June 10, 2014. Shiv Kapur’s focussing on his mental game to make it to the leader mix at the US Open at Pinehurst and spending a lot of time with golf’s ‘mind guru’ Dr Bob Rotella. Given golf is a sport of confidence and conviction just as much physical competence, getting a few tips from Rotella are bound to lift Kapur’s approach to his maiden US Open game.
[Also Read: Kapur’s US Open Pairings ]
“I am taking a few lessons from Bob to help me get a fix on how to ‘think’ the course,” said Kapur in an exclusive interview with golfingindian.com
Rotella counts “believe you can win” and “beat them with patience” among his top rules to win a Major tournament. In a previous piece in the Golf Digest in 2009, Rotella shared what it takes to be a winner. He also shares that sticking to your own strategy, approach and swing brings the most benefits and that “unsolicited swing advice should be avoided.” The mind game is probably the hardest part about golf learning and it is believed focussing on this does change the player’s state and mood as they go into the tournament. Kapur is hoping that having fixed his shots over the last year and a half with Italian coach Alberto Binaghi, he would find this additional training in the mental game an added advantage.
[Scoop: Shiv Kapur’s detailed interview on US Open entry]
Kapur, India’s only entry in the US Open this year will be tied with Maximillan Kieffer of Germany and Liang Wen CHONG from China. These bunch of players have a few interesting milestones between them. Kapur’s playing this Major for the first time after having played the British Open twice.
