If you’re a golfer and saw the President’s Cup on the weekend, you saw one of the world’s top contenders do it again to his competitors. On Saturday morning, things looked bleak on the 17th hole for Tiger Woods and his partner, Steve Stricker. Woods and Stricker were down one hole with two holes to play on the 17th hole of the match. Their competitors, Mike Weir and Tim Clark were about five feet from the hole in two shots. Woods and Stricker were about 25 feet from the hole in two shots. Woods was putting the ball from 25 feet, Weir for his team from five feet. Things looked mightly bleak for the Woods/Stricker duo. If Woods missed the 25 foot putt and Weir made the five foot putt – by far the most likely scenario – the match was over.
Enter one of the world’s top contenders – Tiger Woods.
Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker at the President’s Cup
Woods proceeded to putt first and hole the difficult, breaking 25 foot putt under extreme pressure – knowing that if he didn’t make the putt – his team was probably doomed.
It was then Mike Weir’s turn to make his putt and take a lead to the 18th hole and guarantee his team at least a tie. Obviously shaken by the Woods putt, Weir wasn’t close on his short putt and he and Clark allowed Woods and Stricker new life in the match. Woods and Stricker went on to win the 18th hole with a fantastic shot by Woods and win the match.
This is a great example how performers are separated – this example at the highest level of a sport. While Mike Weir is a fantastic golfer with great talent, the ability to allow talent to flouish under pressure is reserved for those with high levels of self-awareness and the key competencies enabled as a result of that self-awareness. Contenders consistently perform under pressure, others can’t quite make it happen as often as they’d like.
