More on peformance anxiety from knackered downunder.

Expecting to win and dealing with the accompanying pressures are part of the life of an elite athlete. But what happens when you’re among the elite, but don’t necessarily expect yourself to win?

That’s the dilemma facing Michelle Wie, the extraordinarily talented 17-year-old American golfer, who has set herself the target, so far unsuccessful, of competing against the men in a PGA tour event.

In an interview with ESPN, Kathy Whitworth – a veteran golfer who leads the LPGA Tour with 88 wins – says Wie’s desire to play in men’s tournaments may not be beneficial for her own career or development as an athlete because top sportspeople need to experience pressure and the belief that they will win.

“I feel like at some point, for her sake, she needs to place herself in a competition where she is expected to win. There’s a different mind-set. She will tell you, ‘Well, I don’t feel any pressure,’ because she doesn’t expect to win,” Whitworth told ESPN about Wie’s attempts to make the cut for the PGA.

“There’s a big difference when you are expecting yourself to win and you feel like you should win. That’s where you learn about yourself and how you handle pressure. As far as I can see, she hasn’t put herself there. I wish her well, and I hope it works out for her,” says Whitworth.

In other words, top athletes can’t just see themselves as competitors. They have to see themselves as winners. That’s the motivation which drives them forward. This is echoed in the Karageorghis article from the earlier post.

Australian great Greg Norman’s remarks some 10 years ago provide some idea of the pressures involved when top sportspeople do start winning: “The more you win, the more people expect you to win, so the more pressure you get under. If you’ve won 70-odd tournaments and you tee up and you get in the hunt and you don’t win, people say, ‘Well, look, he didn’t win.’”

Wie had to withdraw from the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship in April because of a wrist injury. The young golfer is in a difficult position as she is cited frequently as a player of exceptional potential and expectations are high. Unfortunately, she has not played well recently. She has not shot under par in the last 14 rounds, which have been played in eight women’s events and six men’s.

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