The following are excerpts from an article entitled It Was Over Long Before It Was Over By DAVE ANDERSON inMondays August 13, 2007New York Times Sports page. Tiger Woods epitomizes what Dweck calls theGrowth Mindset. I have always been very impressed by how handlespressure and how he conducts interviews. There are many lessons to belearned from this great athlete.
Ofall the elements in Woods?s wizardry, the most impressive has been hisgift for what he called the ?art of winning?: to stay steady in thepressure cooker of the back nine, or to thwart a challenge. Nobody doesit better. And he knows it.
?Iknow what to do when I?m in that situation, I know what it takes,? hepredicted Saturday evening after his 69 in the third round. ?There?s acertain feel that you get out there that you can understand what theguys could do and are capable of doing on the back nine, the round, howthe wind?s blowing. You just get a certain feel for what the number?sgoing to be that day. And a lot of times I?ve called the number andI?ve been pretty good on it.?
Butlike all golfers, Woods had to lose to learn that art of winning. Ofhis 264 events as a pro, he has won 79 (59 on the PGA Tour), but therewere 185 that he didn?t win. And for all his amateur and juniorsuccess, including a six-year streak of three United States Amateursand three United States Juniors, there were many more tournaments thathe did not win.
?Ithink it?s a process of learning,? he said. ?A lot of junior andamateur events I played in, I didn?t win that many. But you live andlearn. You apply that knowledge. And over the years when I?ve putmyself in position to win, I think I?ve done a better job of that asI?ve matured.?