How much pressure is there for a player with a six shot lead?

[Tommy Williamsen]

Unless someone shoots 60, you realize that if you lose, you create a history no one wants.

[John Kavanaugh]

Rory was six back last year. Lucky for the loser it’s a history no one will remember.

[Jim O’Kane]

Whatever is lurking in the depths of your brain now has a better chance to fester and manifest in a rain delay.

Funny, I live 1.5 miles due SE and not a drop of rain. I look on TV and it looks like rainy season in Panama.

Without looking at the radar, I'd assume this will  be a short delay and likely an isolated shower.

[jeffwarne]

Unless someone shoots 60, you realize that if you lose, you create a history no one wants.

None of them are thinking that way BEFORE the round.
Which is why they are different than us.

[Pete_Pittock]

Without the fed-ex handicap system for this tournament Hovland would be tied with Morikawa and one ahead of Schauffele through the end of round three.


Greg Norman and Arnold Palmer come to mind in majors.

[David_Tepper]

Ask Greg Norman about the 1996 Masters.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sports-collapses-chokes-greg-norman-masters

[Tommy Williamsen]

Ask Greg Norman about the 1996 Masters.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sports-collapses-chokes-greg-norman-masters

He was one of the players I thought about.

[Marty Bonnar]

How does a six shot lead influence your interaction with the ARCHITECTURE?

[Thomas Dai]

Ah pressure.
A few quotes and the like come to mind. Didn’t Lee Trevino say something about pressure being when you’re playing for $5 but you’ve only got $1 in your pocket? Another I recall is something like “Even if I finish second I’ll still have steak for dinner.”
My favourite though is Australian cricketer Keith Miller, who’d been a pilot in WW2. When asked about the pressure of playing cricket for Australia he replied along the lines of “Representing your country isn’t pressure, it’s pleasure. Pressures when you’ve got a Messerschmitt up your arse.”
Atb

[Tommy Williamsen]

So Schauffele shoots 30 and only gains a stroke.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

And Hovland wins!!! Finishing -17 for 4 days and forgetting about the bonus gift. !!!

-27 wins on the Tournament Rules !!!

[A.G._Crockett]

Unless someone shoots 60, you realize that if you lose, you create a history no one wants.

None of them are thinking that way BEFORE the round.
Which is why they are different than us.

Bingo.


Great athletes in any sport don’t think that way.  It’s one of the reasons they’re great.

[Pete_Pittock]

And Hovland wins!!! Finishing -17 for 4 days and forgetting about the bonus gift. !!!

-27 wins on the Tournament Rules !!!

Xander also shot -17 for 4 days. "Loses" in "scorecard playoff"

[Peter Flory]

I think that most of these guys are somewhat immune to feeling the type of nerves that would make them play worse.  They do this every week and have been in competitive golf since they were children. 

[Mike_Clayton]

How many fewer millions do you make if you blow the 6-shot lead?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

 2023 Tour Championship prize money, purse   Purse: $57.9 million
     1st — $18,000,000 — Viktor Hovland
 2nd — $6,500,000 — Xander Schauffele
 3rd — $5,000,000 — Wyndham Clark
 4th — $4,000,000 — Rory McIlroy
 5th — $3,000,000 — Patrick Cantlay
 6th — $2,500,000 — Tommy Fleetwood, Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa ($2,000,000 each)
 7th — $2,000,000
 8th — $1,500,00
 9th — $1,250,000 — Sam Burns, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa, Adam Schenk, Keegan Bradley ($990,000 each)
 10th — $1,000,000
 11th — $950,000
 12th — $900,000
 13th — $850,000
 14th — $800,000 — Russell Henley, Sepp Straka ($780,000 each)
 15th — $760,000
 16th — $720,000 — Rickie Fowler, Tyrrell Hatton ($710,000 each)
 17th — $700,000
 18th — $680,000 — Jon Rahm, Lucas Glover ($670,000 each)
 19th — $660,000
 20th — $640,000 — Tom Kim, Si Woo Kim, Tony Finau ($620,000 each)
 21st — $620,000
 22nd — $600,000
 23rd — $580,000 — Brian Harman
 24th — $565,000 — Sungjae Im
 25th — $550,000 — Nick Taylor
 26th — $540,000 — Corey Conners
 27th — $530,000 — Jordan Spieth
 28th — $520,000 — Jason Day
 29th — $510,000 — Emiliano Grillo, Taylor Moore ($505,000 each)
 30th — $500,000

[Mike_Clayton]

So if you blow it you still make more than Jack Nicklaus' entire career earnings?!
Inflation I know but still ......

