Imagine 5 minutes before your first Big Break Ka'anapali challenge of the day, you discover that $20,000 is on the line.
How would you feel given it is the largest check you've ever received? Imagine what it would mean to win that money with just one chip, putt or pitch? How would you play under that kind of pressure?
Probably NOT your best...
Certainly Susan "Short Game Wizard" Choi missed some shots that she'd proven time and again she could pull off under pressure. But tonight just may have been too much for her - Susan is going home...
Another player who was feeling the pressure was the winner of the big purse, Lori Atsedes. She knows exactly how it felt then to "play for dough" and also how it felt today to watch the show months later and discover the winner was also pegged as the "Queen of Mean" by one of the shows hosts. Was she expecting to see what she saw tonight?
Let's hear it from her...
I want to apologize for some of the less than clear audio in the middle of Lori's interview. At one point I lost sound completely, so I couldn't share part that in the video.
But to summarize what she said, so you don't miss some great commentary...
When I asked Lori about her "I wasn't thinking straight" comment before the 5th chip shot challenge, she said, "At that point I was thinking, Oh my gosh, I could win $20,000!!! I've got to get my head in the right place. Instead of getting caught up in the prize and caught up in the money, I still had a job to do. It's like rehearsing your acceptance speech on the first hole and you haven't played the17 in between. That's a big chunk of money for any of us - you can get caught up in the prize."
On the elimination challenge, we heard Lori say, "I'm not going to let this chance to beat Christina go by the wayside." I asked her if it was because she felt Christina was the toughest competitor or something more personal. Well...I was pretty surprised to find out from Lori that she said those words in a previous show and they were taken out of that context and put in this show, Well well....that's very sneaky, don't you think?
Finally when I asked her what it was like later that night after such as stressful day, she shared this, "It was uncomfortable, and as much as everyone off camera tried to make it right, tried to get through the situation and not have everyone mad at everybody, it wasn't working. Nobody could say anything that was going to make the situation better. It was a situation that escalated and the snowball had turned into a snowman. And no matter what anyone says at this point, it's not going to help. So everyone was really sticking to themselves."
Never a dull moment pretty well wraps up tonight's episode. I can't wait to see what next week brings! Come back a bit later and see how Susan felt about her elimination this week and what Christina has to say about her "endurance challenges" in just another day in paradise.
Golfgal
www.golfgal-blog.com
