Failure

Perhaps my favorite sporting event to watch on TV is The Masters which begins today in Augusta, Georgia at Augusta National. I love everything about it, the lush green fairways and greens, the roar of the crowd throughout the course and the excitement on Sunday at Amen Corner. It also helps that The Masters happens to be played in early April, when the weather is getting nicer where I live.

Anyway, for some reason, I have always been a fan of Greg Norman. At one time he was the #1 ranked player in the world. Yet, several times at The Masters and also twice in Toledo at the PGA Championship at Inverness Club, he let leads slip away only to lose on the final hole. Included in those losses were improbable shots from his competitors which sealed his fate (Larry Mize's chip in during a playoff at Augusta and Bob Tway's hole-out from the bunker on hole #18 at Inverness).

Many called Norman a "choker." I do not like it when athletes are called names like this. I remember a plaque I had hanging on my wall when I was young that said, "Never criticize anyone else until you have walked a mile in their moccasins." Good advice.

In today's Toledo Blade, Norman had this to say about returning to Augusta, the site of so much pain in his life, "I think I learned more about myself by the failures here and the way I conducted myself." In other words, he was saying that much good came from much pain.

Very classy...and very instructional. We all can learn from what he said. Oftentimes it is during our darkest moments that we learn and benefit the most.