Sport Psychology Institute Northwest

A Closers Mindset

Among championship caliber athletes, one of the most admired skills is the ability to close out at the end - the ability to put an end to the competition, to finish up and win. Jordan had it, Elway had it. In today's sports world, nobody is looked up to more as a dominant finisher than Tiger Woods. NASCAR driver Dale Jarrett on the subject: "The mental aspect is what separates golf from the rest of the sports world, and that's why there's no doubt Tiger is the most admired person among other athletes...At that level, physical ability is a given, but the thing they respect most is the ability to get there mentally when it matters most. That's what puts someone above the rest." It seems like putting away a victory in the end would be easy, but it takes a finely tuned mental game to do it. The pressure of playing from ahead or from being in a position to win, to control one's own destiny, can be crippling. Ever present in the athletes mind is the question, What if I fail? It is the ability to put oneself above the fear that separates champions like Tiger from the rest. In a sport where competitors have nothing to blame besides themselves for failure, golfers are especially vulnerable to such thoughts.

Mental toughness in clutch situations is not specific to the event; rather, it stems from the strength of the athlete's sense of self. Valuing oneself as someone only as good as the next golf shot is almost guarantees failure. Sport psychologist Dr. Gio Valiante explains: "If you're basing your confidence on what other people are going to think of you, or how you're going to appear--it's a recipe for choking. Attaching your status and your self-worth to a shot in golf creates the type of fear that paralyzes. So we go into ego-avoid mode, which is the mental equivalent of prevent defense. Rather than hitting shots at a target, you're hitting shots to avoid embarrassment." Valiante's comments reinforce the importance of process vs. goal orientation: The best mental outlook is to focus on the process by which success is obtained, not on the success itself.

So how good is Tiger at closing out victories, at performing his best when it matters the most? When entering the final round of a tournament in which he has led, Woods is an astounding 40 of 43, a winning percentage of .930. Clearly, Tiger has found the mental edge for choke-free performance.

See the rest of ESPN's report on choking here.