There was no Ryder Cup this year but one from the past showcased Nicklaus' greatness that political leaders should follow

This weekend would have been the playing of another chapter in the special history of golf’s Ryder Cup, the biennial competition between two 12-player teams of male professional golfers from the United States and Europe. It would have concluded on Sunday with 12 Singles matches at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. The intense drama would have likely been there no matter the status of the match. If one team is leading by several points or it is a tied match, there is always building tension and excitement because Ryder Cup history has proven that anything can happen and usually does.
But the global virus pandemic shoved the playing to the same weekend in 2021 at the same marvelous location along Lake Michigan. All of last week, many golf media outlets filled the void of no Ryder Cup by doing many Ryder Cup fillers to mark what the week was supposed to be. Golf itself, since its inception, has been a sport praised for how it teaches life lessons, such as integrity, honesty, fair play, sportsmanship and camaraderie. There is usually something on the line to be won, but golfers can agree that it is the experience of being on the course in an outdoor environment that overrides everything. And the experience is something you share with your fellow players. Ultimately, as the thinking goes, the special social skills in golf become one with your daily life as well, thereby living a life of integrity, honesty and fair play.
Donald Trump, who should know these elements of the game since he is one of millions of golfers around the world, and his followers such as Sen. Mitch McConnell could learn something from Ryder Cup history that would be valuable as Republican “leaders” in Washington, D.C., right now. Not surprisingly, the focal figure in the lesson would be Jack Nicklaus, who is nearly universally called the greatest golfer in history. But what that title doesn’t reflect is that Nicklaus wasn’t just the greatest at playing the game, but in so many other facets of it as well. Two of them are critical for this opinion. First, Nicklaus had incredible perspective about the good will of competition and how he was going to share winning and losing with his fellow players, no matter which side of the outcome he was on. He reacted this way because he knew the future of the game depended on player integrity. Second, Nicklaus was great at sharing the “heat of battle” outcome and accepting that golf wasn’t all about him but could be mutually beneficial for others. Both of these traits Republicans would do well to adopt into their behavior in this year of extreme division in American government.
With 18 firsts and 19 seconds in major championships, Nicklaus had more moments in battling for victory than anyone else in pro history. Yet, if a photo was taken of him right after play was concluded standing next to the winning golfer, you would be hard pressed to know who won and who lost. In defeat, Nicklaus extended his hand in congratulations with a big smile and often walked off the green with his arm around the champion. Probably the prime example of this is The Open of 1977. Nicklaus walked off the final green at Turnberry with his arm around Tom Watson’s shoulders after losing by a shot to him. Nicklaus fiercely wanted to win, but in the loss, he understood his role at that moment was to share the experience and not make himself the focal point as runner-up over the winner.
The Ryder Cup lesson is from the 1969 match at Royal Birkdale, England, when it was the U.S. versus Great Britain & Ireland. Amazingly, due to archaic PGA of America rules, this was the first Ryder Cup Nicklaus played although he had been a pro for seven years. The overall outcome came down to the final hole on Sunday. Nicklaus was playing English star Tony Jacklin in the final Singles match and they came to the final hole all square and the overall score at 15½-15½. If Nicklaus or Jacklin could win the par-4 18th, they’d be the hero in their team’s victory. They each reached the green in two shots, Jacklin was about 25 feet away and Nicklaus 18, but their birdie putts did not leave them tap-ins for par. Jacklin came up two feet shy, but Nicklaus still had four to five feet. Jack putted first and his putt was a challenging left-to-right breaker. He holed out and in the immediate moment he thought of the big picture. He later said that his mind went to how Jacklin was the new British golf star and meant a lot to his country. If he were to miss his par putt, he would lose all that and be heavily criticized for blowing the match.
In seeing the big picture, Nicklaus gave Jacklin his putt and conceded the par in a moment that is celebrated as “The Concession.” Their match ended in a halve, and the overall team match was the first tie in Ryder Cup history, 16-16. Nicklaus picked up Jacklin’s ball marker, shook hands and said, as Jacklin recalls, “I don't believe you would have missed that but I’d never give you the opportunity in these circumstances.”
Nicklaus’ balance of thought in how he was one piece of that moment in golf history is what makes him golf’s greatest champion, not just player. He’d seen some unsavory behavior during the week that didn’t show players having the right perspective of what the spirit of the matches should be, which was friendship and camaraderie in a competitive arena but with emphasis on sportsmanship.
Jack saw that if he conceded the putt to end the match in a tie, it would promote better relations between the two sides. After the gesture, Jack, as was his habit, walked off the green with an arm around Jacklin’s shoulders. Jacklin did likewise and the two shared in the great 18-hole battle they had played.
There is no Jack Nicklaus in the national Republican leadership right now who sees the big picture. Someone who leads with balanced common sense and foresight rather than delusion. If there was, this country could ensure every qualified voter in this country gets their right to vote protected, could work as a partner with health experts to shutdown the virus pandemic, could reverse the racial divide that has exploded rather than encourage division, and could be true to their word instead of a hypocrite about Supreme Court nominees. But what else can we expect about the latter issue from McConnell? When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, McConnell, as minority “leader,” said he would do all he could to work against Obama. Attaboy Mitch, that is great “leadership.” Where was the sentiment “I have differences with President Obama but I hope to find common ground to do great things for our country together”? In March 2016, when Obama put nominee Merrick Garland in place after Antonin Scalia died in February, it was eight months before the November election, plenty of time to have the Senate vote. But in an unprecedented abuse of his power as the now majority “leader,” McConnell said the nominee should be put forward by the person elected in November, which in his logic meant “the people” will have picked who should choose the next justice. He refused to allow the nominee to come up for vote. Did McConnell have the integrity to use the same “rule” after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, a mere seven weeks from November’s election? Surely as a “leader” he knows to be consistent in how he manages business. But no, that’s asking too much of someone who for nearly four years has idly stood by under the rule of King Donald I. McConnell has done nothing Nicklaus-like to protect the greatness of America. Perhaps he needed a Rules of Golf-type rulebook to go by. How does his double standard help our government in the future? It clearly harms the future of political cooperation. He demonstrated a lack of integrity, but McConnell has lost his way and is part of the dumbing down of this country that’s been going full steam since 2017. His lack of integrity does nothing to keep the standards of our government high and consistent for the future.
Trump’s delusional behavior has a hardened group of followers who are easily duped by someone who loves the adulation and likes people who don’t ask questions and who just accept what he says without deep thinking. He is living the ultimate reality show and to him it’s all a game. When Trump says something is “fake news” that’s the clue for his faithful to roar in approval at his pandemic violating political revivals. But the definition of “fake news” for Trump is anything that is negative and casts a bad light on him no matter how accurate it is.
There was nothing fake about Jack Nicklaus. He was consistent in his standards, lived in the truth, and comported himself on the golf course as an example for future generations of golfers to follow. If only our political “leaders” could show the same standards we would have less delusion and more true reality that’s not a game show but real life.