WHILE watching the coverage of the last round of the Barclays Scottish Open I started wondering which of the players I would like to be – or rather in which category of player I would like to be in.
Would I prefer to be a big name like Ernie Els or Lee Westwood who are expected to challenge by fans, sponsors, tour officials – and themselves.
Or maybe it would be better to be a Ross Fisher or a Graeme McDowell, who are in the next tier – multiple tour winners seeking to take the next step up the ladder.
They have less expectation on them, but then they dearly, dearly want to be in that upper tier and so the pressure they put on themselves might be just as heavy in its own way.
Or how about being in Simon Khan’s group? Everyone looking at him was expecting only one thing from the Essex man – to collapse when the going got difficult.
Does he therefore have to battle an inferiority complex throughout his round and buckle under the desperation to prove he is better than the perception of being an also-ran?
As the players reached the turn I had no idea. What it showed is that there is pressure on every single player who is in contention for a tournament.
So, while we many not think there was any pressure on Rocco Mediate as he battled Tiger in the US Open play-off, I believe that is inaccurate.
Mediate might not even have expected to win himself, never mind anyone else giving him a chance, but consider this – he will have known in his heart that it was almost certainly going to be the best chance he’ll ever have in a Major.
Yes, he had to beat the best player ever to play the game. But it was just one man, over 18 holes. Costantino Rocca proved in the 1997 Ryder Cup and Shaun Micheel did likewise at the 2006 matchplay at Wentworth that it can be done. Others in the WGC Match Play have too.
Mediate DID have pressure on him.
Similarly, everyone expected Tiger to win – most notably himself - and that brings its own pressure.
How annoyed would he have been to miss out on getting one closer to Jack’s record of 18 Majors by failing to beat a PGA Tour journeyman over 18 holes on a course he loves (even if he was on one leg)?
We all have another chance to test these theories this week at Royal Birkdale. It’s almost guaranteed the final-day leaderboard will contain at least one player from each of the categories above. I wonder who will prevail?
By Chris Bertram
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Great blog which has really opened my eyes. I've never really thought about it that way before but it's spot on. Every single player has pressure on them whether it is from the media or from themselves to perform. Many people will say that they are professionals and therefore should deal with it. They are paid to of course. I disagree however. Look at the pressure people used to put on Tim Henman at Wimbledon every single year. He was branded a failure because he never won the event. Again I disagree. Everyone has pressure on them whether it's a paid sporting professional or a salesman with the pressure of having to reach his or her targets.
I predict this year's Open will conjure up a surprise winner as there will be less pressure on people with Tiger not there. Everyone will think they have a chance. I have a feeling this could be one of the best Open Championships for a very long time
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