Pressure Builds for the PGA Championship

Will someone be joining the pairing of Kenny Perry, Phil Michelson and Tom Watson? We won’t know until the last major of 2009 is over this Sunday evening.

Kenny, Phil and Tom all experienced excruciating collapses at this year’s three previous major championships. As the pros say "...a real “Trunk Slammer”. Tom Watson’s face was amazingly stoic during The Championship’s 4 hole playoff with Stuart Cink but you could tell he was experiencing an internal explosion.

It makes for great television but my heart goes out to the loser. Any golfer who has dared to compete at any level has experienced similar woes.

As the loser, you cast yourself into a world of self doubt and second guessing. Suddenly, that $2 dollar Nassau loss to your neighbor has you tied up in knots, not to mention enduring bragging rights until the next competition. Your mind’s eye incessantly replays that single crucial stroke that cost you the prize.

Each week on the PGA Tour all entrants (except the winner) go through that internal explosion.

On Thursday, 144 hopefuls tee it up; about half of the field is slamming trunks on Friday and the remainder (less one happy pro) at least makes it to a Sunday pay day before slamming their trunk.

Granted, finishing second, third, fourth or even tenth week after week on the PGA has it rewards. But, it happens every week of the season and that’s a tough mental grind for anybody. Tour grinders experience the feeling weekly.

If you want to compete in golf at any level, you need to prepare yourself for handling pressure situations and adversity. Pressure can occur at any time during a round of golf.

The first tee jitters; a 5 foot side hill putt that you need for par or to half the hole in match play. Adversity occurs to everybody during every round of golf. Even a well struck ball in the middle of the fairway can finish in an old divot.

But how do you prepare yourself? What can you do differently? Much has been written by many on this subject. I suppose we all find our own methods of dealing with the pressure and looming adversity.

Gary Player once said that there are many golfers who can shoot a round of par but very few who can do it in a pressure situation. He continued by saying that it took him decades of competitive golf to develop his mental toughness.

Another famous golfer (Ben Hogan, I think) once said that he tried to out-think, out-work and out-tough his opponent. I suppose the “out-tough your opponent” was his way of dealing with pressure and adversity.

Tom Watson handled the pressure and adversity like the seasoned professional that he is and it was television viewing for the ages. As he said after the playoff: “It would have been a great story.”

I say to Tom: It was a great story. I’ll be watching to see if another great story unfolds at Hazeltine.