How a change in mindset led to this pro’s breakthrough win

Lucas Herbert has added three worldwide titles to his resume over the last two years. The 26-year-old Aussie is currently ranked No. 50 in the world, and on this week’s episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, he explained how a change in mindset helped propel him to his first big win at the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Herbert began by explaining that at the previous week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, he opened with rounds of 69-69 to get into contention heading into the weekend, then finished with 76-75 to end up T67.

“I’m like, there’s something missing here,” Herbert said. “Something is going on here where I’m like, I used to turn that into, like, I’d be the last group. And now I’m back of the field making up the numbers. Something is missing here.”

Herbert said he was putting too much pressure on himself to prove to people he had potential to win a lot, and the desire to win superseded everything else.

“I couldn’t let things sort of happen,” he said.

The next week, he and his team decided to switch gears. Their goal for the week? Finishing in the top 40.

Instruction

“We had this list of goals: top 40, top 30, top 20, top 10, top 5, top 3, win. It was this big list of goals for the year,” Herbert said. “It felt so silly to be like, top 40. But all the sudden it’s like, play well Thursday, Friday, and it’s like, we’ve got a good chance of ticking of some goals here, rather than sitting there going, I’ve gotta make this happen, I’m playing good, I’ve gotta win this time. It was like, no, we can tick off like three goals this weekend.

“All the sudden, Saturday feels different,” Herbert continued. “We play good Saturday, start playing good Sunday, I’m sitting there thinking, we can finish top 5 here, there’s like six ticks I can put on my goals. First event of the year, how good is this?”

Herbert claimed the clubhouse lead, as big names in contention like Bryson DeChambeau fell away. Herbert made the playoff, and his positive mindset continued. He ultimately prevailed over Christiaan Bezuidenhout on the second playoff hole.

“It was hilarious that the first time in three years that I haven’t sat there and gone like, I wanna win, I wanna win, I wanna win, and I win the tournament,” Herbert said.

For more from Herbert and Harmon, including how playing with the world’s best inspired Herbert, and the pros and cons of learning the game on Australian courses, check out the full interview below.