what makes tiger clutch?

have you seen that tiger commercial? the one where his father is explaining how he made tiger tough. how he used to make noises during his backswing to disrupt his concentration. how tiger used to step back, recompose himself and proceed to hit a monster shot, as to rub it in his dad's face. the one where his father says to him, 'no one is going to be tougher than you.'

that toughness was on display during the 108th us open at torrey pines in s. california over the weekend. mere minutes ago, tiger parred the first hole of a sudden death playoff (the 7th hole) to win his 14th major championship at age 32. i repeat... his fourteenth. jack nicklaus won 18, his 18th coming at age 46. tiger is at 14 in his prime.

tiger is in class of his own, in any sport, in any era. his achievements are singular. but what makes him so great? people throw out words like clutch, but i'm not sure what that means. i do know this... tiger is 14-0 now when at least sharing a lead after 54 holes in a major. he has, however, never won a major when trailing after 54 holes.

you know that feeling when you're at the foul line with 1 second left on the clock down by 1 with one shot left. having a 8 foot putt on the 18th that breaks 2 inches left to force a playoff and being able to sink that putt like you would at any other time. some people, when the pressure is on, only make it 50% of the time and some people make it 99%. that's clutch.

i define clutch as the ability to NOT fold under pressure. the ability to be who you are when all eyes are on you.

tiger is clutch. he had so many putts and shots these past two days that could have ended his dominance at majors with a lead. but he always made the ones he needed to make. the 8 foot putts he always makes on a normal day? he made them on sunday and today when millions of eyes were on him. that's clutch... that's the toughness that makes him tiger. without it, he'd merely be the best golfer in the world, not the greatest golfer ever.

every professional athlete has talent. the superstars are fortunate enough to have immense talent. but what defines a truly great player is not always talent above and beyond... it is that ability to come through when it counts, not because of luck or chance, but because your ability dictates that you succeed and your mind follows suit. for anyone who was lucky enough to watch tiger play this weekend, it was surely a treat... one of the greatest performances we've ever seen by one of the greatest athletes this world has ever known.