Reader Thoughts: Why Isn't Scottie More Open

After I wrote about Scottie’s Open Championship victory, I got a great reader email that I just had to publish. It was well written, quite thoughtful and probably said what I was trying to say better than I actually said it.

Here it is.

Thanks for this one Kyle, really appreciated it. The trio of golf stories, quest for perfection and unsatisfying nature fit together quite nicely. 

It's also had me noodling on a take about a fourth aspect — the community around golf and the idea of what we owe to each other. Nothing you need to respond to, but just need to get it out of my brain and figure I might as well send it in a reply. Though I recognize you probably have much more context from covering the sport if you think I'm missing something. 

The way you've been writing about Scottie, and the way Andy Johnson has been talking about his simple priorities of faith, family, and golf, I think go a long way to explaining how Scottie is successful and seemingly finding contentment outside of golf.

But I think it also touches on an answer to a question I see lots of golf media asking, which is why people don't appreciate him more or connect with him? It's kind of a simple point, but it's that he doesn't care about that. I personally think it speaks to a strain of American individualism and small-c (non political) conservatism that focuses on the individual family and quiet small communities around that, rather than a wider embrace of communities around us and society as a whole. 

Not to make the overdone comparison, but just thinking about Rory and the way it clearly matters to him to connect with people in golf around him, to inspire young players and represent his country and Europe and make a point of caring about that and acting in a consistent way.

It's completely fine for Scottie to not do that, and it's probably made him a more successful golfer recently, but it also misses a key part of why people care about professional sports (in addition to its artistic nature). It's not a team sport built around a location, it doesn't have the same showmanship as tennis, but it was built in the idea of communities across Scotland and the UK.

And as you often talk about, professional golf is reliant on fans and their communities, and how it engages, supports, and grows them (including to get the amount of money that allows Scottie to ignore so many other extracurricular activities). 

It was a bit telling to me that Scottie starts his answer with "I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers" because I think he means it . It suggests he doesn't feel he needs to think that much about people outside his immediate orbit. He plays to compete and glorify God, as he said after his Masters win. And we can respect that decision, but I think that fans can sense that he doesn't play for them and is always going to be a bit removed. 

I think the way you talk about Normal Sport does a really good job at balancing those two priorities for you, and I think speaks to why you've built a nice little community around this. And perhaps Scottie will build to that over his career and retirement, but I think both he and the game of golf will find something a bit lacking without it. 

Thanks, and appreciate what you do online, 

S.M.

I am hopeful that as Scottie matures and progresses in his career, he does become more OK with letting folks in. 

It's a weird thing, though. Were we made to let the masses in, even in small ways? American culture would say yes. History might say no.

But I 100 percent agree that it's why there's a bit of a disconnect between him and fans in ways that there isn't with Rory. Scottie is actively saying "I do not know you and definitely do not care about you." Rory is saying, "Man, I care a lot and sometimes that care is a bit misguided, but it's definitely there and it's definitely aimed outward." 

I think the thing I go back to a lot is "Why?" Why does it matter that you are beloved by the general public? It doesn't, I suppose, but I do think that there is some sort of responsibility to ... not make that public representation the thing you base your happiness and joy on ... but at least to engage it a little bit?

I don't know the answers to any of this but definitely questions I'll keep wrestling with.