There is no tragedy in missing a putt, no matter how short. All have erred in this respect.

Hagen’s remark reframes a common golfer’s humiliation—missing a very short putt—as something ordinary rather than catastrophic. By insisting there is “no tragedy,” he pushes back against the tendency to treat small errors as moral failures or proof of inadequacy. The second sentence (“All have erred…”) universalizes the experience: even elite players miss, so the proper response is composure rather than self-reproach. In a sport where confidence and emotional control strongly affect performance, the line functions as practical advice: accept the miss, keep perspective, and move on to the next shot without carrying shame or anger.