011976년의 꿈에서 50년의 유산까지
1976년 4월 14일, 닉 팔도는 프로 무대에 첫발을 내디뎠다. 프랑스 오픈에서 38위 타이를 기록한 그는 그 첫해의 목표를 명확히 했다. "첫 해 목표는 상위 60위 안에 드는 것이었어요. 그게 면제권을 얻을 수 있었거든요. 월데이 퀄리를 몇 번 해야 했고, 최종적으로 58위로 마무리했습니다. 상금은 2,000파운드 조금 넘었는데, 지금 생각하면 정말 웃겨요."
첫 승리는 1977년 8월에 찾아왔다. 스콜 라거 인디비주얼은 글렌이글스의 킹스 코스에서 열린 36홀 팀 이벤트였다. 팔도는 첫 라운드 68타 후 71타로 마무리해 5언더 상태로 크레이그 디포이와 크리스 위처와 타이를 이루었다. 플레이오프 첫 홀에서의 버디로 그는 직업 생활의 중대한 전환점을 맞이했다.
02BMW PGA와 스페인 승리로 다시 일어서다
1978년 팔도는 처음 3개의 BMW PGA 챔피언십 중 첫 번째를 우승했다. "저는 4개의 PGA를 우승했어요"라고 그는 회상했다. "버클리, 로열 세인트 조지스, 간톤, 웬트워스에서 우승했습니다. 버클리에서의 1978년 우승이 제 첫 72홀 우승이었다는 점이 매우 중요합니다."
1984년까지 팔도는 추가로 7개의 DP 월드 투어 우승을 기록했다. 그러나 1984년과 1985년 초는 일대 전환기를 맞이했다. "스윙 리빌드는 정말 가혹했어요"라고 팔도는 말했다. "2년의 작업이 그렇게 깊고, 그렇게 어두울 줄 몰랐어요. 저는 이 시기를 '검은 날들'이라고 불렀습니다."
1987년 5월, 마르벨라 우승으로 팔도는 의심의 목소리를 잠재웠다. 극도로 어려운 코스 상태에서 71-72-72-71의 2언더 스코어는 유일한 언더 성적이었고, 세베 발레스테로스와 휴 바이오키를 제치고 우승했다. "봄이 되자 무언가 클릭됐어요"라고 팔도는 전했다.
03무어필드의 18개 파와 두 번의 마스터즈
1987년 영국 오픈은 팔도의 가장 상징적인 우승이었다. 뮤어필드에서 폴 애징어와 겨루던 최종 라운드, 팔도는 짙은 안개 속에서 18개의 파를 연속으로 친 역사적 라운드를 펼쳤다. "가장 먼저 떠오른 단어는 '안도감'이었어요. 모든 그 힘든 작업이 보상을 받은 것 같았고, 드디어 해냈다는 확신이 있었습니다." 애징어가 73을 친 반면 팔도의 71은 그에게 첫 메이저 챔피언십을 안겨줬다.
1989년 팔도는 마스터즈를 플레이오프에서 스콧 호치를 꺾고 우승했고, 같은 해 프랑스 오픈 3연패로 DP 월드 투어 역사를 새로 썼다. 하지만 그의 가장 위대한 순간은 1990년 마스터즈였다. 레이먼드 플로이드와 플레이오프까지 간 경기에서 팔도는 11번 홀에서 파로 대회를 장악했다.
"그 일요일 잭과 함께 라운드를 돌았어요. 좋은 신호 같았어요"라고 팔도는 웃음지었다. "첫 홀에서 6을 기록하고 나서야 진정했고, 그 후엔 잘 플레이했어요."
041992년 '해체 맨', 그리고 1996년 정상 복귀
1992년 팔도는 '해체 맨'이라고 불릴 정도로 모든 것을 지배했다. 그는 5번째 메이저를 우승해 세계 1위를 차지했고, 81주 동안 그 자리를 유지했다. 웬트워스의 월드 매치플레이에서 그는 제프 슬루먼을 8&7로 압도했다. "92홀을 92홀 50언더로 치료했어요"라고 그는 회상했다.
