I count myself as a Tom Watson fan, however, I wouldn’t have expected to see Watson’s name at the top of the British Open leaderboard all four days and certainly not loose in a playoff.
I have some theories about the “Tom Phenomenon”-which are featured in my new book-Full Throttle:
Tom had a miraculous week because he used the “golden nugget principle” of taking past experiences (like 1977 at Turnberry) and using them for current success. Tom Watson has always chosen to be confident in his game-and this week was no exception. Tom also applied the “handicapping principle” — the nothing-to-lose mentality that comes with a lack of external expectations-no one was expected Tom to play well so the pressure was off.
Remember what Olympic swimmer Dara Torres said, ‘The water doesn’t know my age.’ Well, the golf ball doesn’t know Tom’s age,” All the elements were aligned for Watson this week— He’s won at Turnberry before. He loves playing links-style golf. There’s no expectations for him. He’s an all-time great. So, of course, he had a great chance to win-unfortunately his game falter on the 72nd hole and he then subsequently fell apart in the playoff. This still was a British Open for the aged.
Find your passion, commit to the path, enjoy the journey,
Dr. Gregg-www.drgreggsteinberg.com
