Bhatia valiantly battled to a 2nd place finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. But the news coverage focused on the short putt he missed on the final hole that cost him a chance for 1st place.

Leave aside that 2nd place in a major tournament is a great achievement, it's cruel but natural that the media and fans would harp on his costly mistake. If there's anything more memorable than coming up in the clutch with the championship on the line, it's flubbing it with the opportunity presents itself for all the glory.

To Bhatia's credit, he took the loss and the error in stride, attending the post-match interview and speaking frankly about how much it sucked to blow the short putt. Here's a link to the presser.

Sports is such a good life teacher, which is why we parents spend time and money to put our kids in them. Teamwork, hard work, playing within the rules...these are all good things to know in life that we often gain in tangible form for the first time in the context of some sport. 

I submit to you that learning how to win and lose graciously is the most important of those life lessons. In life, we will win some and we will certainly lose some. Some wins will feel better than others. Some losses will be devastating. 

Neither wins nor losses define who we are as people. Our worth is far more inherent and far greater than a win-loss record or a trophy case or a ticker tape parade.

Kudos to Bhatia, at an age when I still felt like an overgrown kid, to not only take public questions while reeling from a stinging defeat, but to speak candidly about said defeat. When I grow up, I want to be as anchored as he is.