With a New Faldo, There’s Room for Mellow

Nick Faldo bogeyed the last three holes and he didn’t blow his stack, sack his caddie, glare at reporters or snap his driver over his knee. What he did, instead, was smile and talk about his 1-year-old daughter and how much he enjoys rolling around on the floor and hugging her.

There’s every chance that Emma Scarlet Faldo has no idea that her famous father used to be known for every one of those factors associated with a bad ending to a round of golf.

The Faldo stare could freeze a cup of coffee. He could be curt to reporters, even after an important victory. In the trophy ceremony after he’d won the 1987 British Open at Muirfield, the first of his six major championship titles, Faldo took the microphone and addressed the assembled reporters, thanking them “from the heart of my bottom.”

But at 47, Faldo seems to be mellowing. He might have turned a really great round into a good one in Friday’s second round of the PGA Championship here at Whistling Straits, but his two-under total of 142 wasn’t too bad for one of the top players of another generation, especially because the PGA Championship is one of the few tournaments he has played this year.

And afterward, the once fierce Faldo didn’t come close to a meltdown. He was more poodle than bulldog.

He talked about his family, about the golf course he’s designing in Ireland, about spending the next three years playing as little as possible. And he talked about a possible new career, replacing Curtis Strange in the booth as a commentator for ABC.

Faldo’s opinions were noteworthy not only for the subjects he chose, but also for what he left out.

At this stage of his career, it’s becoming clear that he is simply content to go away quietly. The man who was conservative enough to make 18 consecutive pars on the last day to beat Paul Azinger at Muirfield and aggressive enough to shoot 18 under and win a second British Open in 1990 at St. Andrews is on an extended goodbye tour.

When he was at the top of his game, he had quite a bit to say. Even though he won a third British Open in 1992 when he edged John Cook by one shot at Muirfield, Faldo earned just as much of his reputation with his three victories at the Masters, where he became one of the greatest opportunists ever to wear a green jacket.

In 1989, he beat Scott Hoch in a playoff, but only after Hoch had missed a two-foot putt that would have won it. The next year, he beat Raymond Floyd in a playoff. When Greg Norman collapsed so completely on the last day at Augusta in 1996, Faldo was there to scoop up his third Masters title.

Faldo built his career around majors and was second in both the 1988 U.S. Open and the 1992 PGA Championship. He has had 23 top-10 finishes in the majors, has won 27 European Tour events and nine more on the PGA Tour.

But the last one of those was the 1997 Nissan Open at Riviera, so Faldo’s leave-taking has been a gradual one.

There won’t be many more chances to see him play in majors. Unless he gets an invitation or qualifies, Faldo is exempt only at the Masters, through 2006, and at the British Open until he’s 65. So, his competitive clock is ticking.

That’s why it was such a throwback to see him knocking down birdies Friday on a links-style course under a gray sky in another major championship, walking purposefully to the green, all the while moving closer to the end of a career that began 28 years ago.

Faldo seemed to be enjoying himself at Whistling Straits. He joked that he might name his course in Ireland something similar, maybe like “Whistling Faldo,” he said, then added that no one was going to be whistling playing that layout.

Besides auditioning for the ABC job, Faldo said, he’s going to play about 15 tournaments on both tours next year, continue his course designs and then find time with his family.

“That’s a 29-hour day already,” he said.

That’s quite enough for Faldo, who is playing well enough in his 22nd PGA Championship to stay around for the weekend, something that he has done 19 times before.

At the Masters this year, he missed the cut. He also missed the cut at the U.S. Open and British Open, so this is the only major in which he has stayed past Friday. There won’t be many more, we know, but when Faldo finally does go away, it’s going to leave a major hole in a lot of majors.