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A Longitudinal Study of “Choking” in Professional Golfers

2007; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 105; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2466/pms.105.3.827-837

1558-688X

Russell D. Clark,

Sports Performance and Training

This study followed the performance of 35 professional golfers who played from 1997 to 2004 on the Professional Golfers Association Tour (PGA Tour) and investigated whether any players were prone to “choke” when placed in high-pressure situations. Choking was defined as a player having significantly higher than expected final round scores and being less likely than other professional golfers to win when in contention to win tournaments. Analysis yielded no support for a choking under pressure hypothesis. None of the players when in contention to win were both more likely to have higher than expected scores in the final round and less likely to win than other professional golfers in the sample. Limitations of the study were mentioned.