A week ago, something pretty remarkable happened in the golf world that, if you’re not a die-hard golf fan, you almost certainly missed.
Shane Lowry, a former major winner, led the Cognizant Classic by three strokes with three holes to play on Sunday. And then, on back-to-back holes, he hit shots into the water. He went from being a near-certain tournament winner to finishing second.
A few days later, I was listening to “The Tony Kornheiser Podcast,” when Steve Sands, a golf commentator, told this story about chatting with Lowry after the tournament:
He told me a cute story on Tuesday. He said, “We’re headed home, we’re getting to the house, and everybody realizes how upset Dad is and how upset I am. Nobody’s saying anything, and my 9-year-old daughter looks at me and says, ‘Daddy, what’s wrong with second?'”
When we get lost in the details of our work, sometimes we need an outside voice to reset things. We need someone to ask us: “Why does this really matter?” An outside perspective can reset things when you get too inside your own world.
As for Lowry: Yes, it was a tough way to lose the tournament. But he still won $726,400 for finishing in second place.
To which I’d say: There doesn’t seem to be much wrong with that.