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THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ABERDEEN ASSET MNGTJuly 25, 2007Nick FaldoGULLANE, SCOTLAND STEVEN FRANKLIN: Welcome to Muirfield and senior golf in general. With two Open titles you have good memories of Muirfield, but have you had much time to reminisce in between all the practice? NICK FALDO: Of course. I have been able to take Matthew, my son, through some of my shots, -- inaudible -- got in there and hit my 5-iron in the rough at last and my 3-iron. Yeah, it's been wonderful. STEVEN FRANKLIN: Spur you on an extra bit? NICK FALDO: Yes it does. I think when we have semi or partial guidance, grandstands are minimal. I've never played here would it being au naturale. It's quite interesting how low the bunkering is. STEVEN FRANKLIN: Speaking of au naturale, how does the rough compare this week? NICK FALDO: It's serious, six inches of rough underneath two foot of hay fescue. It's very severe, very narrow, and 10, the traditional stuff down the right of 5, very serious. It's a very good test for us. STEVEN FRANKLIN: How do you feel your game has been? NICK FALDO: Well, I work hard. I've been trying to get a couple of swings that will work, one full swing, one half-swing for little knock-down shots in the wind and grinding on the putting. Just got to work hard on that. The alignment is quite difficult at the moment. I think when you've not faced so many putts you're just not 100% sure where you're going, so I just have to keep working on that every day. Q. When the rough is as severe as that, does it play to your strengths. You have always been a precision golfer? NICK FALDO: Yeah, I think it's going to be very positional around here, an awful lot of 3-woods, either laying up in between bunkers. With modern equipment, it's quite interesting now how far a 3-wood is going - probably equivalent to where my old driver used to go. That's what I'm doing on most of the holes. Driver is coming out four or five times and the rest of the time, 3-wood is a very good club for me. Q. You had 18 pars to win in 1987. Would you take level par for the week and how close to the winning score do you think that would be? NICK FALDO: 72 pars would be very good the way I am putting. I don't know. I was just looking out the window thinking what will the winningscore be. I mean, this is a tough golf course. I don't think they are going to -- who knows whether they will go for Open championship pins or just give us another pace or two. If the weather is going to be different from what we've had, a little bit of everything but not too severe. I really don't know. I'm just going to go out and play the golf course and do the best I can. I think that's about as much as I can accomplish at the moment. Q. You have not had much time to prepare? NICK FALDO: No, I've been a busy bee. Obviously with TV, design business, across Europe and America. This is my longest season - two weeks of golf in the year. This is my new career, so I'm very happy with it. We shall see how it is. The tough thing is that when you haven't practised enough and you want to be competitive, how competitive can you be? And is it the start of a vicious circle; we shall see. Q. Loren Roberts said that despite your lack of competitive golf, your record around here means you are still the man to beat? NICK FALDO: Really? I think they are memories but you've still got to hit the golf ball. Experience is only good when you can land the ball and do what you intend to do with it. I'm rusty. These guys have probably played 20 tournaments this year. I've had two rounds. Q. Did the state of your game last week surprise you, or was it what you expected? NICK FALDO: My strategy was dreadful and I was very surprised at that. I came out with the wrong shots down 2, 3, 5, and thought, wow, what am I doing. That just shows you how you've got to be at it all the time to make good decisions. You know exactly how far the ball is going to go, or are you going to be aggressive, do you want to lay up. I drove a lot better day two. I think I only got myself into trouble once. That was a big difference in my score. I think on day one I must have been in the rough three times, in bunkers two or three times. So there was my six shots. Yeah, but I enjoyed it. It was all right. It was a good experience. I got into comfort mode day two and I was quite pleased the way I played on a few holes. Q. Loren was also saying that most of this game is mental and that is why you will still be a contender? NICK FALDO: Yeah, I think you're a little -- you think strategy first. I think I know what I want to do -- I think I probably know this better unless it blows in completely opposite directions. I hope I make better guesses this time. Q. You are obviously pouring your all into this. I noticed on the range yesterday that one coach was filming you and another was looking at it? NICK FALDO: I've only got one coach -- must have been somebody -- Q. Is this last minute cramming? NICK FALDO: Every time I come back to Britain I would go and see Keith and have a little session just to check that the swing is on track. I brought him up last week for three or four days and here for this week. Yeah, it's worth it, just to -- if I'm going to practise, might as well be constructive. Q. A year or so ago you told a nice story about arriving in America and being disconcerted when an immigration official put you down as TV analyst and not golfer. Now that you are happy with the TV work, would you be happy if that happened again? NICK FALDO: I still like to amuse myself with how people know me. Some guys know me and other guys go, what do you do; I work for CBS, what do you do, golf analyst. And they say: What, you can get a job out of that? I say yes, tune in at 3 