Saturday, September 3, 2022
I admired Serena Williams giving it a last, great try at the US Open Tennis Tournament. She did better than expected and was able to “retire” in the greatest US venue for the game in front of adoring fans.
In tennis, you are paid for performance. The winner of the Open receives about two million, I think, and the early departures about $100,000 There are no “participation prizes.” You have to qualify in one way or anothe to get there.
That’s why the new snit among professional golfers, the PGA vs. the Saudi tour, is hardly compelling. You have multi-millionaires arguing with each other and, in the Saudi tour, they
are paid just for showing up. Most of us mock the idea of kids receiving a participation prize to support their self-esteem whether they preform well or not, since life isn’t like that. It’s a terrible developmental model.
Except, that is, in professional golf and in politics.