(HOST) The return of Tiger Woods to the Professional Golf Tour has been making headlines this week. In addressing the question of how well Tiger will play, veteran ABC News correspondent and commentator Barrie Dunsmore admits he is not a golf expert – but he does claim to know something about human nature.
(DUNSMORE) I do not condone what Tiger Woods has done to his wife and family. Yet it’s an historical fact that, compared to the personal behavior of more than a few entertainment stars, professional athletes, business titans, and politicians, Tiger’s antics are not particularly notable. And so, my interest is focused on one thing only: can Tiger still play?
I seem to be among only a few who believe that Tiger will not win the Masters championship. I think he may not even make the cut to play the weekend.
Let me explain.
In almost all professional sports, the skill levels of the top 200 players do not vary greatly. What separates average players from champions are intangibles. These are given different names – mental toughness, killer instinct, clutch, and attitude. Call it what you will, after many years of watching people perform at the highest levels in many fields, I have concluded that there is one factor that consistently separates the best from the rest – and that is self-confidence. Show me men or women who have reached the pinnacle of success, and I will show you people who believe they are invincible. What is equally true, if they lose that sense of invincibility, they no longer remain at the top.
Case in point. Why do most older golfers move from the regular PGA Tour to the Senior Tour, which includes golfers aged 50 and over? It’s not because they can’t hit the ball as far as they could when they were in their twenties. The probloem is – old men can’t putt. When they stand over a four-foot putt for a championship or a lot of money, they start thinking about all the putts they’ve missed and what can go wrong – and, much more often than when they were young, they miss.
Which brings me to Tiger Woods. His skill levels are among the very best. But what Tiger has had on the golf course for his entire life is extreme self-confidence. Some would say arrogance. In countless situations this supreme faith in himself helped him pull off shots the very best of his opponents would hesitate even to try. That also had the added impact of making those he is playing against begin to doubt themselves.
However, if nothing else, events of the past few months must have shaken Tiger’s confidence that he was bullet-proof. And I predict that will negatively affect his game. It will also give new hope to some of professional golf’s other top players.
Will Tiger ever again play at that level so rarely achieved? I don’t know. In one sense, I hope he does, because he has given me and millions of others genuine pleasure in seeing one of the best golfers ever. But, as a professional people-watcher, I certainly do not expect Tiger Woods to win the Masters this week – or very much of anything else for some time.