Tiger Woods Tunes Up for U. S. Open with Win at Memorial

"The most unbelievable, gutsy shot I've ever seen,"
--Jack Nicklaus, famed golfer, watching Tiger putt at the 15th hole.
"Under the circumstances -- the circumstances being Tiger has been struggling -- it was either fish or cut bait," Nicklaus said later. "He had one place to land the ball. He's playing a shot that if he leaves it short, he's going to leave himself again a very difficult shot. If he hits it long, he's going to probably lose the tournament. He lands the ball exactly where it has to land. Going in the hole was a bonus. But what a shot!
"I don't think under the circumstances I've ever seen a better shot."
Woods, who finished at 9-under 279, won the Memorial for the fifth time.
Excerpt from ESPN.com (06/03/2012).
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"Pure Joy" -- Tiger Woods is Definitely Back!!

Successful behavior creates true confidence. You can't truly and fully manufacture confidence. In the end, you have to demonstrate success. Tiger Woods struggled for 30 months to get his mojo back. He has finally done it by winning a golf tournament. It wasn't a major, but he proved he could win a tournament. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in convincing fashion and has shown he can be a major force again in professional golf. With the Masters coming up, his win could not have come at a better time. This was the last step in Tiger again being Tiger. He proved it to himself and he has now proven to his competitors as well as his critics.

"He was a man on a mission today. He was pretty jacked up. He was out there to prove himself."

--Joe LaCava, Tiger Woods' caddie, after Woods' win on Sunday.

"It's not like winning a major championship or anything," Woods said. "But it certainly feels really good."

"I've gotten better, and that's the main thing," Woods said. "I've been close for a number of tournaments now. And it was just a matter of staying the course and staying patient, keep working on fine-tuning what we're doing. And here we are."

Woods may downplay the significance, but this was a big win. The anticipation is palpable and his opponents should fear him again.

"I am excited, no doubt," Woods said. "I'm looking forward to the momentum I've built here."

"One win doesn't mean you're back, back," LaCava said. "He beat the field by 5 and played great obviously. Is he back? I'd say yes, he's back. Who knows what he is going to do down the road, win 10 tournaments, whatever. I think those days … it's pretty hard with the depth on tour. But he's definitely back."

Which, of course, leads to talk about the old days. Is it even fair to judge Woods by his past, to expect that level of greatness?

LaCava said "he thinks he's going to win every tournament," which has been the Woods mantra from day one.

Tiger Woods is back and ready to keep winning. How did he get his confidence back? By winning.

Excerpts from ESPN.com (March 26, 2012).  

Tiger Woods: Focus, Technique & Execution

“When you’re over that putt, all you think about is where you’re playing that ball. All the other stuff takes care of itself. It’s nothing else but starting that ball on that line with the correct speed. That’s it.”

--Tiger Woods, talking about his mindset, as the Tour Championship gets under way at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Woods is the odds-on favorite to win the tournament and regain the championship trophy he won by eight strokes in the inaugural tournament in 2007. A win would also give him the FedEx Cup for 2009.

Excerpts from the New York Times, September 24, 2009.

For more on Tiger Woods and Peak Performance, click on The Handbook of Peak Performance.

Tiger Woods Continues to Add to the Legend

"I'm in serious disbelief. I don't think I've ever seen him make a putt when he had to have one. And that was the epitome of sarcasm right there. The guy is amazing. I am in awe. I don't want to say shock. I'm in awe.

"It was unbelievable drama. I tried to stay in my own world. ... It's kind of hard when you're seeing what you're seeing. Obviously Tiger, when he needs to step up, he does it. It was impressive to watch."

--Zach Johnson, PGA golfer who was in the final threesome with Tiger Woods, who Sunday won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.

Tiger Woods came from five-shots behind on the last round. Woods is a five-time winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, yet he has never won when he was trailing going into the final round. His largest final-round comeback on the PGA Tour was five shots in the 2000 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He once overcame an eight-shot deficit in the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand.

Sean O'Hair's five-shot lead was the largest at Bay Hill since Woods led by five in 2003.

Woods came to the 18th hole tied with O'Hair after a bogey at the 17th and hit a 7-iron from 160 yards to 15 feet. O'Hair had already knocked his second shot on the green, leaving himself a 40-footer that he lagged to within 3 feet for a par that would have meant a sudden-death playoff if Woods missed.

