Nick

Faldo

Faldo will turn 56 years of age the same day as the opening round. He hasn’t played a PGA TOUR event since missing the cut at St. Andrews in 2010. He hasn’t survived a cut in 2006, and he’s just 2-for-2 on the Champions Tour, electing to devote his time to other ventures including his broadcasting. “I’ve been fighting it for years,” he told CNN. “I was in the gym (last) Monday, and it suddenly just hit me. I thought, ‘Come on, this is one more walk,’ and I’ll probably never get a chance to walk at Muirfield.”

Faldo won the 1990 Open Championship at the Old Course by five strokes and, either side, lifted the Claret Jug at Muirfield in 1987 and 1992. He’s more a ceremonial presence these days and has missed his last six Open cuts since finishing T11 at, you’ve guessed it, St. Andrews in 2005. The Englishman, who now spends the majority of his time in the broadcasting booth, has teed it up just once this year and looked rusty when finishing T64 in the Senior PGA Championship in Indiana. He’ll have plenty of eyes on him over the first two rounds, though, as he tees it up alongside Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose. The trio head out at 14:45 local time on Thursday.

Most of Faldo’s time is being spent in the broadcasting booth these days, but he’s set to give it a go at The Greenbrier Resort. He was first introduced to the resort at the 1979 Ryder Cup, and he fell in love with the property. With the Greenbrier Faldo Golf Center on-site, Faldo owning a cabin on the property, and The Greenbrier Sporting Club being a part of Faldo’s residential offerings, it’s safe to say he spends a lot of time at the resort. The course familiarity will be high, which makes him a sneaky play in the deeper formats.

The winner of the 1984 edition at Harbour Town Golf Links hasn’t cracked a top 25 on Hilton Head Island since his T4 in 1995. He rarely makes PGA TOUR appearances outside his seat in the CBS television booth these days. In fact, with the exception of the Open Championship, that 2006 Heritage was his most recent start in a non-major on the PGA TOUR.

Faldo, a six-time major champion who turned 50 last week, made six birdies in the first round of the Senior British Open at Muirfield in Gullane Scotland, where he won two of his three Opens (1987 and 1992). By his own admission his game has waned since a commitment to golf announcing, and he has only played one tournament on the PGA Tour this year, missing the cut by six shots in the British Open at Carnoustie.

Faldo will need a miracle at this point to make the cut. The course seemed to be set up for Faldo’s game but it just wasn’t his day.