GOLF: Jon Swift
WATCHING Nick Faldo smile is both a precious and rare occasion. So inwardly focussed is the man, so high the standards he sets himself, that this normal and outward sign of humanity has, like so many of the inconsistencies of his game, been ruled out of his professional persona.
Faldo is a consummate professional. It showed in the way he managed to hold off the challenges of both Ernie Els and defending champion Nick Price in the closing rounds of the Million dollar at Sun City last weekend.
It has also showed throughout a career, reconstructed by renowned coach David Ledbetter, which encapsulates triumphs in five majors. But throughout this, Faldo has remained almost aloof and seemingly humourless in public.
So, it was refreshing after Faldo had added a staggering 64 to his opening 66 to see that he does, indeed enjoy himself at the game of golf.
On the Friday evening after his eight-under round had left the rest of the stellar field breathless Faldo was positively glowing, grinning widely and even ready to concede that “I couldn’t really play much better than that”.
It was a round of true greatness and one which rode him over the heat-soaked agony of the Saturday, where his one- over 73 left the gate slightly ajar for Els and Price to come back at him.
Certainly it was enough to head the best field yet assembled at this annual pilgrimage to the haven of hype and blackjack tables in the bundu.
For you cannot discount the fact that the 12 invited stars hold fully 18 percent of all major championships played over the last 25 years between them.
Faldo’s mastery of the course in three of the rounds, his grit through disappointments and misuse of the third 18 holes and his regal disregard for the chasing pack were monumental.
True, he might not — on a winning total of 16-under-par — have come close to bettering Price’s record-breaking 24- under-par total in almost disdainfully dismembering the Gary Player layout last year, but allied with Price’s incredible 72 holes in 1993, has done much to establish the Million as more than just a huge cheque.
Faldo summed up the tournament perfectly when he said, in the rosy glow of capturing the title which has always eluded him in the past: “This is a very mathematical course. With those tricky pin placings, you can’t afford to end up in the wrong spot on the greens.”
In the estimation of Faldo and the rest of the elite 12-man field — with the possible exception of Fiji’s Vijay Singh, a distant 35 shots adrift of the imperious Brit, and the only man failing to at least match par — the course was in picture perfect condition.
So much so, that Bernhard Langer was moved to compare the Sun City layout to Augusta National, site of the Masters. “Not,” the gentlemanly German hastened to add, “that you can really compare them. The grass is so different. But overall this was as good if not better than any course in America.”
Faldo would dispute none of this bar the first cut of rough kikuyu round the greens, a growth he never really came to terms with and which cost him dearly in that one-over third round, when his attempted pitches repeatedly held up.
The final round challenge from Els also faltered with a wayward shot, this one from the tee at the 15th after getting to 14-under on the previous hole and noticeably deepening the worry lines etched across Faldo’s brow.
Still, there is much to come from the young US Open and World Matchplay champion. Els will doubtless add this tournament to those the future holds for him in due time. This year, as vintage a one as it has been for the tall South African, was simply not it.
It was interesting though to follow the fortunes of two other greats of professional golf on the climactic final day and compare the way the pair went about it in contrast to the way Faldo marched to victory.
Seve Ballesteros, his serious Latin features starting to relax after a traumatic five-over opening round — a round that could easily have been 10-over in a year where the climate had not stunted the tangles off the fairway — matched three-time winner David Frost with a best-of-the- day 66.
For this revival between first tee and last green, the Spanish maestro could thank Price in part for helping to iron out the technicalities of his faltering takeaway of the club during the opeing round. Indeed, it was only the artistry of Ballesteros’ short game which had kept him even marginally in the hunt on Thursday evening.
Price, without doubt a more ope and gregarious character than Faldo, shares the Englishman’s dedication to the game and determination to finish ahead of the field.
This was nowhere in better evidence than the fighting finish of 68 which brought him to within three shots of Faldo and earned him second place — and $250 000 it might be added — at the end of a superb week.
“I was under pressure,” Price admitted o the sunday, referring to his record-breaking total of last year. “But I’m happy. If it hadn’t been for three bogies today, I would have ben right in there.”
Indeed, he would have been “in there” sufficiently to force a play-off. But, despite the way Price rifled his shots in at some truly uncompromising pins, this was not to be and the shots which dropped with such regularity last year, held out this time.
In essence though, this tournament is a good one and the rowing galleries prove it. Perhaps neither Faldo, Price or Ballesteros — a back-to-back winer at Sun city n 1983-84 – – are ever destined t hold the million dollar cheque on high again.
But that can hardly detract from the fact that no winer on this course in this prestige tournament has had an easy task in earning the approbation of his bak manager.
So it was perhaps apposite that Faldo chose this tournament to let his facade crack as deeply as to not only grin, but chuckle.