Excerpts from ESPN.com (March 30, 2009)

Did Tiger Win or Did Rocco Lose?

Is it in his swing?

(Oh no, not his swing!)

Is it in his drives?

(Oh no, not his drives.)

If you want to know, if he'll lose it, oh.

It's in his talk.

(That's where it is.)

(Sung to the melody of It's In His Kiss.)

Rocco Mediate, on the 19th hole of a 19th-hold playoff with Tiger Woods, was playing to win the U. S. Open and beat a legend. He laid up inside 100 yards in two shots, hit his third shot 20 feet from the hole. He had birdied three straight holes on the back nine to capture the lead, and now he would have a putt to beat the No. 1 player in the world. He was going to defeat Tiger Woods.

“I said to myself, ‘You’ve waited your whole life for this putt, just don’t lag it,’ ” Mediate said. He ran it 3 feet past; Woods made his 4-footer. Mediate lost it, and once again, Tiger won it. Lucky or good?

So, what did Rocco do wrong? He didn't control his internal dialogue, his self-talk. He focused on the outcome and the consequences of his actions. He paid attention to the "what ifs."

“I thought I was going to win after that putt went in on 15,” Mediate said. “I said, if I can keep hitting good shot after good shot, which I pretty much did, I’m going to win this golf tournament.”

Thinking, not executing, was Mediate's downfall.

By contrast, as always, Tiger Woods was thinking about how to execute his putt and what he steps he needed to perform to get the ball in the 19th hole. In comparison, Rocco Mediate, lost control of himself internally and focused on what not to do instead of what to do. He choked, and once again, Tiger Woods outmuscled his opponent with his mind and his focus.

Next time you are under pressure, think about what you must execute not what will happen to you if you don't.

If you want to be like Tiger, it's in his talk.

Tiger Woods and the Art of Winning

"I love winning. I just love getting out there and mixing it up with the guys here; they're trying to beat me and I'm trying to beat them. That's fun."

--Tiger Woods, responding to a question about his drive and motivation.

In December of 2007, Tiger Woods was asked about the potential of achieving the Grand Slam of golf, He felt that the Slam was "easily within reason."

As he was preparing for the 2008 Masters in April, he was asked if he had changed his opinion, and he quickly replied with a straight face, "Nope."

That intimidating and overwhelming confidence is what has set Tiger Woods apart from every other golfer of his generation.In 1997 Woods became the youngest player, at 21 to win the Masters. He won his second Masters in 2001. That victory gave him a victory in four consecutive majors. When he won again in 2002, Woods became only the third player in tournament history to defend his title (besides Nick Faldo in 1989-90 and Jack Nicklaus in 1965-1966). Woods won his fourth green jacket in 2005.Woods then added, "I mean the reason why I said that, you have to understand why I said that, because I've done it before; I've won all four in a row. The majority of my career, this is 12th or 13th season out here, and nine of those years I've won five or more tournaments. So just got to win the right four. That's what it boils down to."

Woods won the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000 after finishing fifth at the Masters, then followed with a Masters victory in 2001. A year later, he won the Masters and U.S. Open -- the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1972 to do so. This streak fueled Grand Slam talk, which was ended suddenly when Woods shot 81 during the third round of the 2002 British Open.After a two-season period without a major win, Woods has won five of the past 12. Over the past nine months he has had nine victories in 11 worldwide starts going back to the British Open.

"You have to have a lot of things come together in order to win a championship and more so major championships," Woods said. "One break where you hit a tree and it goes out of play and didn't come back in or it happens to catch the right slope or catches the right gust of winds %u2026 all of these little factors that come in just one time is the difference between winning and losing. You ask the players and the caddies, they are the only ones who really understand the difference between winning and losing, how fine that is.""That's what makes this game so great is that you have to find a way."

excerpts from espn.com (April 9, 2008)

"I think that for what Tiger's done all the players should be grateful to him because of what he's doing. It's a global sport; there are more tournaments and more prize money to play for. And he's set some standards for the other players to look at. You've got to work hard, you've got to do mental training and you've got to practice. It's a full package and he does that."-

-Jeev Milkha Singh, a PGA professional golfer from India.