BBC SPORT | GOLF | Faldo's new perspective

Nick Faldo is a changing man.

The six-times Major champion views making this summer's Ryder Cup team as a "bonus".

He is also taking his golf week-by-week and - whisper it quietly - he is even starting to learn to relax.

Faldo enjoyed the rare luxury of "wasting" a recent day in the garden.

But for someone with such a busy calender it is hard to see when he will return to the sun lounger and trowel in the near future.

Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam line up a putt at the 1989 Ryder Cup
Faldo has a Ryder Cup record second to none
The 43-year-old will be flying back-and-forth across the Atlantic until Christmas, but stopping off at The Belfry in late September is not mapped out on his agenda.

"In all honesty I haven't given myself enough events for the Ryder Cup," Faldo explains in regard to the qualification process.

"I'm only doing a few events on the European Tour and I'm going to have to do some really great stuff in about five or so, so it would be very much a bonus to make the team."

Faldo's outloook on his objectives for the year stems from a conscious decision that is far removed from the single-minded approach he brought to the game in the late eighties.

"I made the decision that I couldn't juggle everything - playing in America, Europe, trying to form my business as well as getting a bit of time to myself - it's all too much."

So now Faldo, a self-confessed "cherry picker" when it comes to deciding which events to enter, plays where he wants to play and approaches his golf by the week.

"The goal is just to get back in there and give myself an opportunity each week and leave an event having done my best.

Faldo factfile

Born: 18 July 1957
1976 - Turned pro

Six Major victories
1987 - Open (Muifield)
1989 - US Masters
1990 - US Masters
1990 - Open (St Andrews)
1992 - Open (Muirfield)
1996 - US Masters

27 European Tour wins

Six US Tour wins

97 weeks as world number one between Sept. 1990 and June 1994

81 consecutive weeks in top spot between July 1992 and Jan. 1994

Has played a record 46 Ryder Cup games and has won 25 points - another record - over 11 matches

Awarded the MBE in 1987

"That's the number one objective - to get back up there and be competitive.

"The good bits of my game are good but I've just got to get the consistency which is the key."

A decade ago it would have verged on blasphemy to suggest that Faldo had trouble with his golf.

Faldo reconstructed his game over a period of two years to give himself the chance of challenging for major honours.

And his hard work paid dividends when he captured the Open title at Muirfield in 1987.

Five more Majors followed, his last being the 1996 US Masters when he came back from six shots behind to overhaul Greg Norman on a dramatic final day at Augusta.

In 1990 he followed Jack Nicklaus, the man who inspired him to take up the game, in becoming only the second player to win back-to-back Green Jackets at Augusta and he threatened to achieve what Tiger Woods has now achieved - domination of the sport.

But as Woods celebrated his investiture as one of the greatest golfers ever at this years event Faldo only endured disappointment.

"I worked hard before Augusta but I didn't play well," he admits of his two round seven-over par total which saw him finish 13 places off the bottom of the leaderboard and miss the weekend's action.

Fanny Sunesson and Nick Faldo confer
Sunesson and Faldo renewed their working relationship in the US
But while he was in America Faldo did enjoy teaming up with his former caddy, Fanny Sunesson, and recording his highest finish of the season at the Houston Open.

"Having Fanny on the bags for a couple of weeks was a good help, we changed a few things and I played nicely.

"It was fun to work together, bring back the old memories and I finished 22nd in Houston which wasn't too bad in a tough week."

But since then Faldo has been enjoying a "mid-season breather" after receiving a "bit of a wake-up call".

"I filled out a questionnaire which asked how much time I had to myself and I worked out it's hardly six weeks.

"You need time to switch off and do what you want to do and it's now very important to me to have a break.

"It's the first time I've spent a month in one house and had a serious break for years and it's really nice," he explains of his time at home in England and the break in the garden.

Next year my golf will become a season and for the other six months it will be all my other activities

Nick Faldo

"It was a real treat to get out there and think that I had wasted a day in the garden."

But it is a rare treat in an otherwise busy schedule for the time being.

Faldo is pursuing golf course design projects around the world as well as opening up more Faldo Institutes for golf and he also remains heavily involved in the junior series that he set up.

"I've decided to concentrate on those three areas, golf is four and my private life is five so it still all adds up.

"But next year my golf will become a season. I want to concentrate on that and you can't mix business and golf.

"I will have a summer season of golf and for the other six months it will be business golf and all my other activities."


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