American Born Masters Champion

This past weekend, the Masters was hosted at Augusta National, in Georgia. The pressure was there once again, and the need to compete and place also. Tiger Woods, America's golf "hero" was favored to win the Masters, but fell short once again. Instead, this year's winner was Bubba Watson, with a miraculous last shot in a playoff with Louis Oosthuizen. In tears accepting his green jacket Bubba finally was a winner, saying in tears, "I never got this far in my dreams" (ESPN article). The winner of one of the best golf tournaments of all time.
While watching the Masters, I couldn't help compare the competition to that of New Trier. Everyone is fighting for that one spot, but there can only be one winner, one person gets to put on that Green Jacket at the end of Sunday.
No one likes coming in second, but the competition to be number one is just so great. I think that it is an American value to settle for nothing less than first. As Ricky Bobby famed in the great Talladega Nights, "If you ain't first your last", and it is the truth for Americans. What a way for Watson to win with a crazy hook out of the trees onto the tenth green. It was almost like the American dream, with a little bit of luck, and the right amount of hard work and determination you can achieve anything you dream of. As Watson tapped in that last putt to become a Masters champion, he conquered his.