April 14, 2008 -- As I said earlier in the week in my Local Knowledge interview, Augusta National is never an "easy" course. But bring up the wind, bring down the temperatures, and add the pressure of a final round at the Masters, and you have the ingredients to see a whole bunch of high numbers. And that's what we saw on Sunday.

Even with difficult scoring conditions, Trevor Immelman stayed strong atop the leaderboard. (Getty Images)

Think about this. If you told Trevor Immelman on Saturday night that he'd shoot a 75 on Sunday after going into the round with a two-shot lead, what do you think his response would have been? I doubt it would have been that he would have won the Masters. But win it he did, by three shots when he entered the day leading by two!

So what is this week's "A Lesson Learned?" Simply, when the conditions are adverse, that doesn't mean you can't be competitive. Whether it's your once-a-week round with your buddies or your final round in the club championship, there will be times when you have to play a pressure-filled round of golf and the elements will seem to conspire against you to prevent you from playing the type of golf you want or need to play. So what do you do?

1.) Keep scoring in perspective. The par for a given hole or course is not going to change on the scorecard, but it very well might change as it relates to the rest of the field. The average score for Sunday was 74.66. The average score on Saturday was 72.57. That's a full two-shot difference. Even more, only four players shot under par Sunday. Obviously, a 75 on Sunday wasn't so bad, it was practically average for the day. On Saturday, it would have been a good bit more costly. So you accept that conditions are tough and you concentrate not on how difficult the course is playing but on how to produce your best effort each particular shot.

2.) Have a short memory. You've already accepted that you are going to hit some bad shots. When you do, forget about them. If you dwell on them, it will cost you. I think one of the most critical moments in the Masters this year was Immelman's play on hole no. 11. He had a two-shot lead and had hit three very mediocre shots on a hole that really doesn't allow for mediocre. After missing the green long and right on his approach, his chip put him on the fringe, facing a putt through the fringe and down the slope to a pin twenty feet away. He easily could have been kicking himself over any of the first three shots and thinking how it might cost him the lead. Instead, he canned the long putt to keep his lead.

3.) Maintain your stamina. When you play in tough conditions, it takes a lot out of you, physically and mentally. You can prepare for those tough days by getting yourself in as good a shape as you can now.

4.) Remember that everyone else is playing in the same conditions. Keep in mind what I said earlier, there were only four scores under par on Sunday. If you start off behind, making up ground at a course like Augusta National under those conditions will take more than a huge effort on your part, it's going to take a collapse by someone in front of you. Trevor Immelman did not collapse and actually stretched his lead to six shots at one point! Even though he was facing tough conditions and shot three-over par, he actually outplayed his nearest competitors when the round began (Snedeker, Casey and Flesch).

So again, there will be times when you really need to play some great golf and the weather or conditions or something else will make it seem like that's not possible. But it doesn't mean you have to give up hope and that you can't accomplish you goal. Stay focused on the shots ahead and the task at hand. Accept the bad breaks and move on. And know that a score that's not so great one day might earn you something special the next. Just ask Trevor Immelman.

Michael Breed is the PGA Head Professional at Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale, New York. He is also one of the most accomplished golf personalities in America; a former PGA Metropolitan section Teacher of the Year, a Golf Magazine Top 100 teacher since 2003, a golf journalist on The Golf Channel and a featured talent on a host of instructional videos and articles found throughout several other golf mediums (including PGA.com).