Leading into the the last round of a major tournament is one of the greatest tests of nerves, especially if it’s the British Open
GOLF: Mark Lamport-Stokes
AMERICAN golfer Mike Reid, on leading the 1989 US PGA going into the decisive fourth round, expressed a common human reaction to the pressure-cooker situation in which he found himself.
“You always have butterflies in your stomach,” he said at the time, “but these butterflies are playing hockey!”
History will recall that those energetic butterflies won that particular battle — but only just. Reid finished joint second that year, alongside fellow- Americans Andy Bean and Curtis Strange. The always dapper and plus-foured Payne Stewart finished one stroke ahead of them on 276 to secure his first win in a major.
Pressure affects different players in different ways and it is surprising how subjective can be the views of some of the world’s pre-eminent golfers on the matter.
Tom Lehman had to handle mounting pressure with great character and determination in the British Open golf championship last Sunday on his way to becoming the first ever American professional to lift the Claret jug at Royal Lytham.
He may have enjoyed an excellent six-shot cushion from the rest of the field going into that last round, but his closest challenger, three-time Open champion Nick Faldo, had overhauled exactly the same deficit to win this year’s Masters title as the then overnight leader Greg Norman self-destructed in psychedelic technicolour.
Lehman’s win in this year’s Open was a universally popular achievement for a most likeable golfer who has paid his dues, in pro-speak, in the golfing majors. The 37-year-old from Minnesota was runner-up in the 1994 US Masters to Spain’s Jose-Maria Olazabal, third to Corey Pavin in the 1995 US Open, and he finished second to close friend Steve Jones in this year’s US Open after leading going into the final round.
Yet, on the eve of Lehman’s two-stroke victory over South Africa’s Ernie Els and American Mark McCumber at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s, his peers were at variance in predicting just how he would handle the last day pressures.
Golfing great Jack Nicklaus felt that Lehman, along with his playing partner Nick Faldo, would not be feeling any pressure at all. McCumber said that Lehman would not sleep easily that night with everything to lose. Mark McNulty said he would certainly feel the pressure, and Greg Norman hinted at capitulation in saying that Lehman had not taken his chances in similar situations before.
“Hell, they’re not under pressure at all,” Nicklaus said about Lehman and Faldo after the third round. “They are having fun and anyone who is successful will look at it that way. Some guys let it get to them but not Lehman and Faldo. Tom Lehman is also a very good front runner. Faldo might shoot a very low score and might catch Lehman, but I don’t think you will see Lehman throw it away.”
McCumber was more cautions: “Tom has tremendous tenacity, although it’s hard to sleep on a lead because you have everything to lose. When you are behind, you have nothing to lose; you fear making mistakes when you want something as precious. It’s like having something precious in your hands and you might drop it. But Tom has character.”
“I’m sure he will feel the pressure,”” McNulty said, “it doesn’t matter how far you are ahead in this tournament — it is the British Open and all kinds of things can happen. Plus, Tom is playing with Nick (Faldo) — all-in-all, it’s going to be a tough last round.”
And Norman, the Sigmund Freud of golfing collapses in majors, offered: “The last 10 or 11 holes are difficult to play. It’s the guy with the momentum who will come through. Tom Lehman has been close many times but he hasn’t converted yet.”
As it turned out, all four men were partly right and partly wrong. Lehman was nervous — who wouldn’t be in a similar predicament — but he was able to grind out a stubborn victory on Sunday in the face of sporadic broadsides over the front nine from Faldo and the American duo of Fred Couples and Mark Brooks.
Then, over the early part of the closing holes, Lehman had to withstand a genuine assault from a flying Els. And all this when Lehman was suffering from the loss of his own form and rhythm on that final day.
“It was a struggle and I did not play that well,” Lehman said afterwards, “but I stuck it out and I came through. It wasn’t pretty, but it was gritty. It was a very long day — a day I thought would never end.
“I started the day not feeling comfortable with my swing or with my putting. And, when you putt poorly, it affects the rest of your game. But, on 10 and 11, I felt more comfortable. Then at 12, I hit my best shot of the week with a four iron for a birdie. That gave me a big lift.”
Lehman admitted that he did not get too nervous until he three-putted the par-four 14th from the apron of the green. “I looked at the leaderboard once in a while — probably every two holes — and saw I was never behind. But three-putting there from 45 feet really took the wind out of my sails.”
But, fortunately for Lehman, just when it seemed that the inspired golf crafted by Els round the turn would continue, the tall South African made crucial errors on both 16 and 18.
Although Lehman had come close to winning a major on three previous occasions, it is a huge psychological step up to know that you have it within you to convert the next opportunity when it comes around. Lehman’s peers may not have been unanimous in giving him that vote of confidence going into the fourth round — yet Lehman knew he had it within himself two years ago. “One of the biggest things for my confidence was actually losing to Olazabal in the Masters in 1994,” he recalls. “It was my first time in a situation like that —going into Sunday in the lead — and I felt like I held up pretty well.
“If I could do it again, I’d sure do things differently but, all-in-all, it was a pretty positive experience. At that point, I knew I was capable of winning a major championship.”
Confidence and real grit when the chips are down helped Lehman to his Open championship title on Sunday —as well as one remaining fear.
“For the past couple of years, the press have described me as the “nearly man” — and you never like to read that you cannot win the big one. That’s always been my fear — to have on my gravestone: `Tom Lehman could not win the big one’. It means a lot to me that I no longer have that tag.”