PROFILE

Sir Nick Faldo

Sir Nick Faldo, six time major winner, golf course designer, and lead golf analyst on television. Certainly a man with a very storied and successful career in professional golf culminating in him being knighted by the Queen of England. And he still shows no signs of slowing down.

Here for the recent inaugural Cassia Cup at Laguna Bintan as their international ambassador and host, Sir Nick was indefatigable every time he was up front and centre. Two golf clinics and a 3 hole course lesson punctuated with quips and laughter later, he was still game for a one on one tete a tete.

Sir Nick: So What would you like to know?

Golfasia: What’s it like to be called Sir Nick all the time?

Sir Nick: It’s obviously very nice, and I’m very honoured to be recognised for my services to golf. It’s quite funny, people get really mixed up. In America, they call me Sir Faldo when it’s Sir Nick basically. The title is meant to make me warm and cosy. It’s occasionally very helpful to get to the front of the queue when I’m waiting for the bus.

Golfasia: Where are you in your life right now?

Sir Nick: I always look at my life in five year chunks, and I’m at a time where I’ve started to dream up new things. I’m still a TV analyst which pretty much sets my season in stone from end January to the beginning of August. I’ve just started to create some TV shows because I actually enjoy doing different things. I’ll keep them secret for now, the suspense is better. I can say that one’s a golf show and the other isn’t, I’ll be outside of golf meeting people from all walks of life.

I’m also enjoying home life. I love my kids and my priorities are always where am I going and how do I see the kids more. I’m going in circles around the world. I flew straight into the London on the way here just to cram in a lunch with my daughter Georgia and then run her to the airport.

Golfasia: How did you go from Nick Faldo six time major winner to Nick Faldo Mr Nice Guy?

Sir Nick: I had an enviable quality of being able to be totally engrossed in what I was doing, ie, head down blinkers on as I would call it on television, and it can give off the wrong impression. I might be so engrossed I generally don’t hear people say “Hey Nick, I’m over here…”

And If I don’t react then they tend to go from ‘you’re a nice guy’ to ‘you’re an ass’, there’s nothing in between. So that’s how one can get a reputation.

And once I got onto television, I credit my dad with his hidden acting amateur dramatics as we used to call it, for that little bit of my daft personality, and I think as I get older I’m quite happy to get dafter. Why not? I don’t care so much about what other people think if I’m entertaining people and we’re having a laugh. If I’m taking the Mickey out of somebody, it’s generally because I actually like them. Some think I’m insulting others, but I don’t see it that way. You can’t please everybody.

Golfasia: So even as the world thought you weren’t that nice as a golf professional publicly, privately you were as daft as they come?

Sir Nick:. I didn’t want friends who would come to my house and interview me like it was a press conference. I made sure I had mates where we’re poking fun at each other with innuendos all day long. Great British comedy. I think that’s showing love.

Golfasia: How did you deal with the brickbats for your comments and quips when you first started on TV?

Sir Nick: I had to believe in myself. If a player hits a 3 iron to ten feet and I go “That’s fantastic, what a beautiful shot.” And if he hits it and clatters it in the trees and I say ”God, what a lousy swing, that’s a terrible shot.” What’s the difference? It’s just words. As long as I don’t get personal and I describe why it was a lousy shot, that’s how I would defend myself. If I think they’re making a bad decision, I say so. If the shot is poor, I explain why under the circumstances, without getting personal.

Golfasia: How do you approach your commentary?

Sir Nick: Years ago, one of the producers in my ear said ‘have a good show’. And that hit me, ‘It’s a show, this is a show, we’re meant to entertain.” If something funny happens, I hope I can go funnier, if it’s something serious, I believe I can go serious as well. I can explain the golf swing really well, I’ve got a really good quick eye but I see too much, and I’ve learnt to give just one thought to the viewer and not go too much into detail. I’m learning all the time from different situations. Mike Tirico (American sportscaster) used to say, “Remember, what you say goes out to Pluto.” Once I’ve said it’s gone, so I pause for thought for just a milli-second sometime. Be quick, be smart, and be funny, that’s what my motto each day is, and be British… occasionally.

Golfasia: Ever made a comment that still makes you cringe?

Sir Nick: Luckily I haven’t got too many, but I was really bold with Tiger my first week with NBC as a broadcaster. Tiger comes to the last hole at Torrey Pines and he was trying to hit a 3 iron into the green. And that time he was having this rehearsal that was pointing way off towards the hospitality tent. He then stood up to the ball and fanned his swing, luckily hitting the ball short of the green. Commenting during the shot replay, I said “UH UH!” And I clearly heard myself saying it into my own ear on TV. Of course that comment didn’t go down well, especially when Tiger chips on the green and holes a 20 foot putt. I was thinking to myself “Faldo, you’re an idiot.” The end result was that I didn’t get a Christmas card from Tiger from that day on.

Golfasia: I’m going to throw out a few names, starting with Peter Aliss.

Sir Nick: Peter has a great gift of storytelling. He could talk about a can for forty five minutes and he’d get the Archbishop of Canterbury in as well. So he’s got that incredible gift to tell stories. As a young man I listened to him, he didn’t give an awful lot of tips or instruction but he’s amazing. Am I his successor? Well, I hope I’m a notch up, because I feel I can tell a story, and two reasons why the public watch golf, one is for the event, and two, for the instruction. I try to give as much

instruction as possible.

