It takes a golfer to raise a village.

The U.S.A. finally won back the Ryder Cup in golf today. This is the first time since 1999 that we have won the cup. For those of you who may not follow golf, the Ryder Cup is played between the Americans and the Europeans every other year. It is a great competition, a team competition, and every golfer wants to be a part of it. It is unique because golf is not a "team" sport. Golf is all about the individual. Whether you win or lose all depends on how YOU play. The Americans seemed to dominate this competition for a long time throughout the 60's, 70's, 80's. Lately, however, the Europeans have been getting the best of the American team.

Since 1999, the last time the Americans won the cup, there have been many excuses about why we have lost. We don't play well as a team, we are too cocky, too many egos, Americans just don't care about the Ryder Cup, just to name a few. Perhaps. You see the Ryder Cup is not about money. No team or individual wins any money for playing in the competition. This contest is about playing as a team to represent your country. The U.S.A. teams have been favored to win every Ryder Cup competition since winning in 1999 and really have had the best players in the world to do it. For whatever reason, probably all of the above listed, until this week they have fallen short.

The Americans and the Europeans each displayed excellent sportsmanship and unbelievable golf for three straight days. After the match was over, U.S. Team Captain Paul Azinger was commenting on the American spirit displayed by the team and the crowds. He was asked whether this was a great win for the country. Azinger was quick to praise not the golfers first but the men and women in our military serving our country and trying to help spread democracy throughout the world. That, he said is a bigger win for our country than golf ever will be. Wow, someone who gets it!

This past week, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all came together to cheer on and watch a group of individual golfers work together as a team to accomplish a specific goal. They (golfers) finally put aside personal agendas and egos and pulled for the greater good. In the end....victory! Let us all hope that as this election cycle ends and new leaders are elected that they can all finally cast aside their personal agendas and egos and start working as a team to solve some real issues facing our country. Let us all hope that our leaders play golf.