Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than 18 years of dealing with him across a desk.

Rice’s line draws on golf—specifically match play, where opponents compete hole by hole—to argue that competitive sport reveals character faster than polite, procedural business life. On the course, pressure, luck, etiquette, and self-control are constantly tested in public: how someone handles a bad bounce, a missed putt, or an opponent’s surge can expose temperament, honesty, and resilience. By contrasting “18 holes” with “18 years,” the quote compresses time to emphasize sport as a kind of moral and psychological X-ray, suggesting that rivalry and stakes strip away social masks more effectively than routine professional interaction.