Sergio Garcia:  Excuse Maker or Mentally Tough?  

By Dr. Jack Singer

Certified Sport Psychologist

Sergio Garcia is leading the 2007 British Open for the first three days.  And then, the all too familiar fourth day, when Sergio let the lead slip away and lost in a four hole playoff. 

When asked to comment on his performance, Sergio began by discussing chronic issues he has had playing the majors and the reality of being o for 36 in those tournaments.  

"I should write a book on how to not miss a shot in the playoff and shoot one over. It's the way it is, I guess. It's not news in my life."

In analyzing this comment, the professional Sport Psychologist can quickly conclude that Sergio has a pessimistic orientation regarding events in his sport and therefore, he is likely to repeat his frustrations. A pessimistic orientation means the athlete looks at his/her unfortunate outcomes as chronic problems related to his skill and resultant performance. "Choking" behavior becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, which leads to more choking behavior in similar situations.  

So for Sergio, making these kinds of statements sets him up for the anxiety and worry that will almost guarantee similar results in majors down the road. 

Optimism/Pessimism expert Martin Seligman's research shows that pessimistic athletes (and teams) believe that losses and even poor performance during crunch time reflect their ultimate inability to succeed when facing the same situation again. These athletes have learned to feel helpless in terms of controlling their performance, and thus they feel almost fatalistic and have no control over their success or failure. 

Mental Toughness

On the other hand, optimistic athletes look at the same negative events as temporary setbacks, and as opportunities to actually re-focus and crank up their performance the next time they play. They recognize that they actually have ultimate control over their internal dialogue and how they view negative events. For example, they may "blame" a playoff loss on unusual, temporary situations, such as the weather or the crowd as reasons for their poor performance. They recognize that the next time out, they can change their thinking, re-focus on their game plan, and have a good chance to grasp victory. Although it can be argued that these athletes are not taking responsibility and are excuse-making, years of research shows that doing this leads to consistently successful performance! 

Sergio Garcia is actually on his way there. He blended pessimistic thinking (as above) with optimistic thinking, when he "blamed" his performance on the 18^th on group in front of him playing bunker shots in regulation. Sergio said the bunkers on the 18^th were not raked in time by the course workers. 

"It was tough mainly because I don't feel like I did anything wrong."

Again, some may criticize Sergio for failing to mention how his lead evaporated with three bogeys in four holes on the front nine, for example.  But, to ignore those events and focus on unusual circumstances to explain his unfortunate performance is THE ESSENCE OF OPTIMISITC MENTAL TOUGHNESS.   

If Sergio eliminates the self-blame, fatalistic thinking and sticks to the temporary, never-to-repeat "excuses" for his performance, he will surly continue to be a winner…even in the majors!

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