SIR NICK HAS NO REGRETS ABOUT THAT HEART OF MY BOTTOM SPEECH AT MUIRFIELD 1992

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By JAMES CORRIGAN
Regrets? Sir Nick Faldo has a few, but none at the course where he sang My Way. And, with that in mind, when he returns to play in next week’s Open at Muirfield he will be determined to make it rather more than an emotional walk down his memory’s most golden fairways.

Back to the scene of his prime: Nick Faldo is returning to his 'favourite golf course' to play at Muirfield Photo: AFP

When England’s greatest golfer decided, after a three-year absence, to play in his national major, only one alarm sounded.

Faldo realised he would finally have to watch “the heart of my bottom” moment which long since entered the sport’s folklore as one of the more bitter acceptance speeches.

Think Victor Meldrew in a Pringle jumper. Or so the story goes.

“I had never seen it and didn’t intend to, but when I said I would play Muirfield recently my little daughter Emma, she’s only 10, wanted to watch what Daddy got up to,” Faldo said.

“So I’m sitting there thinking ‘oh no, wait for it. wait for it ...’ and I’m cringing. But then I saw it and thought ‘is that it? Is that what all that fuss has been over all these years?’.

“I actually did start off thanking the press from the bottom of my heart, a little sarcastically maybe, and just paused and turned that saying round.
“You could see I was laughing, that it was off the cuff, that I had done it in jest. If anyone took it in the wrong way then that’s their problem.”
Except Faldo concedes there was a measure of payback involved in that infamous moment on the 18th green in 1992.
Muirfield had been the scene of his breakthrough at the 1987 Open and in the next three years he had added another Claret Jug and two Masters titles.
Yet then he drew a blank in 1991 and by the time he arrived back at the East Lothian links the vultures were already tucking in.
“I had been beaten up,” Faldo said. “They were saying I was finished and I was getting advice from all the place. Everyone was a flaming expert.
"So that’s what made that win so special. I had taken a four-shot lead into the final round but looked up after the 14th and was two back – and still got it done.
"That’s why I sang My Way at the end of that speech.”
Faldo missed that particular pitch, but thankfully no other.
At 35, he had become just the second Englishman, after Henry Cotton in 1948 to win The Open three times and in a 20-major period had remarkably won a quarter of them, giving him justifiable claims as Britain’s greatest post-war sportsman.
“It was this unbelievable feeling of fulfilment,” Faldo said. “I’d needed a par on the last to win and with that three-iron from the middle of the fairway I’d hit one of my best shots ever.
"I actually thought about that shot again when I watched Justin last month hit his four-iron.”
Justin, is of course, Justin Rose and the four-iron was struck from the middle of the 18th fairway at the US Open at Merion.
Just like Faldo’s, it was dead on line, but, just like Faldo’s, unluckily hopped to the fringe of the green.
Just like Faldo’s, however, it was enough to secure immortality.
Watching on television, Faldo was happy to relinquish the tag of ‘last English major winner’, which he had held since the 1996 Masters.
“I’d called it, you can check the magazine articles before Merion,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I could just tell that Justin was ready.
"He had pieced it all together, got everything right in that relationship between swing and mind and, after being there a few times, was finally able to deal with it.
"You have to think that Justin’s becoming the complete golfer and I expect him to win more majors.
“Even on a bad day he’ll be good, he’ll be there. And that’s what it’s all about.
"What happens when it’s bad and how destructive is your mind when it’s bad? A lot of the guys are all over the place.
"With Justin, it’s constant levels and it’s the result of his own four-year plan, which wasn’t unlike mine in the mid-80s.
“I’ve been learning the full story about Justin by talking to Gio [Valiante, Rose’s sports psychiatrist] and it’s fascinating how he was transformed from a player who just four years ago was winning his first event in America to someone who could survive the most pressurised situation in golf.
"I’ve been texting Justin and will meet up with him at Muirfield for a practice round and any helpful observations about the old place I can share, I will.”
Intriguingly, the time with Valiante was not spent only in research for his role as CBS’s chief golfing analyst.
There might be some more Muirfield payback here, as Faldo has dipped into Rose’s mindset for advice. Perhaps Faldo is doing it Justin’s way this time around?
“I’ve actually had a session or two with Gio as I’ve been get ready for the Open,” Faldo said.
“It’s my first competitive golf in three years, probably longer in effect because I am taking it seriously, and what Gio told me has been so useful in getting me back in the routine. He said all I need is ‘enough’ and he’s right.”
Typical Faldo. The adventure has turned into rather more than, as he put it, “one last walk around my favourite course”.
“I’ve loved applying all this new science” Faldo said. “These kids don’t know they’re born, with gadgets like TrackMan telling you exactly where you’re going wrong.
"It’s amazing: I hit two drives straight left and got really down on myself. But then the machine told me ‘it’s not you, it‘s the driver’.
"Now, that’s my type of computer. If I’d had all this in my day I’d have been even happier.
“And the science behind the physio now? Wow! These kids understand every blooming golfing muscle. They were just arms and legs to us.
"It’s allowed me to do as Gio said and make sure I have enough. So there’s a putting stroke I can use – tick. There’s a swing I can use – tick. It’s enough.”
What is evident is that the ceremony of a former champion’s return will not be enough for Faldo.
In deference to Muirfield, his club-making partner in the company “Faldo By Edel”, David Edel, has ground a set of retro irons based on those he used in 1992 and Faldo is adamant that he will also tee it up with similar conviction.
“When I decided this was my last shot at playing an Open at Muirfield, that I’d be probably 66 and too old the next time it went back there, I was going to do it for Matthew [his son], who is caddying for me, and for the sheer fun of it,” he said.
“But I can’t go there thinking ‘just try to hit it nicely and don’t make a fool of yourself’ – that’s not really me.
"I want to play half decent and I know it’s a hell of a lofty goal but I want to make the cut.
"I must push myself and try to summon some of that intensity from the old days at Muirfield. Giving it 100 per cent is the very least I owe that place.”
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What Faldo said in his winner's speech on the 18th green in 1992
Firstly I would like to commiserate with my fellow professionals. It was a hell of a day. I managed to say to myself going down 15: “You had better play the best four holes of your life” and I managed to do that.
As you can imagine I can’t believe I’m standing here. [applause]
To the crowd and to everyone who kept shouting at me and telling me “keep going”, boy do I thank you. I owe you a big one, a big scotch, I’m going to have to send a bottle of Johnnie Walker to every pub in Scotland. [laughter, applause]
I’d like to thank the R and A obviously. To organise this event, on this scale, like they do, for us players it goes without a hitch. We just waltz in and play and I can pay no better compliment. [applause]
To the greenstaff -– when I arrived here, they said the greens were fantastic and they really were. They really saved me. [applause]
To Lord Leadbetter [his coach] and his team. To good old “Funny Fanny” [Sunesson, his caddie]. [laughter, applause]
You can imagine I thought I was going to win this with a four-shot lead and I had rehearsed the audience participation bit. So you got your cue, for that great Sinatra song that is not New York, New York. You got it? [applause]
I would just like to thank everybody for all the letters they’ve written in telling me that my putting’s all wrong. [laughter]
I got one this week saying: “You’re not using your caddie properly.” I don’t know what he meant. That takes a lot of explaining to the wife. [laughter]
I’d like to thank all the TV commentators for telling me how to practise and what to and not to do. [laughter]
And obviously without the press ...What can I say about the press? I thank them from the bottom of my ... the heart of my bottom [laughter], maybe, yes.
The reasons why I say this – are you ready? – is because [breaking into song and raising arm] I did it my way.