1996년 마스터즈는 팔도의 화려한 복귀였다. 세계 10위 밖으로 떨어진 상태에서 도착한 그는 처음 플레이오프를 두려워했다. 그레그 노먼과의 최종 라운드에서 팔도는 17개의 그린을 히트했고, 노먼의 6샷 리드는 순식간에 무너졌다. 팔도는 67로 노먼의 78을 눌렀다. "여기 30년이 지났는데"라고 그는 말했다, "사람들은 여전히 그 경기를 기억해요."
봄이 되자 무언가 클릭됐어요. 스페인에서 우승했고, 세베가 저를 쫓고 있었습니다. 그것이 신뢰감을 주었고, 이제 저는 해낼 수 있다는 믿음을 갖게 되었습니다.
05Original (English) — DP World Tour
This year sees our host of the Husqvarna British Masters Sir Nick Faldo celebrate 50 years since he turned professional.
Across those five decades he has won 30 DP World Tour titles including six Major Championships, played in 11 conecutive Ryder Cups, winning four, served as Ryder Cup Captain and spent 97 weeks as World Number One.
We caught up with him at The Belfry to take a whistlestop tour through his life in golf, highlighting five of his most significant victories.
Born in 1957, Faldo did not have an interest in golf until he saw Jack Nicklaus playing in the 1971 Masters and after that, there was no looking back.
After an amateur career that saw him win the 1975 English Amateur and have a brief, unhappy spell at the University of Houston, Faldo turned professional in on April 14, 1976 and made his DP World Tour debut with a tie for 38th at the French Open.
"My first goal that first year was to finish in the top 60, that got you exempt, so I did the Monday Qualifying a couple of times like everybody else," he said. "That was number one goal of the season and I finished 58th with the massive sum of just over £2,000, which is hilarious now.
"So that was the start, that was the first year."
After five top tens the following season, he was a winner in August.
A limited-field, 36-hole event with a team element, 1977 saw the fourth and final edition of the Skol Lager Individual played over the King's Course at The Gleneagles Hotel.
Faldo shared the lead after an opening 68 before a closing 71 left the door open at five under and he was reeled in by Craig Defoy and Chris Witcher.
But he would not be denied a maiden professional victory and a birdie on the first play-off hole set in motion a run of form that would see him finish in the top ten on the Order of Merit that season.
"I'm a big believer that you climb rungs of a ladder," he said. "I won a lot as an amateur and then it's kind of nice to know what you're doing when you're trying to win.
"You blow a lot of tournaments as an amateur. Gerald Micklem told me you've got to blow at least half a dozen tournaments before you know how to win, so it's all part of my learning curve."
Just weeks later he would become the youngest player in Ryder Cup history, winning three points from three including a singles triumph against reigning Masters annd Open champion Tom Watson.
And then in 1978 he would the win the first of three - of what is now the BMW PGA Championships- in four years, a tally he would later take to a record four.
"I won four PGAs," he said. "That was very important. I won at Birkdale, Royal St George's then Ganton and then at Wentworth. Birkdale was my first 72-hole win in 1978 which I think is very important."
He would win a further seven DP World Tour events by the middle of 1984, including three in consectuive weeks in May 1983 as he won the Order of Merit.
A maiden PGA TOUR win also came in 1984 at the now RBC Heritage and Faldo's stock could not be much higher - but a big change was coming.
"The rebuild was brutal," he said of the two-years of work to remodel his swing. "I never expected it to go that long or that deep or that dark. I called it the dark days because I came off being European Number One in 1983 and won in America in 84 and then I decided my game's not good enough. I've got to work on this trajectory thing and be a better ball striker."
In the two years Faldo had worked with David Leadbetter on the rebuild many doubters had emerged but in May of 1987 he went a long way to silencing them with victory in Marbella.
On a week of tough scoring, he sandwiched a pair of 71s with a pair of 72s to finish at two under, the only player under par, and keep the great Seve Ballesteros and South African Hugh Baiocchi at bay.
"Something clicked in the spring just before Augusta," he said. "I played Hattiesburg that Augusta week, I didn't even get in the Masters in 87, and I shot four 67s, finished second and that was kind of the click.
