Under pressure: Tiger at the Masters

The World

It’s been over four months since the story of his extramarital affairs made headlines all over the world, and now, Tiger Woods will get back to golf.

Tiger Woods is the master of staying cool on the golf course. He’s finished 1st on the PGA tour 71 times, but people tend to forget that he loses games too. And this week sets high stakes for the golfer as the world watches. So will the pressure get to him or help him focus?

We talk about why pro-athletes, experts and, let’s face it? most of us, choke when the pressure is really on. (Remember that speech you had to make in college, where you flubbed the most important line?)

Jonah Lehrer, author of ?How We Decide? and ?Proust was a Neuroscientist? and Sian Beilock, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and author of the forthcoming book, ?Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal about Success and Failure at Work and at Play? say if Tiger is able to replicate his ability to stand up to pressure in the past, the added stress of his sex scandal shouldn’t hurt his game.

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