OF RECORD BREAKERS AND HEART BREAKERS

It’s oft said that in sports, you have to learn how to lose before you can win. Tell that to Collin Morikawa, who emerged as champion golfer of the year in his debut at The Open. Morikawa’s win puts him as the only player in golf’s history of the game to win two different majors on their first attempt. He now has the Wanamaker trophy and the Claret Jug tucked under his belt in two years of playing professionally, all before he is 25 years old. The acclaim and admiration read like a laundry list.

As does the number of times that Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open Champion, has come up the bridesmaid in majors. Six to date, with the last two coming consecutively at this year’s PGA Championship and U.S. Open. Is Oosthuizen the Greg Norman of this era? The Great White Shark finished runner-up 8 times in the majors.

Another familiar to heartbreak is Jordan Spieth, who surged past Oosthuizen into second place at Royal St. George’s. The 2017 Open champion and former world No. 1 almost fell off the face of professional golf before finding his winning mojo again this year. Not unfamiliar to the same is Kiwi phenom Lydia Ko, who won her first professional event as an amateur at 14 years old before her ascent to world No. 1. Following a four and a half year winless slump, Ko’s latest achievement is an Olympic bronze.

The reality is that sports is more about losing than winning, no matter how much the win is glorified.

Both Spieth and Ko have known the depths of despair and risen from it. Oosthuizen is playing his best golf ever and will break through that winless ceiling of frustration sooner rather than later.

So shouldn’t we get behind our own record breaker Joseph Schooling? Let’s lift our own to glory once again.