CHAMPIONS STAY ON THE FAIRWAY

..."the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7: 13, NASB)

Tom Watson had won eight major championships on the regular PGA Tour and all three majors on the Champions Tour. One had escaped him, the U. S. Senior Open. He'd finished second three times.

This month at Whistling Straits, a course that Brad Bryant said "was scripted for Tom Watson," it appeared like his day had finally come.

Standing on the eleventh hole at this year's championship he commanded a three-shot lead, and most players were faltering.

His drive at the par-5 hole was solid but his ball bounced into the light rough. No problem, just a small error. But a poor lie prohibited him from reaching the green. "If he drives the ball in the fairway," his playing partner Loren Roberts said later, "he probably knocks the ball on the green in two and goes on to win the tournament."

As it turned out Tom made a double-bogey, missed all but one fairway, racked up two more doubles and two bogeys for 43—probably the greatest back-nine demise of his career. Brad Bryant picked up 10 shots on Watson in the final 18 to win. "I had to put the ball in the fairway," Tom said at the press conference. "And I didn't do it… that was the killer."

I was impressed by Oswald Chamber’s comments in My Utmost for His Highest on the narrow way:

"If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult…but the difficulty does not make us faint and cave in—it stirs us up to overcome. "It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). But we have to 'work out' that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12).

"Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but…it requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth and produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings.

"It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the…life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence."

Yes. The effort in following Jesus as genuine disciples is large. But His champions, who stay this narrow fairway, reap rewards which supersede all effort.

--

Jim Hiskey

July 18, 2007

Copyright 2007 Links Players International

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