Achieving a good place in mental health is always a work in progress. Even for athletes, who face the social pressure of always putting up a good performance, balancing their game and mental well-being is a tough job. And recently, a PGA Tour pro who has made a massive comeback after his mental health struggles has set an example for others.

This week at the Tour’s $8.4 million Fortinet Championship, he leads the event by two strokes. And as he gains attention for his reviving performance, the golfer is using his spotlight to further shed light on his recent hurdles, hoping to help others facing the same!

2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship winner opens up about mental health struggles

For PGA Tour pro Lucas Herbert, the fear of the results was holding him back from performing well. In the first round yesterday, he shot a 9-under 63, which also included six straight birdies. In fact, his putts totaled a whopping 144 feet during round one. But this great performance wasn’t always the case for Herbert.

The Australian pro enjoyed his first victory on the Tour in 2021 in his third start at the 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. He soon started participating in big events, but the results were unsatisfactory. The bad turnout took a toll on him. After he missed the cut in this year’s Open Championship, he chose to take a break.

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It was not an easy decision for a 27-year-old athlete who is just getting started. But things were in dire need of a review on the personal front. Herbert didn’t like the direction in which his personality was headed. “I think I’d become probably a bitter and spiteful person. I was wound up pretty tight and kind of lashed out at people around me too quickly, too easily,”  he stated, completely self-aware.

Waiting to break free of those negative feelings, Herbert took seven weeks off, and he didn’t touch his golf clubs for an entire month. And the time off is showing its effect this week. After the first round on Thursday, he leads the event, and while he may owe it all to his break, it was one of the toughest choices of his life!

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The hardships the PGA Tour pro faced while contemplating his break

Herbert chose to spend this time with his girlfriend’s family in Maine. There, he involved himself in a bunch of hobbies he couldn’t do before. He learned to play the guitar and finished up various projects in a new house in Orlando, which he bought in March. But it was the toughest decision he had to make.

“It’s pretty hard to take any time off in the middle of the season. Go and tell me to miss Memorial; I’m never going to do that; it’s such an amazing event, but it was probably what I needed at the time,” he stated, now glad that he had taken that call. “I just didn’t have the ability to go and do that.”

Disconnecting from what he was obsessing over worked like a treat for the pro, and now he returns to the Tour with a fresh perspective and revived mind, hungry for victory once more.

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