Although D. Johnson has performed poorly in some big spots (US Open a few years back), I tend to agree that his general demeanor suggests he will learn from those failures, not feel sorry for himself. I think the same thing about Jason Dufner (Raymond Floyd 2.0?).

To pile on Sergio (don’t like the guy, what can I tell you), I specifically rememebr him after losing the PGA to Paddy Harrington saying something to the effect of “Everyone else gets a good lie, I don’t. Everyone else hits the hole and goes in, mine spins out.” I was stunned that a professional athlete would take such a view.

I coached grade school basketball for a few years when I got back from college. Every year, very early on, I found myself giving a variation on the same speech to the players (and sometimes the parents): “I am pleased to be the one to tell you one of the great truths in life: when you go to high school, you won’t like some of your teachers; when you go to college, you won’t like some of your professors; when you get a job, you won’t like some of your bosses. And when you play sports, you won’t like some of the refs. too bad, you still have to go to class, you still have to go to work, you still have to play the game. Accept it, don’t let it deter you, succeed anyway. No more complaining about refs, ever. its wasted energy.” I won’t say it cut out the complaining completely, but they soon learned I was not going to sympathize with “the refs did it” as an excuse.

But also the move of a winner. I often think in these situations of the perennially underachieving Sergio Garcia’s attitude after losing some big golf tournaments. He always made sure to complain about getting bad breaks, bad luck etc… and I always thought that his attitutude was part of his problem. McCarthy’s mindset: that we will move on and not complain about the past, is bound to be picked up by his team and ensure that one loss doesn’t spiral into many losses. Good teams accept that bad things will happen and not get shook by them.

=—Amen brother