Golf helps men share faith

The game of golf gives Zach Johnson and Stewart Cink a platform to glorify God in front of millions of golf fans every day.

“On the golf course it’s how they manage themselves around the ball, but in life it’s how they let the Lord manage them and guide their lives,” said Dr. Morris Pickens, a sports psychologist who joined the pro golfers on stage at Tuesday’s Masters Prayer Breakfast at Warren Baptist Church.

The 22nd annual event was presented by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and drew more than 1,000 people.

“Basically, I have a job because these guys play a very emotional game,” Pickens said. “You see them here and it’s Augusta Week and it’s all fun, at least what it appears on TV, but there’s a lot going on in terms of the struggles of playing good golf and continuing to play good golf.”

The golfers shared personal experiences of very low points in their careers.

Johnson said he struggled to find sponsors to help him pay entry fees, travel expenses and other financial realities involved in becoming a professional golfer. In 2000, he had been out of college for two years and went through a rough stretch while he worked on the fundamentals of the game. He played 18 tournaments and missed at least 13 cuts, but he did not earn enough to repay his backers per the stock/dividend agreement they had.

“I didn’t know what real professional golf was until that point,” he said. “It was a very, very rough year, and probably one of the best of my career. A year I learned exactly what I needed to do on and off the course to get better.”

Cink knew he would turn pro and had sponsorships waiting for him when he graduated from Georgia Tech in 1995. But he also had a wife and a son for whom he was struggling to provide, and his first steps into professional golf were definitely on a learning curve.

“My first act as a pro was about three days after graduating from college. I had a Monday qualifier in Ohio for a web.com event. I was flying up there the day before, and I missed my first flight,” he said.

His family had been receiving government assistance to make ends meet, his personal account was in the red by $500, and now he had to shell out another $600 to buy another plane ticket.

“That’s not a good way to start. That’s a bogey,” Cink said.

He did not make the cut, but a couple of weeks later he played a PGA tournament in Hartford.

He finished 18th and was on his way to a tournament in Philadelphia when he and his wife scanned a newspaper at a Waffle House, and learned that the win earned him $15,000.

“It felt like $15 million, maybe more,” he said. “All the golfers that play the Masters, and all the ones that don’t play the Masters, have a story like that. Everybody in this room has a story.”

Johnson said he believes golf is the path God chose for him, because it gives him the opportunity each day to glorify him.

“It’s an emotional game, but if you have the perspective that you’re playing a game, that’s a pretty good thing. The way I want to live, the way I want to be perceived, is a Christian man who happens to play golf,” he said.
Cink agreed. He said his faith keeps him grounded during golf’s high points and keeps him going through its lows. It also keeps the game in perspective.

His said his singular goal each day is to glorify God, whether he plays well or whether he plays poorly.
“People are obviously looking at you when you make an eagle, (when) you’re on TV, when you’re in the Top 10, when you win the Masters. They’re looking at you. But what about when you’re in 50th place, or you’re packing your stuff on Friday? They’re still looking at you, but it’s then that they see who you really are. I believe that glorifies God, too. Both ways,” he said.