For Rory McIlroy and the watching world it was easy. All he had to do was roll in a three-foot nine-inch putt on the 18th hole to maintain a share of the lead in the US Open.
On the 16th, he had missed one of less than three feet – his first from 496 attempts within that distance all year.
It is always fine margins. McIlroy lost the US Open and his chance to win his first Major in 10 years.
Jack Nicklaus, winner of 18 Majors, famously said that “I have never missed a putt in my mind.”
As we all know, though, what we see in our mind often does not always translate to the actual occasions when we are under pressure.
The self-doubt, overthinking, paralysis by analysis, shame, fear of failure and the return of images of previous disappointments seep into our psyche. No matter how strong we think we are, pressure points applied can lead us all down a path we don’t want to go.
No-one watching McIlroy expected this to happen to him. I think that is the key here. The expectations we have of him and of what he has of himself are enormous.
He had his collapse back in 2011 when he took a four-shot lead into the final nine holes of the Masters in Augusta before finishing 10 shots behind the winner.
McIlroy spoke after this defeat “I was thinking about what could go right but also thinking about what could go wrong. That is no mental state in which to perform”.
He bounced back in 2011 to win the US Open with a different mental strategy, but this loss feels worse for him.
He is older and I’m not convinced that, with age and experience, pressure and playing the occasion becomes easier. It doesn’t. In fact, it can be the opposite. You realise how finite time is and opportunities don’t come around as often as you want them to.
“I knew the team would get back to this level, but with my injuries I might not be here,” said Richie Hogan, seven-time All-Ireland winner with Kilkenny, who retired from inter-county hurling last September.
He won his last All-Ireland in 2015 and lost finals to Tipperary in 2019 and to Limerick in 2022 and 2023.
Hogan struggled to make the transition from a very successful underage star to that of a senior inter-county hurler.
“The harder I tried the worse I got. The more I practise to get better and perform, the energy saps out of you.
“It was only when I let go of all this that things happen when you weren’t expecting it to happen.”
In other words, he controlled the controllable. He found a way to enjoy playing while removing the pressure he was putting on himself.
If ever a county can identify with what McIlroy is now going through, it has to be Mayo.
For the third time this season, they have allowed defeat to be snatched from the jaws of victory.
They were two points up with eight minutes of normal time remaining in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final and allowed Derry to find a way back into the game.
Shane McGuigan stepped up with a terrific score to bring it back to a one-point game and when Sam Callinan failed to garner the insurance point for Mayo, Chrissy McKaigue nailed the equaliser to bring it to extra-time. It was similar against Dublin in the winner-takes-all clash the previous week.
Mayo were a point ahead with 30 seconds remaining and they allowed Cormac Costello get the equalising score.
In the Connacht final, they were two points ahead in stoppage-time and Galway somehow won the game and silverware.
There is a pattern here in that they have a problem closing out games from a winning position, something manager Kevin McStay readily admitted after the game.
How they deal with this is their food for thought over the next number of months.
As for McIlroy, he intends to be at the Scottish Open next month. I’m sure he has lots of great people around him but a strategy for how he closes out Majors from a winning position will be high on his agenda.
As Mayo well know, the window for success does not stay open infinitely.
For McIlroy, finding a way to balance the clock-ticking and seizing the day is paramount. If he manages to do this in his next Major, it would be wise for Mayo to give him a call.