o'clock on the weekend. It's serious, good job and it's got serious clout in America. Q. If you could have designed either Carnoustie of Muirfield, what would have been? NICK FALDO: Yeah, I would have loved to come here and got a little piece of land on the bottom there. When you see that chunk left of 5 -- if it was me now, if I was given that piece of land, I would go in that direction. It quite interesting -- inaudible -- . In the locker room you can see the process of this golf course over the last three or four hundred years and it's quite something. When you see this now, this is one of the great golf courses of the world, but I wouldn't do it like that. The 15th hole, you have a bunker the size of this table by the green and you couldn't do it. But then look at it and think maybe I should, maybe I should do a golf course one day and keep all of the bunkering low and do my own version of this look. That's the beauty of my design work; I can be a inspired by something and go with that theme. Q. So why do you regard Muirfield as superior? NICK FALDO: This is more true links. You know, the bumpy fairways, the green surface is pure fescue so the greens are moving around all the time; some are slow, some are very slippery. So this is a true links I think, as simple as that. At Muirfield all of the bunkers are raised up. Here they have obviously found little hollow depressions and said, yeah, just make a bunker. Sod wall and that's it. There's no adding it, just cutting in. Q. This is your senior debut. Do you have any idea yet of when your next senior event will be? NICK FALDO: Yeah, that's a tough one at the moment. I'll look at schedule next year, which we'll already be doing sometime soon the next couple of months. I'll look at my CBS/GOLF CHANNEL commitment and see what I can do. Really, I don't know. Q. Did it gladden your heart as Ryder Cup Captain to see two Europeans going head to head in The Open? NICK FALDO: Well, sure, yeah, it was unbelievable, wasn't it. You know, it was great to see. We're talking about it so often and those two guys jumping in, I've been saying it, you've got to get some experience, and both of them have over the last five years in majors, and I feel you need that. Obviously it's part of the process - being able to cope with and see how everything changes, the faces, the eyes, the swings, the emotions. You've got to learn to control that on the back nine in a major. It's quite unbelievable the emotion that goes on inside of the player. Q. What can you say to lift Sergio's chin? NICK FALDO: Well, the best thing is, he's 27 and these things are going to happen. I think this is closer than he's been before. In the last few majors he blew himself out earlier in the round, and here he was right there. And he must be gutted, he has a putt to win The Open and it hits the edge. So he's got to come away and say, I really did my best. That's what I used to call on. If you've done your best, you can't do much more. Looking at the round, the mistakes he made, the mishits or whatever led to losing a shot; the tee shot down 7 he may have lost it a little bit; tough second shot over the green and takes a 5 that way, it can be subtle things like that. You know, if you're going to win a major, you've got to be in control of the golf ball. Bottom line, I'm sure it will hurt for a while but he'll realise that very few people get that experience of being right in there. Q. People assume the floodgates will Open now we have had a European winner. Did you feel the same in your era? NICK FALDO: When Sandy won the British in '85, I was hoping to be the next British player after Tony Jacklin. Same with Seve and Augusta. When somebody else does it, you think, "Well, these are the guys I'm playing with, I can beat them on my day." That can add a big boost. Q. In 92 you had a four shot lead. You lost it and then had to come from behind. Can you recall that? NICK FALDO: '92. Yeah, yeah, it was very weird because I was feeling fine, I made a mistake, I bogeyed 11 and 3-putted 13 and whacked a 1-iron straight in that bunker right on 14. I kept going back to Fanny saying I feel fine, I just don't get it. When I looked at the leaderboard after 14, I saw I was two back and just said forget everything, play the best four holes of your life. When I look back on it now, the 5-iron I hit at 15, the drive and 4-iron at 17 I hit and then the 3-iron I hit on 18 were four of my best shots I've ever hit. I think I must get a reel of that and just run it, run it in the office or something and people can come in and watch. Q. In normal time, how poor was Padraig's first two shots at 18 on Sunday and how good were his next two? NICK FALDO: Yeah, well, you know, the tee shot, there's no bail-out, that's the thing. You can't be critical because, you know, he played so well on the back nine and he goes with driver, be just blocks it and doesn't quite get through it. Should have stuck with the 5-iron. Again, it is an extremely difficult shot to get and on that angle. I'm saying, well, if he nails this, plays safe and nails it -- again, there's no bail-out. Under those circumstances, I wouldn't criticise him because they are right on the limit. You can imagine under those circumstances, if you just lose your picture or decision for a split second or you haven't completely made the decision, what you're trying to do; that's what happens. But yeah, the pitch shot was fantastic and the putt was fantastic. And it was quite funny, after him getting away and Sergio bogeying, I called it. I wish I called it on air because I said to Tirico: "Garcia will bogey and Padraig will win the playoff." Wish I had said it live. (Laughter) I wish, yeah. Q. The comments that were attributed to you that the players were too friendly to win an Open. In a