Sports psychologists say one of the healthiest tools in an athlete’s arsenal is a prolific sense of visualization.
According to several studies from the NIH, visualization can help elite athletes strengthen neural pathways, improve muscle memory, and prepare for high-leverage situations better than their in-the-moment counterparts. In other words, according to those who best understand the inner workings of elite athletes, seeing the future can literally help you achieve it.
The problem, if you’re a pro like Nico Echavarria? Well, you don’t frequently see the future.
“Not very often,” the 31-year-old pro said Sunday. “I can’t remember the last time I told [my wife] I was going to win a tournament.”
As the 31-year-old pro explained Sunday evening, his experiences as either Raven Symone or Nostradamus have, to date, been few and far between. But that changed last week, when Echavarria approached his (newly minted) wife Claudia, and financial advisor, John Koufax, with an unusual prediction.
“Yeah, we were at an event in the afternoon at Panther National with the Evans Scholar Foundation,” Echavarria said. “I told them, ‘Hey, I think I can win this week.’ I played the Bear’s Club in the morning. I hit it really good. I played well.”
Call it an earned extra dose of confidence or a brief glimpse into Sunday evening, but Echavarria’s prediction proved telling. Up the road from the Bear’s Club and Panther National, at PGA National, Echavarria made his prediction come true (with a little help). He fired three mid-60s rounds in four days at the Cognizant Classic, including a thrilling Sunday 66, to claim his third PGA Tour victory in Palm Beaches by two shots on Sunday evening.
Echavarria’s win did not come without its own dose of drama. His victory came after the shocking, late-stage struggles of Shane Lowry, who carried a massive lead into the famed “Bear Trap” and went on to lose by two. But it was the fulfillment of his own prophecy nonetheless — even if he might not have viewed it quite that clearly.
“I had this feeling that things were starting to click,” Echavarria said. “I played well in Riviera. Unfortunately I didn’t make a single putt and missed the cut by one, but I knew that coming into Bermuda greens, it was going to be my forte of putting on a different surface.”
With the benefit of a comfortable putting surface and a tee time close to home, Echavarria’s dream became reality on Sunday evening. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise to hear that’s just how he envisioned it.
“I think the rain helped me with the greens. I struggled a little bit on Friday with how crunchy they were, and I think the surfaces on Saturday and Sunday were absolutely perfect,” Echavarria said. “Very happy with moving down here, winning this event, and representing my country.”
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