THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Jos Vanstiphout, who worked with many top-level players on the psychological side of the game, died on Friday. He was 62.
A report from the Associated Press sourced the European Tour with confirming through a friend that he had suffered a heart attack.
“The friend, Xavier Champagne, said Vanstiphout broke his hip two years ago in a fall from a ladder,” the report stated, “and in recent months had been dealing with shortness of breath.”
Though he had no formal training as a psychologist, the Belgian-born Vanstiphout, worked with Retief Goosen when he won two U.S. Open titles and Ernie Els, when he won the Open Championship in a 2002 playoff over Thomas Levet, another of his clients.
“We really connected and there was a genuine love for each other there,” Els said from the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City. “It was a love-hate at times, as everyone will know, but the stuff he taught me and the way that he did it was totally different.
“His approach was unique, and I know he got under a lot of people’s skin. But for me, he was just brilliant.”