Motivation often tricky for Sunday also-rans
Sundays on the PGA Tour are not all about champions holding huge cardboard paychecks and galleries swelling around the 18th green to watch the winning putt drop. Well before those on the leader board even tee off, players not in contention must contend with playing 18 holes when no one is looking, and when the difference in prize money between finishing 65th and 66th is pocket change compared with the winner’s share of the purse.
The trick becomes how to stay motivated when trailing the leader by 17 shots with six holes remaining.
Some pros handle the challenge by looking ahead to their next shot, hopeful that it might be the one that sparks their game.
“You can find something on Sunday. You still might finish 50th, but that carries into the next week. It can happen at any time,” Bo Van Pelt said.
Other players mostly look ahead to their next flight.
“I’m not trying to play well at that point. I’m trying to get out of town,” Pat Perez said. “I’m not in the tournament. I’m not where I want to be. So get to the next spot and try to figure it out for next week. There’s nothing more we can do here.”
But what of the fans who come out to follow a particular player? The majority of pros answer that their galleries on Sunday mornings are composed mostly of friends and family.
“There are probably only 10 guys who have 100 people standing around watching every shot they hit,” Stuart Appleby said. “Maybe only five guys, so there is a lot of quiet golf out there.”
Paying customers might not like hearing it, but golf mostly is a solitary sport in which players focus on the specific task in front of them, not the crowds around them.
“If the motivation was having people watching you, then there wouldn’t be a lot of motivation to ever go out on a practice day,” said Stewart Cink, who bases his incentive to play well on Sunday on aggregate results rather than short-term.
“It’s crazy not to stay motivated because your season is based on a cumulative set of performances, and 50th means more than 60th,” he said. “It’s not a lot more, but it’s something. If you’re not motivated, and you go out and shoot 74, the guy next to you might shoot 67 and finish 20th. And you start finishing 20th every week and you’re moving up a little bit.” Perez sees it differently. “If I’ve got four holes left and I’m in 70th place, even if I make two birdies I’m going to go to 66th, so maybe that’s a grand,” Perez said. “In the big scheme of things, if you’re talking FedEx points, it’s literally nothing.”
Appleby stressed, however, that every shot offers a chance to improve.
“You don’t win every week, but you still have to play the golf like you’re trying to do something. You’re trying to develop something and get closer,” he said. “And if you look at the history of tournaments where guys missed the cut and then won the next week, there are hundreds of those. So the next win is not necessarily months away. It could be the next week.
“It was for me. My first win was right after missing the cut, but I missed the cut playing well, if that makes sense. Something was happening.”
Van Pelt said the key to stay mentally involved when teeing off early on Sunday is to set minigoals.
“It’s a game where even the best players lose more than they win, so it’s an internal competition of saying, ‘ What am I working on? Let’s get something out of today,’ ” he said. “Don’t just go through the motions, whether it is improving your wedge game or the speed of your putting or a change of routine, because you never know.”
And if all else fails, there is always the game within the game to help make Sundays more interesting.
“I usually just go and start betting, if you’re like in 40th place, just to keep it interesting,” John Peterson said. “Maybe $100 birdies or $100 two-downs, just to keep yourself in it.”
Especially when you already are out of it.