"I went back to Europe and won in Spain. Seve was there chasing me and that was that little bit of trust or belief that I can do it and that was huge before The Open because I remember saying to myself: 'I need to win one more before The Open' and I thought 'I'm alright, I can handle it, I can do it'.
"To win in Spain after going through the rebuild was a great relief, really. It was nice to clear the air, that you know how to finish it off and that's the most important thing: how do you play Sunday afternoon the last nine holes?
"And if you can fend off Seve in Spain to win, that made me feel good."
After three years without a win, Faldo once again looked capable of winning at will and claimed back-to-back top fives in France and Belgium as The Open Championship at Muirfield approached.
Faldo was in the mix from the get-go in East Lothian but it was Paul Azinger who led by one going into a final day that has gone down in golfing folklore.
With heavy mist shrouding the course, Faldo remarkably made 18 pars as Azinger endured a roller coaster 73.
The American led by three at the turn but bogeyed the tenth, 11th and 17th as Faldo set the target at five under and when he failed to get up and down from the sand on the last, it was the Englishman who had the Claret Jug and a first Major Championship.
"Muirfield was the next step," he said. "We were at Gleneagles the week before which is a great place to practise. I was swinging well and preparing my mind golf-wise as well ready for Muirfield and the wind.
"I finished four shots back at St Andrews in 78 so when I left there I genuinely said to myself that I could win an Open one day. It took from 78 to 87 so it's all part of it. You have to put your time in.
"Winning a Major was a whole different feeling, playing under that intensity.
"I had the famous day with the 18 pars in that weather and the word that came to me was relief. It wasn't leaping up and down, all that hard work had paid off and I'd finally done it and I was good enough to hang onto it. That's really it: can you mentally hang one and finish it off?
"I was frustrated because I was nervous on the greens, I wasn't putting great. I only holed one putt on the 11th, I got up and down from three bunkers.
"But the weather was unbelievable. The 16th hole I had 187 and I bust a two iron and it went 182, that's what it was like, it was like playing in a fog, the golf ball was going nowhere.
"And Muirfield is one of the toughest courses anyway so to get round there with no bogeys is a heck of a fun achievement, let alone in 18 pars. It's a historic round, it'll never be done again, not on a Sunday of an Open."
Faldo would claim 3½ points alongside Ian Woosnam in Europe's historic away victory in the Ryder Cup later in 1987 and came close to holding two Majors at once, losing out to Curtis Strange in a play-off at the 1988 U.S. Open.
It was not long until he did have another Major Championship, this time triumphing in a play-off over Scott Hoch on the 11th at the 1989 Masters, the same year he won the French Open for the third season in a row, another DP World Tour record he shares.
Faldo had in his career already successfully defended what is now the BMW PGA Championship, the Car Care Plan International and the French Open (twice) but in 1990 he completed arguably the greatest defence of them all.
Only his original idol Nicklaus had successfully defended at Augusta National before and it was fitting that Faldo would play the final round alongside the Golden Bear.
But he double-bogeyed the first and when Raymond Floyd birdied Golden Bell, the 1976 champion was four clear with six to play.
Faldo, however, would birdie the 13th, 15th and 16th and with Floyd dropping a shot on the penultimate hole, it was to be a play-off again.
Both men birdied the tenth in sudden death but after Floyd found the water, Faldo claimed another Green Jacket with a relatively fuss-free par on the treacherous 11th.
"I was playing with Jack on that Sunday so you start thinking, maybe there's a good sign here," he said.
"I jumped back into the tournament on Saturday with a 66 which was the low round of the day and was right back in it and took six up the first!
"I knew I had to make a four up the second which I did and then I settled down and played pretty well.
"I rammed a putt in on the 14th and Jack looked at me, his eyes were getting bigger and he was: 'If you miss that it's going 15 feet past'.
"In the play-off was a very weird feeling because I'm thinking, am I going to wreck my memories of winning my first Masters on the 11th? You don't want to win and then lose it.
"That was all part of the motivation to do it, I remember I said to myself: 'I'm not giving up my Jacket. I'm not going to put my Jacket on Ray Floyd'.
"I'm now one of four and I'm still very proud of that."