Golfasia: Greg Norman as a golf commentator?

Sir Nick: I never listened to him, so I was lucky I guess.

Golfasia: Johnny Miller?

Sir Nick: Different style, he’s a little harsher. He was the first one who said “this guy’s choked”, and everyone went “you can’t use the choke word”. He’s bold, and he may have gotten a little too personal. He’s got a great fast eye. You’ve got to be able to see instantly and hear a little more than the average person.

Golfasia: Looking back, what would you have done differently?

Sir Nick: Just play nine holes in practice rounds and conserve my energy more. It’s a completely different game now with players using Trackman, they don’t have to beat as many balls because of constant feedback from Trackman. To be honest, there’s a thousand and one things I’d do differently. I don’t agree with people who say I wouldn’t change anything in my life. There’s an awful lot I would change.

Golfasia: Let’s talk Tiger Woods. Phenomenally successful, miserable Ryder Cup record.

Sir Nick: No one will ever know that one. He was lost again and probably physically tired out by the Ryder CUP. He’d just come off the most incredible win at the Tour Championship. I didn’t think he could come back to win. And how he turned that around, his swing was looking great… and to have the nerve when he hasn’t won in 5 years? Wow, that was amazing and phenomenal.

Then at the Ryder Cup, he was just whacked. He went from playing in a hundred degrees in Atlanta to whatever it was in Paris, the swing’s bound to tighten up. Plus he’s a target. When Jon Rahm played Tiger, I knew he was a feather in Jon Rahm’s cap. When you’re a talented kid like Jon Rahm, he’s not going to fear Tiger who’s a target to beat. Tiger’s been on more losing teams than anyone else in the modern era now.

Golfasia: Now that Tiger’s won again, will that springboard him to surpass Jack’s 18 majors? Or is it still too early to tell?

Sir Nick: If he could win the Masters next year, that would be 11 seasons on from his last major. And after all that he’s been through… yet Tiger is different, different and special. I have to say now there is a chance, where before I was quite happy to say no.

And it nearly happened at the PGA Championship. Keep your nerve on a Sunday afternoon, and the other golfers will slowly find a way to disappear. Brooks Koepka manned up to it and played some great shots under pressure to hold Tiger off. Everybody else was dealing with their own pressure of playing in a major.

Tiger knows that if he gets in there, and hangs around the Sunday afternoon of the Masters for example, then he’s only got to pull off a couple of the right shots, and the right putts, at the right time, to get the lead, and then just hang on to it. He could almost play it like a marathon, wait for them to tire out and drop away, then

slip in there. Tiger is starting afresh, so he’s got huge motivation to maybe do it one more time, and then we’ll see what happens after that.

Golfasia: What did you think of Ryder Cup 2018?

Sir Nick: Didn’t see that coming. I thought the teams were so well matched. I was looking for fractions on the putting green and thinking America could out putt Europe fractionally. Then we have the golf course which was really the key thing. The European Tour have been playing that course for 20 odd years, and all the players have played it. More importantly the caddies have worked Le Golf National and they know the cross winds. And a European crosswind is going to be more than what it feels like in America.

The local knowledge in Paris was such a huge advantage. But then the Americans storm out on day one; and in the next two sessions, Europe went seven points to one, unbelievable. Every time America rallied, they got quashed, it was really demoralising. But there was a moment on Sunday, where if Tiger holed a putt at a certain time, that could have really changed his match. At the Ryder Cup, there’s always a little moment like 30 minutes right in the middle of the afternoon, where if it all went one way, one side could have clawed their way back in, but it just didn’t happen. At the end of the day, it was a resounding victory that just showed the might and passion of Europe.

Golfasia: Best European Captain?

Sir Nick: I’m old school, and so Tony Jacklin was a huge inspiration for us. My first golf bag for the Ryder Cup was plastic, and the equipment was minimal. We got one outfit a day, even when we went to America. And I said “It’s going to be pouring rain and the ground’s wet, and we have one pair of shoes and one shirt a day.”

The British PGA never understood what was really needed, so when Tony came on board, he said “Right, you’ve got to treat these guys well, make them feel good.” So that was a huge change, and then Bernard Gallagher came on as captain after. The motivation speech from Bernard Gallacher one night was “You know what you got to do tomorrow? You got to win your match. Right, there’s your food.” That was it, and I agree with that.

I was on the team with Seve, Olazabal, Woosie, Monty, do you think we needed motivating? Do you think we needed somebody else, a captain, to motivate us? I’m sorry, I’m stuck in that era where I think when we’re at the Ryder Cup, we should be on the reins. Tony used to say “You alright?” And I’d reply “I’m alright.” And he goes ”You love this don’t you? Right, go and win.” That was it!

Goflasia: What does America need to win?

Sir Nick: Here’s the other statistic, at Gleneagles, America was 80 under par collectively for the week, Europe 106 under par. And the last Ryder Cup, America was 59 under par, and Europe are 8 under par. They’re golfers, so I’d start with the golf. If you’re going to beat somebody, you’ve got to score less. I’d start sorting that bit out first.