This past weekend was highlighted by the 153rd occasion of a golf tournament–the British Open or, more correctly, if you live in the U.K., “The Open.”

If you were an American, you had to be proud as the top four finishers were Americans, the winner being the current number one golfer in the world, Scottie Sheffler. But, golf is not just an American sport–it is a world sport.

And, guess who was in the final pairing on Sunday? Yes, a player by the name of Haotong Li, from China. The lesson here was obvious: competitors don’t have to be enemies. The world of sport teaches you that.

It is true that I don’t like the fact that the Chinese government is run by a dictatorship. Yet, I don’t hold that against the Chinese people. They are people just as we are, and they have good athletes. The world of sport teaches that.

In addition, not everything that we have and enjoy was invented in America. Golf was “invented,” so-to-speak, in Scotland. The organization that started it, frames the rules that govern it, and sponsors The Open each year is named “The Royal and Ancient” (R & A)–and it makes its home at the place the sport originated…St. Andrews, Scotland.

This all gets personal for me, because I have been privileged in my lifetime to have played the Old Course at St. Andrews. Also, on one terribly rainy and windy day, I tried to play Royal Portrush–where The Open was played this past weekend.

I say “tried” to play, as the playing conditions got so rough that I couldn’t keep the ball in the fairway. I took out a three wood on a 150-yard par three, hit it as hard as I could into the wind, and put it in a gully short of the green. (You can tell that I am not a great golfer.) After that, I picked up my ball and walked the rest of the course with my friends. I had not played Royal Portrush, it had “played” me.

The favorite at this year’s tournament was Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland. He, obviously, didn’t win, but made some meaningful remarks at the end reminding the world that the playing of The Open at Portrush was again possible because the fighting had finally stopped a few years back between northern and southern Ireland.

That is another lesson we can learn from sport…it can be a bridge for “bridging” our differences.

Then there is the always beautiful ending of The Open, when the President of the R & A presents the Gold Medal and the Claret Jug to the “Golfer of the Year.” The golfer of the year in the U.K. is not the person who won The Masters, the PGA, the US Open or is rated number one in the world–it is he who has survived and prevailed over four tough days in all kinds of weather in the oldest international tournament in golf in the land where it started. To the Brits, that defines who the golfer of the year is.

Finally, there was the presentation made to Scottie Sheffler, who, standing next to his wife with his year-old son in his arms, graciously accepted the honor. No politics or breast-beating about who was from what country, but a message that the importance of family trumps everything…including nationality and sport itself.

And, the fact that Portrush is a small town of about 6,000, and the golf club is a public course – what a story in itself! Sport can teach us a lot about the good things of life…as it did in Ireland last weekend.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.