Could it be that in his enforced absence from the game after reconstructive knee surgery, Tiger Woods will find time to read Dr Bob Rotella’s new book about golf “in the clutch” - the secrets to a player’s ability to perform under intense pressure?

If the world No 1 does read the book - Your 15th Club: The Inner Secret to Great Golf - he might take particular interest in one phrase that jumps off the page in the second chapter. “Tiger hits so many crooked shots with his driver that I sometimes think he’s got the yips with that club,” Rotella, the author of the bestselling Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, writes.

While such sentiments could normally be guaranteed to rile Woods - and probably will - Rotella’s point here is central to the book. In this instance, the fifteenth club is a colossal self-belief, an inner arrogance that sets Woods apart from the rest.

“If Tiger thought that success required him to drive the ball into the fairway every time he got into contention - the clutch - how many tournaments would he have won?” Rotella asks. “Players with confidence believe that, even without flawless golf, they’ll find a way to win.”

And was there ever a better example than Woods’s victory in the US Open Championship at Torrey Pines last month? Playing on one leg, starting with a double bogey at the 1st hole (a feat he repeated twice more at that hole) and coming to the 72nd hole requiring a birdie to get into a play-off with Rocco Mediate, Woods eventually found a way to win. He simply would not be beaten.

Not surprisingly, Rotella puts Annika Sorenstam, the winner of ten women’s majors, in the same class as Woods. “Tiger and Annika are the best clutch golfers of our time,” he writes. “But the physical strengths of their games are not unmatched. You can go to any practice area at any PGA or LPGA Tour event and see players who hit the ball as long or as straight, who wedge it just as close, who sink as many putts. What separates these players from the competition, I believe, is their confidence.”

And it is this that Rotella sets out to teach in this book, drawing on the work he has done with Padraig Harrington over the years and giving a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into the Irishman’s mental preparations on his way to victory in the Open Championship at Carnoustie last year.

Much of what Rotella writes seems to be common sense. He talks about visualisation, the acceptance of bad shots, the importance of staying in the present and of concentrating on what you do well rather than what you do badly. He discusses the importance of routine and of talking to yourself in positive ways - telling yourself what to do, rather than what not to do.

One player who might benefit from the book is Stewart Cink, the American Ryder Cup player. On the eve of the final at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Arizona, in February, Cink seemed to concede the match to Woods before a shot had been played.

“He’s the best that’s ever lived in golf and just being able to get a front-row seat and watch him play is fun,” he said. I wonder what Rotella would have made of that?

Your 15th Club: The Inner Secret to Great Golf, by Dr Bob Rotella (published by Simon & Schuster), is in the shops now, price £14.99.

Van de Velde earns Birkdale place

The name Jean Van de Velde will be linked with the Open Championship again next week after all (John Hopkins writes). The Frenchman, who is remembered for taking a seven on the 72nd hole and losing in a play-off in the 1999 Open at Carnoustie, birdied the last hole at Hillside, Lancashire, to become one of the qualifiers to reach the third major championship of the year, which starts at Royal Birkdale a week tomorrow.

It took some late heroics for Van de Velde to earn one of the four places on offer. He hit a huge drive down the 18th, a 439-yard par-four, and almost pitched into the hole. A birdie gave him a 36-hole total of 143, one under par, and a share of second place with Chris Woods, from Bristol, and Rohan Blizard, of Australia. Jamie Elson won the competition with rounds of 67 and 73.“There are only two tournaments I want to play in and play good in - the French Open and the Open,” Van de Velde said. “I qualified for the Open in 1999 and played quite well, so maybe this is my chance.”