The first win came very quick, and I didn't know what it meant to win a major championship. I was a teenager, I was very young. I didn't know what I was doing. I just needed some time to get settled in on the tour.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It wasn't until '79 I won my first amateur championship, and then, by '81, I was 14, and I won my first world championship, which was amazing to me, and in a very real sense, that was the first real victory I had.
I know I'll never feel that sensation of racing and winning again and that took a while to get used to. The Tour was a race I never thought I could lose.
I still look back and think, 'How did I win the Tour, going day to day under that pressure?'
You can plan physically to try to win the Tour, but I could never plan for what was going to happen after it.
When I finished the juniors I felt, perhaps for about a year and a half, that everything was going to be the same and that I would be able to go out there and win any match. But it wasn't the case. I struggled.
I wish I could say it's easy, but honestly, to get ready for a big championship is not as easy as it seems.
You know what? I've won the Tour de France, and now I feel ready to talk about it.
After I went through two years of not winning an event, what kept me going was winning one more major. Once I won that last U.S. Open, I spent the next six months trying to figure out what was next. Slowly my passion for the sport just vanished. I had nothing left to prove.
Growing up, I always dreamed of winning a major championship.
I honestly thought I was going to win a major championship quicker than what I did, but it clearly took a little bit longer than expected.