Nick Faldo

Nick Faldo is an enigma. For much of his career he has seemed tortured by self­doubt, which has sometimes shown itself as petulance with the press and public, but there can be no denying that he is the most successful player in the world at a time when the competition at the top grows harder each year. He has also had to carry the monumental weight of British expectation that he is a likely winner of every golfing major. Nick Faldo showed his talent early when he won the English Amateur Championship shortly after his eighteenth birthday. He was a consistent winner in Europe and even won tournaments in the USA, but in 1983 he decided that his swing, which had often been admired for its length and smoothness, was not consistent enough to enable him to win under real pressure at the top. When he was in the USA he met David Lead better, a British golf coach who was based in Florida. Lead better changed his swing and this remodelling took place over a two-year period during which time Faldo dropped to 42nd in the European Order of Merit. However, it paid dividends; Faldo won the Open at Muirfield in 1987 with a much talked-about final round of 18 consecutive pars. He then won back-to-back Masters titles in 1989 and 1990, winning both these titles at the second extra hole in play-offs, the 11 th at Augusta, which he described as his favorite hole in all golf. A second Open followed in 1990 at St Andrews and a third at Royal St George's, Sandwich, in 1992. Faldo's finest triumph was at the Masters in 1996. Entering the final round six strokes behind the tournament leader Greg Norman, the World Number One, he made up 11 shots, going round in 67 as Norman unaccountably collapsed to a 78 and defeat by five shots. No-one who witnessed that dramatic turnaround could not have been impressed, not only by the icy composure that he showed on the course but with the genuine respect and affection that he accorded the loser on the 18th green. As he approaches forry, Faldo's best years may lie ahead of him.