Now a three-time Major winner, Faldo was truly among the game's elite and affter finishing third at the U.S. Open, he made it two in a year as he once again won the Claret Jug.
He would become World Number One for the first time in 1990 and held the position for 81 conescutive weeks after winning his fifth Major Champioship at The Open in 1992.
"I loved 92, I called myself the Demolition Man because I was playing so well," he said.
One of his wins in 1992 was at the World Match Play at Wentworth where he claimed a crushing 8&7 win over Jeff Sluman in the final.
"I know it's match play but there was a stupid stat that I played 92 holes and I was 45 under par," he said. "I was just as loving it and I know Wentworth backwards.
"I was playing Jeff Sluman and we came out on a misty September morning and the golf ball was going nowhere. I won the first three holes because he had the wrong club, I knew you had to club up. It didn't look it and you didn't like it but you just had to take one more.
"I was just brutal which is a nice way to play match play."
He also replicated his French Open heroics as he lifted the trophy at the Irish Open in 1991, 92 and 93.
"Winning the three in a row at the Irish Open was fun," he said. "We loved the Irish Open. It was probably the best atmosphere tournament in the world outside the Majors."
But just one professional win in each of 1994 and 1995 - a small return by his astronomical standards - meant by the time the Masters came around in 1996, he had two weeks earlier dropped out of the world top ten for the first time in the 90s.
He was back at Number Nine as he drove down Magnolia Lane but he admits his preparations that week were far from ideal.
"I arrived and we played the back nine and I was having problems with my swing and I skied the tee shot on ten and skied it on 11 and I was so pissed off and we actually waked in from the 12th tee," he said. "I said let's go back to the practice ground because I was too violent with my transition.
"I was visualising the golf ball was a soap bubble that I didn't want to burst. Can I hit a golf ball without hurting it?
"The funny bit was I then get drawn day one with John Daly – he's trying to grip it and kill it and I'm just trying to not hurt the blooming thing.
"I shot 69 that first day and that just cleared the air and then I shot 67 and I'm playing the weekend with Greg."
Greg Norman had beaten Faldo to the 1993 Open title with a brilliant closing 64 and the duo found themselves in the final group on Masters Sunday three years later.
Nobody was expecting much of a contest, with the Australian a heavy favourite to convert his six-shot lead into a wire-to-wire victory, and he still led by three after eight holes.
That, however, was not worrying Sir Nick.
"On Sunday, because it's Augusta you've either got your own memories or you've seen it on television with guys charging through the field on the back nine or blowing it up," he said.
"Some guys have lost three-shot leads so that was my number. I had a nice simple goal, get within three after nine and I'm in it, anything can happen."
Norman would go bogey-bogey-bogey from the ninth and when he found the water at the 12th for a double, Faldo led by two.
Both men birdied the par-five 13th and 15th before more water trouble brought another Norman double on the 16th and Faldo birdied the last to seal a five-shot win, carding a 67 to his rival's 78.
"I hit 17 greens at Augusta on a Sunday, not many will do that," he said.
"Here we are 30 yeas later and everywhere I go people get the facts. Many times people say: 'Did you win an Open at Birkdale?' and I'll go no but everybody remembers the history of that one."
Faldo would claim one more professional solo win on the PGA TOUR in 1997, a month before he put the Green Jacket on the shoulders of Tiger Woods - a moment now that seems almost symbolic of one era ending and another beginning.
He would also play an 11th Ryder Cup later that year as a captain's pick, winning two points alongside rookie Lee Westwood to take his career tally to a then record 25 from 46 matches.
His final DP World Tour appearance would come just under a decade later at the South African Open and in 2008 he captained the European Ryder Cup team at Valhalla.
A career in broadcasting and course design would follow, while the Faldo Series and Faldo Futures has helped the careers of the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Danny Willett, Yani Tseng and Mel Reid.
While Sir Nick's 50 years in the golfing limelight will always be remembered for Green Jackets, Claret Jugs and Ryder Cups, it has unquestionably been more than that.
It has been 50 years of love for and service to the game, which continues this week as he is our host at The Belfry.
Features
The first steps on the road to the 2027 Ryder Cup will be taken this week as qualification begins at the Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo.