way were you pleased to be proved wrong? NICK FALDO: No I wasn't proven wrong because I never said those things. As I said -- I said, I said, yeah, precisely, the interpretation, I said, I made an observation that I saw three of the four leaders a couple of years ago at an event in America, having lunch together before they were going to play and I thought, wow, that wouldn't have happened in my day. Because, you know, I always played my card close to my chest and same with many other guys. You know, your routine starts the minute you get up. That's all part of it. For me it was like, yeah, you've got to display, even wandering around the clubhouse that you've got an air about you or whatever. If you look at Tiger, he arrives, he walks to the range at Augusta, it was like a freight train walking on to the range; I couldn't believe it. When he gets in his mode, guys will feel it. I just thought that was very interesting because name me another professional start that does that. Do you think Federer and Nadal had lunch before they played? Do you think Ali had lunch before he knocked somebody's block off? I don't think so. And I thought, is this the era we're in now? That was my observation, and the rest of it was added. Q. Inaudible NICK FALDO: No, after, once it happened after Sergio came to 18, I said, "He'll bogey and Harrington will win." Q. Would you call Padraig to congratulate him or Sergio to commiserate? NICK FALDO: I'd rather do it face-to-face. Yeah, I'll be there next week. A bit longer and I would have done something different. But back over there next week, it will be nicer that way. Q. Why did you think that Padraig rather than Sergio would win? NICK FALDO: I thought it was -- given the second bite of the cherry it would lift him. Sergio had -- even though there's another group, the fact that on paper, Padraig lost the Open but he didn't because he's then given another chance. Sergio is facing losing The Open, and he had to deal with that very quickly. You could see he was gutted. And then off the first tee, off you go again and he made one little mistake and that was it, two-shot swing. Q. So it comes down to Padraig's pitch and putt. That was to save The Open while Sergio's putt lost The Open. NICK FALDO: Well, yeah. Exactly. Q. Do you think your TV commitments will affect your Ryder Cup Captaincy? NICK FALDO: Not at all because I'm around more players than ever before. I'm at the events they are all at. I've got constant kind of access to their scores. I can see who is making good moves more than I ever would have done and seeing who is moving up. But you know, it doesn't mean a lot, does it. The guys know what they want to do. If they want to make that team, they will be busting their buns from September on. That's not got a lot to do with me. But the last couple of months, I will be more observant to what's going on to see who my picks are going to be obviously. Q. Do you feel you will have an embarrassment of riches for the picks? NICK FALDO: I pick two -- well, I don't know how far. It might be a very obvious two picks or a very difficult two picks, I have no idea, I really don't. It might be, wow, 11 and 12, yeah, that makes sense or it might go -- who knows, it might go down to 20 who has done something or whatever. Q. Was The Open a reminder of how strong European golf is? NICK FALDO: Well, that's what I hope. I hope. That's what I want. I want the team to be as strong as in the past. And then, yeah, we can discuss tactics on how we play as a team. Q. Were you impressed with the technique of Rory McIlroy? NICK FALDO: Oh, yeah, I could see that. I played with him on Monday and you could tell the excitement. And obviously we played on Monday morning, pouring weather, so I whinced out after doing the short route and came in. He said, well I've got to keep going as I've not seen it. I thought that if he can play that well with his waterproofs on, then he's going to do all right this week. Yeah, he's a talented kid and was doing many things right that week, driving well, putting well. Yeah, he's going to -- I'm sure he'll make the transition. I hope he has a great Walker Cup and go to Tour School and see what happens. Q. Is he a potential Ryder Cup contender for next year, or is that asking too much? NICK FALDO: I don't know but I managed to do it. I did it for a half-season in '76 and made it in '77. So, yeah, he could do it. Q. Playing with Watson for the first two days? NICK FALDO: Yeah, as I said, it's a great draw. We've got plenty of Opens to talk about. As I said the most important thing is I'm going to go and play Muirfield first and then I'll worry about looking at what everybody else is doing later. Q. As a young golfer was there anything you saw in Watson, who was a great links player, that you took on board? NICK FALDO: Well, I was at Carnoustie and tried to qualify and I went out and I've got an image in my mind of what's on the range in those days, the range was just open. There was no stands. On the other end you see him hitting one irons out of any old lie. I have that printed in my mind because they were coming up like howitzers; it was just incredible striking strength. Yeah, his rhythm has always been fantastic. So, no, I think it will be fun. Really looking forward to it. Q. Was there a solitary moment when you turned 50 last week that you thought this is a pivotal moment in my career? NICK FALDO: No, this week when I arrived here, I saw all of the faces -- it kind of on the positive, I'm like, well, it's the same guys I played against 20 years ago. Yeah, feels kind of weird, I've just come back on Tour in a way. STEVEN FRANKLIN: That seems a nice place to leave it. Welcome back on Tour and have a good week. End of FastScripts |
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