Getty Image / Rob Carr
If you look at every great athlete in the history of sports, chances are they have a side of them that comes off as pretentious. You don’t get to the top of the sports world by being Mr. Nice Guy and according to Tiger Woods’ old swing coach Butch Harmon that touch of arrogance is what makes Woods the best.
Harmon, who coached Woods from 1993-2004, took part in an Instagram Live chat with his son Claude and explained that being a prick between the ropes is a must if you want to be among the elite.
“And you got to have a lot of prick in you,” Harmon said on an Instagram Live cha, according to GOLF.
“You have to be that kind of guy when you walk between the ropes. You and I know DJ [Dustin Johnson] as well as anybody. When he walks between the ropes, and Brooks [Koepka] is the same way, Tiger’s the same way, they just want to cut your heart out. They want to beat you. They’ll go to dinner later on, or we’ll have a beer afterwards and joke, but when it comes time to play, I’m going to really get you.”
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“And you can’t teach that. That’s that fight. That’s what the great quarterbacks have in the NFL when they’re coming down the stretch. It’s what [Tom] Brady’s always had, [Joe] Montana and all these great players. The great guys have that. They have that ability to reach inside, and they love the pressure. They thrive on it. They want it.”
Harmon explained that Woods has had that ‘prick’ side of him since the early 90’s when he was still an amateur.
Sure, the greats like Woods still have to put the time in on and off the course to reach that certain status, but they also have that ‘it factor’ and for Woods and other of golf’s biggest stars, having that bit of prick inside of you may actually be that ‘it factor’ after all.