How elite athletes such as Rory McIlroy are learning to keep calm in clutch moments

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golfer to reclaim the Masters title. Last Sunday, the career Grand Slam winner joined an exclusive list alongside Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods in going back-to-back at Augusta. He led by a record six shots after two rounds, but in typical McIlroy fashion, he was determined not to do it the easy way. Some bumpier moments — not as many as in 2025 — came over the weekend, but McIlroy stayed the course to finish 12 under par, one stroke better than two-time champion Scottie Scheffler. On the 72nd hole, McIlroy, whose driving accuracy had been poor by his high standards throughout the tournament, found the trees on the 18th hole. The spike in his heart rate proved he was feeling the pressure. From data released by Whoop — the wearable technology company that McIlroy is an investor in and whose green band he was wearing on his right wrist throughout the tournament — the 36-year-old’s heart rate rose to 135 beats per minute (BPM). As he walked to locate his ball for his second shot, McIlroy brought his heart rate down to 121 BPM. The shot from closer to the 10th fairway found a bunker and led to McIlroy’s heart rate spiking to 136 BPM as he chipped out onto the green. To put his Green Jacket back on as champion, McIlroy had two putts to avoid a play-off with Scheffler. That cushion was reflected in his heart rate, which dropped to 117 BPM on the first putt. It was down to 105 BPM as he tapped in from a few inches out to seal victory. As he became a six-time major winner, his heart rate jumped to 150 BPM and he let out a roar. To be able to calm and lower your heart rate in high-pressure moments can mean the difference between winning and losing. But how do athletes do it? McIlroy keeps his mouth shut before clutch moments.  “McIlroy has talked about walking on the course in between shots just reminding himself to close his mouth, to take calm nasal breaths to regulate the nervous system, because we get different signals to the brain when we’re breathing through the mouth compared to through the nose,” says David Jackson, a breath work expert, coach and author. Jackson retired as a professional rugby union player when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2013. In the years that followed, he became a breathwork mentor to elite athletes. He has worked with a number of high-profile athletes, including the England women’s international soccer team, who in the past four years have won two European Championships, either side of reaching a World Cup final under manager Sarina Wiegman. “Every single breath you take influences your heart rate,” Jackson, who has recently published a book called ‘Breathe Smarter, Run Stronger’, says. “On the inhale, your heart rate naturally speeds up, and on the exhale, it naturally slows down. So when you then understand how to use your breathing, you can manipulate your heart rate. “Doing something as simple as trying to control and slow down your exhalation and your overall breathing cycle helps to calm your nervous system. Spending more time trying to gently elongate the exhale a little bit can bring your heart rate down.” Jackson says one common mistake athletes can make is breathing too hard or taking in more air than is needed, particularly in sports such as golf, darts, and snooker, which are less cardiovascularly demanding. “If we’re trying to calm ourselves down, we don’t always necessarily need more air. We just need to breathe in a mechanical way that’s calmer and slower,” he says. “What we’re talking about is the relationship that breathing has with our nervous system and our stress response. And in this instance (when referring to McIlroy), that’s not related to a need for more oxygen, we just need a calmer breath. We want to send signals to the brain saying ‘we’re safe, everything is OK, let’s just perform the skill that we’ve practiced thousands of times.'” Jackson says there are three key factors when it comes to perfecting the art of breathing in a high-pressure environment. “No 1 is being able to control your respiratory rate, that’s the kingpin, the key domino that is going to affect absolutely everything else. “And then the other two things are linked. The second one being the rib cage and the alignment of it, because your rib cage houses your lungs, but the bottom of the rib cage houses your diaphragm, and that’s the third one, your diaphragm. “You want to be able to activate your diaphragm. You want your inhalation to be drawn from your diaphragm because that’s going to draw air into the most efficient parts of your lungs.” In terms of post-performance breathing, Jackson says those protocols can be important for athletes to practice to help bring calm and improve sleep quality. According to Whoop, McIlroy had no problem with sleep over the Masters weekend. He averaged eight-and-a-half hours per night and had more than nine hours before the final day. “That is within the target window of what I would recommend for elite athletes,” Cheri D. Mah, a sleep physician and performance specialist, says. “The national U.S. recommendation is for every adult to minimally get seven hours of sleep every night to prevent health risks and performance decrements, but that’s the lower threshold. “If you told me he’s getting six hours every night, then I would say that short-term sleep loss definitely could have an impact on decision-making or reaction time and the ability to execute sport-specific skills.” Mah has worked with a long list of elite talent in the United States and globally, including Olympians and basketball’s Golden State Warriors. She worked with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles in the lead-up to their 2017 Super Bowl victory, and for the past three years, she has been working with the Seattle Seahawks, who won the Super Bowl in February. “I’ve worked with them to develop a more comprehensive sleep program for the organization,” Mah says. “And part of that is travel and schedule. And then part of it is individual athletes because the rookie player has a very different lifestyle and habits than a veteran. “When they go to the highest level, it’s really thrilling to see because it’s typically a whole year of investment around sleep. I tell them you can’t wait until the Super Bowl to care about sleep. It’s what you do every single day throughout the whole year that is going to add up and make a big difference, so that you have the ability to perform when it matters.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Caoimhe O'Neill is a Sports Writer for The Athletic who covers a variety of sports including football, golf, tennis and more. ​She is a University of Liverpool graduate who started her journalism career at her local newspaper, the Liverpool Echo. Caoimhe​ (pronounced kee-va) joined The Athletic as a Liverpool writer in 2020 and relocated to London to cover sports more generally in the summer of 2023. ​Her passion is telling stories about where sports meets culture. In 2026 she was promoted from Staff Writer to Sports Writer​. Follow Caoimhe on Twitter @CaoimheSport