Tommy's First Win

One thing I thought about a lot regarding Tommy’s journey to win No. 1 on the PGA Tour is how difficult it must be for him as it relates to his peers.

We talk often about letting yourself down or letting the people around you down or letting fans down or letting those of us who root for Tommy down. But we rarely consider what it means to struggle in front of the people you share a profession with.

And yet, those are often the people I consider most when I think about succeeding or failing in my own job. Within that, though, Tommy seemed to retain a joy and an almost irrational optimism that belied failure after failure.

He maintained at every turn that he loved coming to work, which is something that echoes what Scottie said at The Open this summer — and is something that’s far more valuable than winning $10 million.

He also spoke after his win about the importance of being a kind and good human first and a successful athlete second.

All of this culminated for me when Justin Rose — who just flattened Tommy two weeks ago in his ongoing bid for that first victory — whipped out his iPhone like someone attending his first pro golf tournament on Sunday afternoon.

It says a lot about Rose and a lot about the Euro Ryder Cup team (they must just make more putts!). But it says a lot more about Tommy. That he is someone who his peers delight in rooting for. That he has in seemingly every way remained optimistic and joyful.

It is a rare and good thing to be that great at golf. But it is a much rarer and better thing to be that beloved by the people you spend every single day with who are also trying to destroy your world every time you tee it up.