One Hand on The Trophy

ARIYA JUTANUGARN AND HER US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP (July, 2018)

Three Lessons from her Near Collapse at Shoal Creek

1. BOUNCE BACK MENTALITY

Ariya Jutanugarn went into the back 9 on Sunday at the 2018 Women's US Open with a SEVEN shot lead. She tripled #10 (!!), and ended up shooting 41 on the back 9, putting herself in a tie with Hyo-Joo Kim. She survived a 4 hole playoff, getting up and down from the back right bunker on 18, under immense pressure!

This win took a lot of emotional resilience, toughness, patience and self awareness to fight through the playoff and eventually win despite the near collapse.  It was really impressive to have such a crazy swing in the final round (she definitely had at least one hand on the trophy after 63 holes!), and then to capitalize with a difficult up & down under such pressure in the playoff is so impressive!

Here is a great video interview talking about her mindset through the back nine and how she battled through the difficult stretch of holes:

  Bounce Back Mentality - Interview via the Golf Channel

A statement that stands out to me:  "Keep moving onto the next shot, and then you can be proud of yourself" -- Ariya

I'm assuming she means, no matter the outcome, if you can focus on the shot at hand, you can be proud. I love this -- it wasn't the outcome (hoisting that trophy!) that will create pride for her, but staying focused on the process of hitting each shot at hand, that would. And, it's not about making someone else proud  -- it's about making herself proud.

2. KNOWING YOUR "WHY"

This is a great article on Ariya's WHY. You should explore and know your WHY when you play competitive golf at a high level, or aspire to do so.  Many assume it's for the trophies, money, recognition -- but that can be very superficial and short lived.  For Ariya (who worked very hard to discover this about herself),  it's about inspiring a younger generation in Thailand to have a better life. Perhaps this is why she was able to dig so deep on Sunday afternoon. Thanks so Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriot at Vision54 for inspiring this perpective!

Ariya's WHY (Golfweek Article)

3. COMPETITION

And finally -- a neat story on competition! The announcers were giving Ariya a really hard time for clapping if Hyo Joo hit a really good shot in the playoff. They were shocked and dismayed! Paul Azinger went so far as to say that she's conceded the trophy! I actually have a very different take on this -- Ariya just loves competition.

As Brett Ledbetter in his book, What Drives Winning states, compete comes from the Latin word, competere. Competere is defined as: To strive together. Which means, performance increases when others challenge us. We NEED people to push us to a level that we couldn't get to on our own. Ariya respects her competitors, because they push her to the level of play shown during the US Open. What a great way to re-frame competition to really drive success! So, thank those competitors, win or lose because with out them, we likely aren't as good.