It was the deciding round of play of the 1983 U.S. Open golf tournament, and Larry Nelson was tied for first place when his approach shot to the sixteenth green left him sixty-two feet from the hole. His fans groaned. In the world of golf, sinking a sixty-two-foot putt is about as likely as a hole-in-one. He paused before the putt for a long moment. Then he raised his head, sized up the terrain, and stroked his ball.
It rolled downhill for a spell, then up an incline, down, up another, and then curved, kerplunk! into the hole. Some called it the shot of the year. Bolstered by his magnificent putt, Larry Nelson went on to win the tournament, his first victory following a two-year slump. One of the reporters who flocked to get his comments asked him if he had been praying during the match, especially before that fateful putt.
“Yes,” Larry Nelson answered.
“Were you praying you’d make the shot?” the reporter asked.
“No,” he said.
“Well, then, what were you praying for?” asked the reporter.
Larry Nelson’s answer should help all of us. He replied simply, “Peace.”
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Daily Guideposts, 1985