TALENT IS NOT ENOUGH: A tribute to Tiger Woods and Rafa Nadal

On Monday, Tiger Woods reclaimed the number one spot in golf— a coveted position he had surrendered in early 2010. During his time in the wilderness, he had had to battle the demons that assailed him when he suffered a hip injury, a loss of form and a public demystification which ended in a costly divorce.

Just one of these three is enough to derail most athletes. A combination of the three at the same time could signal a death knell to the most distinguished of careers.
This was what probably made most analysts to believe Tiger’s glory days were over. Even the faithful who had been accustomed to his winning ways began to doubt when he continued to miss cuts up till last year.

Then he bounced back with two PGA titles last year and three in 2013, a year that is just three months old thereby confounding many who believe he would never be dominant again.
Last Monday, after he became number one for the 11th time, he attributed his position to hard work, patience and winning golf tournaments.

We need to appreciate his climb back to the top given the depth he plunged into and the hole many people felt he dug for himself: given also that top sport writers had already ‘discovered’ another prodigy in the young Irish, Rory Mcilroy who at 21, became the youngest number one player in the world.

When you have attained the heights that Tiger attained in your profession, when you have garnered the enormous fame and fortune that often go with such heights, when you crash emotionally the way he crashed, when you become the butt of local and international jokes and have to issue three public apologies in as many weeks, when you lose most of your endorsements and public support, when your caddie who is supposed to be a close friend and buddy criticises you publicly, it is easier, much easier, to withdraw into your shell and ‘to hell with rest’: especially if you are a shy and private person. But Tiger did not. Instead, he embarked on a long, lonely road towards self discovery and redefinition.

This was a man that was initially seen as an intruder to the game. When he won the Augusta Masters in 1987 at the age of 22, he was a black man in a white world, and his victory made many older golfers to be red in the face. Many highly ranked and otherwise respectable golfers made veiled comments that alluded to his colour. A former world number two said indignantly that he would never concede golf superiority to Tiger.

So whatever respect Tiger garnered over the years, he had to earn. And he earned it by being consistent with his game on course and by carrying himself with dignity off it. His image was managed so well that they had no choice but to accept him. When he got his first 100 million dollar endorsement from Nike, he confounded his critics again and earned the respect of many who felt he was there for the money when he went to the range to practice the very next day!

Tiger had come a long way from being number 58 in the world to being number one again. This is a man that has contended with many injuries including being almost legally blind in 1999. This article is therefore a tribute to his resilience, focus, hard work and self belief.

Last week, Ivan Lendl, ‘the Ice Man’,  a former world number one in another sport, was asked what it takes to get to the top of your sport, any sport. His answer; ‘it takes hard work, talent and luck.

A week earlier, Rafael Nadal, another example of talent, hard work and dedication, won his first Master’s tournament on a hard court since 2010 (that magical year again). The sweetener is that he won it coming from a seven month lay-off due to injury. The tears that flowed when the game was over were of relief. Relief that the months of pain, of rehabilitation, of hard work, of self doubt were finally laid to rest.

Incidentally, Nadal paid a tribute to Woods in his autobiography when he said his role model, if he were to choose any in sports, would be Tiger. He found Tiger’s work ethics, mental strength, and ability to shut out distractions inspirational.

He also said something in the book which I think defines him and which many young people can learn from. When he was young, he had spent summer with his mates so he couldn’t practice as intensely as he should. The result was that he lost a match he should have won. 

When his father tried to console the now distraught lad by telling him he at least got a chance to be his age, his reply was that those moments of fun could not compensate for the pain of losing to someone he could have beaten.

My message here to all young people is that talent will not get you far without the long grinding hours you need to put in. You need to go through the pain and the monotony of repetitions to hone your skills.

I will end with the message on a plague someone gave me when I was a young man learning my trade. It said:‘Talent is like a flower. It will wither if you don’t water it’.
That water, my friend, is your sweat.



By Muyiwa Adetiba
Source: Vanguardngr.com