2 Do you struggle to close out a medal round?

In 2013, Shaun Murphy couldn’t make a maximum break of 147 on TV. Any time he got close, he would literally be shaking with nerves. So we recreated the 147 routine with three reds and the colours and started on 96.

The first time was at a packed Urmston Con. Club in Manchester. He potted the first red and I shouted “97”. He potted the black and I started clapping and bellowed “104”.

He burst out laughing and said that he was shaking like a leaf. It took him nine attempts to clear the table from just three reds left. We videoed it. He would watch it regularly and added it to his routine. The following January, he recorded a live maximum where he felt a little bit nervous but was expecting to do it. Three months later he was the first player to record three maximums in a calendar year. You can do the same when you want to finish off a medal round. Get the scorecard out and run through every hole on the front nine. Fill in the card like you’ve just played it, going through every shot. Now start at the 10th, but mentally you’re five-under. You will be creating memory files in preparation for when it starts to happen for real. Keep doing it again and again. Eventually, you’ll start to get comfortable as your brain recreates those files and doesn’t fire off all those unwelcome thoughts and feelings.