Leaving Negative Thoughts Behind when You Head to the Tee Box
How does worrying impact our golf performance? What strategies can we use to manage it?
U.S.A. Proves Equal to Ryder Cup Task
The Ryder Cup ended as the PGA of America’s blue-ribbon task force made sure it would—with the wee trophy in the hands of Davis Love III, the captain who made the most of his mulligan after overseeing the Meltdown at Medinah in 2012.
U-S-A! U-S-A!
The task force, you remember, was convened after the Gag at Gleneagles in 2014. Phil Mickelson publicly chastised captain Tom Watson, prompting the PGA of America to go into competitive panic mode, assembling 11 individuals (three former captains and three PGA of America officials and five players—including Mickelson and Tiger Woods) to come up with a winning formula. No longer would hot players —such as FedEx Cup champion Billy Horschel in 2014—be left off the team.
In some way, then, the U.S. victory was a triumph of corporate management, of problem-solving by committee. They figured out how to give their team the greatest chance for success.
Of course, Patrick Reed, Mickelson, et. al. still had to execute—and that they did beautifully, making clutch shot after clutch shot and showing resilience after the Europeans came back on Friday afternoon.
They wore their emotions on their sleeves, propelled by the wind of thousands of fans blowing loud and hard beneath their wings. Alas, a deplorable minority of the faithful regrettably lived down to the nasty characterizations made before the matches by Peter Willett, the brother of Masters champion Danny Willett, who referred to American fans as “a baying mob of imbeciles.”
Before Friday’s matches, Danny Willett apologized and distanced himself from his brother’s comments. But afterwards, he inexplicably flip-flopped, saying some loutish fan behavior proved his brother right. However he stopped short of blaming hecklers for a 0-3-0 record in his Ryder Cup debut.
He called his performance “s**t.” And it was. Not to take anything away from the inspired play of the Americans, but they beat a team composed of Willett and five others who were competing in their first Ryder Cup. (In contrast, Brooks Koepka and Ryan Moore were the only two U.S. rookies.) For the Euros, it was the golf equivalent of what professional sports teams charitably call a “rebuilding year,” in which veterans like shaky Lee Westwood were charged with carrying rookies not named Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Thomas Pieters.
With the Ryder Cup again theirs to defend, team U.S.A. can rest easily. “They make American golf great again,” as one patriotic fan cheekily tweeted. That said, the U.S. can’t get complacent the way it did after its last victory in 2008. The task force needs to continue. Not because the Europeans also plan to convene one, but because the next time they’ll have experience—and home course advantage.
MORE PHOTOS FROM THE 2016 RYDER CUP CELEBRATION:
[box]Ryder Cup 2016:
The Numbers Game: How data analysis is having an impact on the 2016 Ryder Cup
The Unseen Hours: The role of practice in preparation for the Ryder Cup
The State of Mind: How to ‘Get in the Zone’
How do you direct 4,000 Ryder Cup volunteers? Q&A with Eric Wilkinson
Dontcha Know? Ryder Cup Trivia
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