In a recent ESPN.com article, Phil Mickelson made some interesting comments about Tiger and himself:
“Certainly my record doesn’t stand up to what he’s done in the game,” Mickelson said. “It’s just incredible what he’s accomplished with the number of wins, the number of majors and the consistency that he’s shown throughout his career.
“But in the last five or six years, I’ve had some pretty good success head-to-head and I feel like he brings out the best golf in me. He’s a great motivator for me. He’s helped me work hard. He’s helped me put forth the effort to try to compete at the highest level year-in, year-out, and I’ve loved competing against him.
“He’s really brought the best out of me, especially when we’ve been paired together, and I hope that we are able to play together for many more years.”
The thoughts he shared about competing with Tiger stopped me in my tracks – their competition brought out “the best golf” in Phil. Their competition helped Phil to “put firth the effort to try to compete.” Their competition was something Phil “loved” because of that.
At CSO, we define godly competition as “striving together” rather than the “striving against” that is so often called for in sports. This “striving together” is designed to bring out more of the image of God in each of the participants, where the competition pushes the participants to express more of God’s glory. The joy of competition comes not just in the winning of the game but in the competing itself and the development that competition brings.
Amazingly, Phil attested to this result for him from his competition with Tiger. Those who watched the 2014 PGA this past weekend saw some of the talent this striving together has brought out in Phil. He started the last day three shots behind Rory McIlroy, but went out in 5 under and at the turn was one 2 ahead of Rory and 1 behind Rickie Fowler.
Now, if this were actually fully redeemed competition, I think at least two additional aspects would be present. Phil would give glory to God as the giver of his gifts, their development and the competition that brought out their development. Secondly, Tiger would be at least as excited and maybe more excited about this for Phil than he would be for the tournaments and trophies he has won. (Can you imagine Tiger watching things play out on Sunday and rooting for Phil? Only God could make that happen.)
As I imagine such a possibility, it moves me. This is the right and good end to all redeemed competition.
For Phil and Tiger, as well as all of us who compete, God promises this glorifying of God in our competition as far more satisfying than the greatest of earth’s trophies.
