Nick Faldo

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Sir Nick Faldo
Nick Faldo.jpg
Personnel
Nation: EnglandEngland England
Career data
Professional since: 1976
Current tour: European Seniors Tour
Tournament wins: 40
Major wins : 6th
Awards: World Golf Hall of Fame (1997),
Winner of the European Tour Order of Merit (1983, 1992),
European Tour Golfer of the Year (1989/90, 1992),
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award (1977),
PGA Player of the Year (1990),
BBC Sports Personality of the Year (1989),
MBE (1998),
Knight Bachelor (2009)

Sir Nicholas Alexander "Nick" Faldo , MBE (born July 18, 1957 in Welwyn Garden City ) is an English professional golfer . He is one of the best European golfers of all time. He's also one of the Big Five, a group of world class golfers who were all born within 12 months, won at least one major and made Europe competitive in the Ryder Cup . The others are Seve Ballesteros , Bernhard Langer , Sandy Lyle , and Ian Woosnam . In the course of his career he won the Open Championship and the US Masters three times and led the official world rankings for a total of 98 weeks.

Beginning as an amateur

As a child and adolescent, Faldo was talented in many sports. For a long time he shone above all with his achievements in swimming. In the meantime he dreamed of a career as a professional cyclist. In 1971, when Faldo was thirteen years old, he saw Jack Nicklaus on television participating in the Masters . He then decided to become a golfer. In 1975 Faldo won the English Amateur Championship and the British Youth Championship . The following year he became a professional and was quickly successful.

First successes as a professional

In 1977 he finished 8th in the European Tour Order of Merit money list and qualified as the youngest player for the Ryder Cup . A year later he was third in the rankings, winning a tournament in each of those two years. Faldo quickly established himself at the top of Europe and won the European Tour Order of Merit in 1983 .

In the majors , the most important golf tournaments, comparable to the Grand Slam tournaments in tennis, he remained without a win at this point. Faldo's strengths lay in the short game, putting and course strategy. Despite his athletic appearance and a height of 1.90 meters, the length of his strokes was rather short. Under high pressure, his game often collapsed due to an unstable swing. This was exemplified in the final round of the British Open in Royal Birkdale in 1983 .

Major wins after changing the swing

In order to finally be successful with the majors, Faldo began in 1985 with a risky and lengthy transition. With the help of David Leadbetter (who later became a "guru") he improved his technique in order to be able to withstand the pressure in the future. It wasn't until 1987 that this work bore fruit and Faldo won his first major title by winning the Open Championship .

His prime followed, and Faldo was number 1 in golf until the early 1990s . He won the Green Jacket at the Masters en suite in 1989 and 1990 and triumphed again in the same year and in 1992 at the Open Championship . Faldo won the European money list a second time in 1992 and in that year he broke the existing worldwide earnings record of over £ 1.5 million.

In 1995 he decided to focus on the US PGA Tour as three of the four majors are held in the US. This tactic also seemed to work, as he won his third Masters in 1996 , after trailing six strokes before the final round to none other than Greg Norman . But Norman had a pitch-black day and Faldo even won with a comfortable margin in the end.

Nick Faldo is one of the most successful Ryder Cup players . Record are his participations (11) as well as his 46 matches. In 2008 he was the captain of the European team.

Other business activities

After his active time, Faldo devoted himself to developing his own golf fashion brand and designing golf courses under the Faldo Design® label . In October 2006, Faldo was hired by CBS as a senior golf analyst. He also works as a specialist commentator for the Golf Channel .

In the course of his career, he has raised around £ 10 million in prize money to date. Faldo is one of the UK's richest athletes, along with David Beckham and Robbie Fowler, based on advertising income .

He is currently married for the third time, his wife is Valerie, and he has four children: Natalie, Matthew, Georgia, and Emma Scarlet.

Awards

Tournament victories

Major championships are in bold .

PGA tour

PGA European Tour

Other tournaments

Results in major championships

competition 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
The Masters DNP DNP DNP 40 DNP DNP DNP T20 T15 T25 DNP DNP T30 1 1
US Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T55 DNP DNP DNP 2 T18 T3
The Open Championship T28 T62 T8 T18 T12 T11 T4 T8 T6 T53 5 1 3 T11 1
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T14 CUT T20 T54 CUT T28 T4 T9 T19
competition 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
The Masters T12 T13 T39 32 T24 1 CUT CUT CUT T28 CUT T14 T33 CUT WD
US Open T16 T4 T72 CUT T45 T16 T48 CUT CUT 7th T72 T5 CUT CUT DNP
The Open Championship T17 1 2 T8 T40 4th T51 T44 CUT T41 CUT T59 T8 CUT T11
PGA Championship T16 T2 3 T4 T31 T65 CUT T54 T41 T51 T51 T60 DNP T49 DNP
competition 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
The Masters CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
US Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship CUT CUT DNP CUT CUT DNP DNP CUT CUT CUT
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

WD = abandoned
DNP = did not participate
CUT = cut failed
"T" split placement
Green background for victories
Yellow background for top 10.

Team competitions

See also

Web links

(all english)

swell

  1. ↑ Steffen Lüdeke: Ryder Cup: Heartbreaker Nick Faldo feels like it again. In: welt.de . September 15, 2008, accessed October 7, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Faldo, Nick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Faldo, Nicholas Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English golfer
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Welwyn Garden City