“Only one,” responds Ángel Hidalgo to the question posed in this headline. And he is referring to Jon Rahm, of course.
There is a well-worn phrase, often repeated in the professional world: “I come to try to win, otherwise I wouldn’t come.” And that’s all well and good. But when it comes down to it, one should ask how many players consciously and even naturally tee off on the 1st on Thursday with the firm conviction that they are going to win. Then, of course, you either win or you don’t. But that’s another matter.
Hidalgo, recent winner of the Open de España, has no problem admitting that he, still, has not reached “that point of going out to play on Thursday with the firm conviction of winning a tournament,” he states.
Jon, on the other hand, literally cannot understand golf any other way. “I find no sense in going to a tournament unless it is with a clear idea of winning it,” he explains. For him, moreover, there is no difference between thinking ‘I want to win this tournament’ and ‘I am going to win the tournament.’ “For me, they are the same thing,” he points out. “In fact, I believe that in the world of golf the difference between a world top ten and the World Number 100 lies more in these kinds of things than in pure talent, which can be similar. If you don’t believe it, no one else will.”
The point is that, afterwards, in day-to-day life, such a mentality is not an indispensable condition. Dan Bradbury, for example, recent winner of the Open de France, admitted immediately after claiming victory that “honestly, my intention upon arriving this week was to make the cut, to secure my playing rights on the European circuit.” It is obvious that the young Englishman did not tee off on the 1st with the full and resolute conviction of winning the tournament.
Adri Arnaus recalls that “when I started playing on the Alps Tour, still as an amateur, I got into the habit of going out with the idea of playing to win. And the truth is it went very well for me. To this day, I try to maintain it,” he notes.
It is difficult to pinpoint how many players, out of the 126 present at this Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters, will go out this Thursday with the healthy and resolute conviction that they are going to win the tournament. Hidalgo believes only Jon Rahm. Arnaus estimates that perhaps “only half” of those 126. “It’s very difficult to give a figure, but if I had to say, maybe I’d go with half,” he explains.
David Puig assures that he tries to approach each tournament, even the majors he has played this year, with a victory mindset, but acknowledges that there is probably a fine line separating those who think ‘I want to win’ from those who are clearer: ‘I am going to win.’ “Well, in the end, you know that here, this week, maybe there are only four or five players who truly feel they are going to win before the tournament starts,” he admits.
Legend has it that Severiano Ballesteros, when he arrived at a tournament and went to register, would glance at the full roster of players and think: “if I beat this one, this one, this one, and this one, I will win the tournament.” Surely he recognised those who, like him, teed off on the 1st on Thursday with a resolute conviction: “I am going to win.”