[Steve_ Shaffer]

"The times, they are a changing......" Bob Dylan

[cary lichtenstein]

Wow, such negativity on this thread.


Let me give you my take on this:
1. I've been watching Victor Hovland this entire year and I'm incredibly impressed with his power and ball striking, looks to me like a genuine superstar possibility
2. His 61 last week, finiishing the back nine with a 28 was an epic come from behind victory
3. So yes, starting today, I asssumed if he shot 70, he would be the clear winner
4. But the front nine birdie fest, 30 to 31 was, "OMG, I don't ever thing I witnessed this before
5. When the birdies kept going in and the lead was down to 3 with 5 holes to play, to me the turning point, a possible meltdown coming?
6. Then Hovland turns it back on and wins by 5 with the final scores 62 and 63.
7. All the while, $18 million is at stake, no one ever won that much in a golf tournament and that had to be a pressure from the get go of the whole FedeX Cup
8. It reminded me of the Watson/Nicklaus 65/66 British Open of 1977 and the Nicklaus/Trevino 1971 British Open.
9. Of course, the 2 above were for Majors and this was merely a meaningless FedeX Cup, but somehow my mind tricked me into loving this. Call me Shallow Cary and I'll take it as a compliment

[Rick Sides]

I was thinking a lot about the pro game this week. Went to watch the Korn Ferry  Tour in Jersey last week and saw so many talented golfers . Some of which use to compete at a high level on the PGA tour . Many of these guys have all the talent to play PGA but I’m convinced it’s the ones who can handle nerves best that make it and thrive . Hovland is cool as a can be. Same affect after each shot good or bad . He’s gonna continue to play amazing

[Rob Marshall]

I think that most of these guys are somewhat immune to feeling the type of nerves that would make them play worse.  They do this every week and have been in competitive golf since they were children.

I always wanted to ask a major champion a question about nerves. I was walking alone with Graeme McDowell during a practice round at the 2013 PGA. He had won the Open at Pebble. I had played Pebble and wanted to know what he felt standing on the 18th tee with a one shot lead. I had the opportunity and choked. Didn't ask. Still mad at myself.

[Pete_Pittock]

Victor Hovland has won more than twice as much money in the last two weeks in comparison with the LIV money leader winnings in all of 2023. Just sayin'.

[Rob Marshall]

Victor Hovland has won more than twice as much money in the last two weeks in comparison with the LIV money leader winnings in all of 2023. Just sayin'.

You would need to add the up front money they received wouldn't you?

[Jim Hoak]

Jon Rahm has criticized people for too much emphasis on the money portion of the Tour.  And I have the same feeling reading these posts.  I thought we were about Golf Course Architecture and Design.  Let's stick to that.  There are other places to chat about Tour happenings.
Sure, money is important, but all of these leading guys are doing fine.  And they are truthfully more about the prestige of winning, not the money as such. 
Rahm is correct that people are focusing on the wrong thing.

[Kalen Braley]

Jon Rahm has criticized people for too much emphasis on the money portion of the Tour.  And I have the same feeling reading these posts.  I thought we were about Golf Course Architecture and Design.  Let's stick to that.  There are other places to chat about Tour happenings.
Sure, money is important, but all of these leading guys are doing fine.  And they are truthfully more about the prestige of winning, not the money as such. 
Rahm is correct that people are focusing on the wrong thing.

While I agree with Rahm in concept...Its a helluva lot easier to say its not about the money when in his case he's already made north of $75 million in his career between TOUR paychecks and endorsements.