Rick:
A personal bias -- I really don't like the word. I think it's used much too often, usually much too quickly, to describe the performance (or lack thereof) of top-level athletes. I believe, without any insight other than my observation of athletes, that they choke far, far less than most folks think, or ascribe them as doing.
My own theory is that there is an incredibly fine line between a very top performance and something less than perfection that yields a mediocre or less-than-desired result -- a 7-iron hit a bit too thin that flies the green, a pitch that just misses the inside corner on a 3-2 count with the bases loaded, a football thrown just over the fingertips of a receiver. Performing at that level, it seems to me, takes an incredible skill set of coordination, timing, mental fortitude, patience and urgency (e.g., Ted Williams summed up his approach to batting in six words: wait, wait, wait -- quick, quick, quick). Throw any of those out of balance just a bit, and the result is often something less than great and often dramatic -- bogey instead of birdie, runs scored vs. outs, touchdowns vs. punting. And it happens all the time in sports (Tiger missing what was described as an incredibly easy putt on the 18th green Sat.), by every athlete.
I think true choking -- which I'd describe as a near-complete breakdown of skills in the face of intense pressure -- doesn't happen all that often. Calc's topped iron at the 17th at Kiawah at the 91 Ryder Cup comes to mind. But not that many others. Even Van de Velde doesn't strike me as completely choking -- he made a series of really bad decisions, I'd argue, because he'd never been in that situation before, and got one really bad break (the ricochet off the stands into the tall grass), but I'd sooner describe Calc's shot as more of a choke than Van de Velde's 18th. (The best announcing I've ever heard about a golf tournament came from Curtis Strange that day, who simply called Van de Velde "dumb;" he was right.)
I don't think Steinhauer -- on a day with wind, rain, and 50-degree temps -- missing a three-footer is a choke. Yes, it's magnified for all to comment on and ascribe as a choke, but I think she just missed a short putt at a bad time.
Lloyd:
I've seen Dylan three times on stage -- he was simply wonderous one night, pretty good the other, and sort of disinterested the third. I ascribed the first two to his general talent, and the last one to the knowledge that the guy has been doing this for 40-plus years, and is bound to have a bad night or two.