The thing that makes Tiger Woods so good isn’t his well-exercised frame. It’s that roughly 3-pound mass of soft gelatinous-feeling matter between his ears.

Woods’ mental capacity was displayed again by his reaction to his final shot at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.

In a tie with Bart Bryant, Woods needed a birdie on 18 to clinch his 64th career victory. Woods rolled the 21-foot putt into the cup. Woods started to backpedal during the final few feet of the putt. Woods threw his hat into the ground and let out a guttural scream as the veins in his hands, arms and neck strained against his skin.

For Woods, from the moment he stood over the ball ready to putt until he walked off the green finally getting his hat back from his caddie, time stopped.

“I was like, ‘How in the hell did he get my hat?'” Woods said after the tournament. “Evidently, it came off. I need to see the highlights. I was so into the moment of the putt going in and winning the golf tournament.”

In the moment.

If there’s anything an athlete can learn from Woods, it’s the importance of being in the moment. Woods is able to do that better than most, if not all, of the world’s elite golfers.

Woods isn’t the longest driver on the PGA Tour.

Bubba Watson is. Woods isn’t even in the top 70.

Woods isn’t the most accurate driver either.

Scott Verplank is. Woods is 154th.

Woods is 12th in proximity to hole. He’s 10th in putts per round. He doesn’t have the best looking swing on tour. We see as many highlights of Woods getting into and out of trouble as we see of him playing great golf.

Even with his shortcomings, which obviously don’t drastically affect his game, Woods is the best golfer many of us have seen. The reason why is sitting on his shoulders.

“We’ve seen the ability of the mind in watching Tiger Woods,” Gary Player said recently. “Tiger Woods has a phenomenal mind. Now I don’t think Tiger Woods hits the ball as well as some other guys do, but he’s in a league of his own because of his mind. Nobody can touch him there.”

Woods leads the tour in scrambling, and by golf standards, the margin isn’t close. That means nobody is better than Woods at hitting an errant first, second or third shot and still making to the green for par.

Woods is able to forget about that last bad shot and focus on his next shot better than anybody.

“It is definitely a mark of the best,” U.S. Olympic Committee sports psychologist Kirsten Peterson said, referring to the ability to be in the moment. “What happened a second ago, 2 seconds ago, what happens a second away, they’re not in your control. It’s what’s happening now.

“What is my job in this moment? For Tiger, it wasn’t winning the tournament. That was not his job on that last hole. It was to make that putt.”

Peterson explained that those able to remain in the moment can simplify their actions. It’s not the putt as much as it’s the smooth back swing on the putting pendulum. It’s not the putt as much as the follow through.

The act of whatever the athlete does – a putt, a free throw, a punch, kick, lift – is a relatively simple movement. The difficulty comes when he or she brings in other thoughts, thoughts detrimental to that moment.

Woods’ thoughts before the putt: “I kept telling myself, ‘I’ve done this before. I did it against Phil (Mickelson) … I’ve done it before. I can do it again.'”

There has been a lot of talk about Woods’ body and how much of a workout fiend he is. That’s great. We could all use a little more fitness. But Woods’ strongest tool remains his brain.

See his blog at milobryant.blogspot.com or catch him on KOAA’s Comcast Channel 9 most Wednesdays at 4p.m.

Cyndy Keesee, right, helped real estate agent Jennifer Boylan pick out clothes at Talbots this month. Keesee, assistant store manager at Talbots, had filled a rack with clothing before Boylan showed up for her free “Style by Appointment” consultation. Photo by (JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE)