An unhealthy appetite for soda is to blame for golfer Peter Lawrie’s dramatic decline in performance in recent years, he disclosed in a radio interview that aired over last week.
“I was addicted to it, I tried to stop it and I cut it out completely. I went from such a high on sugar and stuff like that to a dramatic low,” he told Irish radio station Newstalk.
The 40-year-old Irishman was ranked No.105 at the end of 2010. Soon after, he tried cutting back his soda addiction, causing his ranking to plummet to as low as No. 909 in January. He is now ranked at 726th.
“That happened three weeks after the Irish Open in 2013 and I never recovered from it, I really didn’t,” said Lawrie. “I know this might shock people, but I lost all confidence in myself.”
“Cutting all that sugar out could certainly have caused a dip in his mood,” said Chris Cashin, chair of Sports Dietitians UK told Mail Online.
Sugar withdrawal symptoms can include fatigue, light headedness, heart palpitations, headaches, and cold sweats, often caused by excess secretion of insulin when blood sugar levels become too low.
“It was very difficult to deal with all the situations that were coming at me. So whether that had anything to do with my mental state in any shape or form, I had no idea,” said Lawrie.
Though Lawrie has had a tough year, he’s climbing up the rankings now that he’s down to a few cans of soda per day. The proof is in his game. Lawrie tied for 16th at the Maybank Malaysia Open a week ago, which is his best finish since 2013.
“I drink two cans a day, or three cans a day [at the moment], but I was drinking liters of the stuff,” he said. PGA reported that Lawrie has already won almost as much money this year as he did in all of 2014, making each of his last three cuts.
