The real joy of golf, the thing that gets people like us interested in Tiger and Rory in the first place, can be found in two tweets that popped up on my timeline over the weekend.
Fittingly, they were also two tweets apart, but what a timely reminder they are of everything about the game that’s worthwhile.
The first was a video showing 12-year-old Louis Klein walking in a par putt during the second round of the DP World Tour event in Prague.
The second was a photo of a grinning 88-year-old John Kilburn signing for a 73 at his home club of Royal Colwood in Victoria, Canada.
76 years may separate them in age but Louis and John – and all of us who play – are united by the joy (and misery) of golf in a way no other sport can deliver.
Two-under-par for the second round 👏
Listen to the cheers for 12-year-old Czech amateur Louis Klein 🔊#CzechMasters pic.twitter.com/wj1UsgP56j
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 19, 2022
In a golf world swirling with questions about what the future might hold, it is these two simple narratives that make sense to the rest of us.
Backroom deals calculated in the hundreds of millions are simply not relatable to the vast majority of golfers. But the joy of a great shot or score? Universal.
Klein is one of the Czech Republic’s most promising juniors and played the tournament on an invitation.
He proved his credentials, too, getting to three-under through the first 13 holes of round one before a train wreck of a finish.
Eventual scores of 76-74 meant he missed the cut by eight but given he is not yet a teenager that is some pretty remarkable play.
This is John Kilburn. He is a very nice player. John is 88 and he just broke his under his age record shooting 73 today. 15 strokes under his age.
🤯 pic.twitter.com/qHxdLIFoOX— Royal Colwood Golf Club (@RoyalColwoodGC) August 19, 2022
At the opposite end of the scale was John Kilburn who has broken his age multiple times but never by 15 shots, as he did last week.
The feat – rightly – drew awe and congratulations from around the world as players young and old imagined for just a moment that they, too, might one day achieve such a thing.
Golfers are united in their unspoken understanding of what Louis and John did this past week and, if one were inclined to look, there would barely be a club or course on the planet that didn’t feature some version of their story on a daily basis .
It is, in a funny way, what connects us to the superstars of the game. The talent levels are worlds apart, but the emotions are exactly the same.
Golf is at its best when it delivers these moments and what Louis and John’s stories remind us is that, no matter our level of play, the game can do so for a lifetime.
Unlike almost any other sport.
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