We have a valuable lesson from The Masters Golf Tournament, which finished at Augusta National back on Palm Sunday. I know this is ten days after the fact, but I couldn’t publish this during Holy Week.

Even if you’re not a golf fan, this year’s Masters gave us a valuable lesson.

The tournament was way more exciting than it needed to be. Rory McIlroy was leading by four strokes when he blew up on the par-5 13th hole. Just plain hit a bad third shot pitching to the green and landed in the water. Double bogey. Bogey on the next hole, and he was suddenly tied with Justin Rose who had jumped to a big lead the first day, then had a really bad third day. But he came back and was the only player to challenge McIlroy.

But Rory came back too after the 13th. He missed a makeable eagle putt on the 15th, settling for a birdie, and made a birdie on the 17th to go up one. All he needed was a par on the 18th. Rose was already finished, having made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th. Rory missed a 5-foot par putt, and they went to extra holes.

They both had good approach shots, but Rory’s was much closer. He made the birdie putt to win, giving him a career grand slam. I didn’t know there were so few of those: Sarazen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Player, Woods. That’s all. Now McIlroy. It took Rory 11 years (11 tries at Augusta) to finish his.

Back to the April 13 fourth day of the Masters. Both Rose and McIlroy showed remarkable persistence, but McIlroy prevailed.

Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal wrote about all the bad shots and missed putts, but then he observed:

In the end, it’s all footnotes, because the 35-year-old Northern Irelander shook off his extended bad luck at Augusta National and prevailed. In the fading light on the 18th green, McIlory hit a clutch playoff birdie putt against runner-up Justin Rose to capture the only major title that had eluded him, making him one of six modern players to win all four of golf’s major tournaments. 

It was a reminder that great sporting accomplishments don’t require unbroken greatness. McIlroy didn’t win Sunday by going out and stomping the field. He didn’t play close to his best golf. On CBS ,Jim Nantz called it a “masterpiece,” but it was a messy mod-art canvas at best. 

It was perseverance, not perfection.  – Rory McIlroy’s Messy Masterpiece at Augusta, Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal, published April 15, 2025.

Perseverance, not perfection. Did you just relapse into a sin you thought you’d left behind? Did you lose your temper…again? Remember the lesson from Rory McIlroy’s Masters: it’s perseverance, not perfection.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. (Hebrews 10.36 – 39, NIV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (1 John 1.9, 10, NIV)