By Burning One's Bridges, which is an idiom of course of American English, we really mean more than just disliking someone or something. Burning Your Bridges, really comes from the military and the strategy in which one army would burn the bridge or bridges to prevent the pursuing army from chasing. However, what about being outflanked?
That's what happens in life. Being outflanked. It happens in sports too. It happened when Steve Williams started bad-mouthing his former employer, Tiger Woods, in 2011. We were led to assume that Williams was fired for working with Adam Scott while Woods was injured. But there were deeper secrets than that and Williams learned quickly how the media can turn a jest or a joke into a context about a former employer. And when Scott won his first tournament with Williams as his caddie, Scott retorted that it was the pinnacle of his career as a caddie - debasing the years he had worked with Woods and won so many titles. Williams was quoted saying to David Feherty of CBS: "I’ve caddied for 33 years — 145 wins now — and that’s the best win I’ve ever had."
That's Burning Your Bridges...
It's taken more than two years to build the bridge between Woods and Williams. Williams actually has gotten off pretty lucky. His employer, Adam, has been top three in the world for the majority of the past few months and Tiger, forced to take the high road anyhow following his own scandal, really didn't say much in retaliation.
But think about where these two might be without two years in the doldrums. That's why it's hard to retreat once you've Burned That Bridge. No tension would have ensued. Perhaps Tiger would have played better and Williams' book might have sold better. One doesn't know.
So, today was refreshing not for Tiger's win but the handshake afterward. With Matt Kuchar and Tiger winning the match today, Williams was in a position to shake Tiger's hand first and he did just that - no hesitation between the two men. Life is short so keep those bridges built.
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