Sir Nick Faldo: Humble Golf Beginnings to Beating Jack Nicklaus | Undeniable with Joe Buck

Joe Buck sits down with golf legend Nick Faldo. The two dive into Faldo’s humble introduction to the world of golf, to playing against his heroes in the Ryder Cup, and now entering the world of golf commentary. Faldo discusses joining his first golf club, winning the English Amateur Championship, playing college golf at the University of Houston for only ten weeks, and the secrets behind his first Ryder Cup.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Nick Faldo Introduction
02:04 – Nick’s Humble Childhood
05:23 – Introduction to Golf & First Lessons
09:29 – Leaving School at 16 to Pursue Golf
12:29 – Visiting the Open Championship
15:06 – Playing Against Himself
16:40 – Playing College Golf at Houston
18:15 – Winning $1200 in Nigeria
18:55 – The 1977 Ryder Cup Team & Playing Jack Nicklaus
22:20 – Playing in the Open & Dealing with British Media
25:17 – Faldo on Changing Swing Mid-Season
27:35 – Winning the Spanish Open & 1987 British Open
30:12 – Parent’s Reaction to Success
31:45 – 1989 Masters
35:26 – 25ft Putt to Win
36:03 – Winning Back to Back Masters
39:00 – The Best Feeling in Golf
39:44 – Best Shot Faldo Ever Hit
41:44 – Why Faldo is Best Ryder Cup Player
42:56 – 1996 Masters, Feelings on Greg Norman
44:20 – Knighted by the Queen & Dad’s Reaction
46:06 – What’s Next & Personal Reflection

#Undeniable #golf #golfer

[Music] [Music] when my guest tonight chose to leave school at the age of 16 to concentrate solely on golf he was told only one man in 10,000 makes it as a pro golfer he responded then I’ll be that one Sir Nicholas Alexander falo would go on to become one of gol’s alltime great winning six Majors holding the number one ranking in the world for 98 consecutive weeks and setting the record for the most rder Cup wins of any player in history but before he would end up dominating the World of Golf did you know he was born in the back bedroom of his parents home w walked away from a golf scholarship at the University of Houston after just 10 weeks to turn pro and went without winning for over two years while he restructured the swing that ultimately propelled him to the top tonight we’ll learn what makes this undeniable icon who he is a man who once said the word is control that’s my ultimate to have control please welcome World Golf Hall of Famer Sir Nicholas falo thank you thank you thank you yeah sure have a seat I feel I got to be honest right now like I’m interviewing James Bond oh well I mean you have that look right do you get that a lot like the the swashbuckling Brit that’s let me let me smell your breath Miss money Penny have you been drinking something like that let me get me cushion comfy I want you back I want your lumbar fully supported oh yes for this interview I mean right from the beginning I I when I read your story uh it’s it’s a hell of a story but but I see an only child that was really well protected by parents who gave him all they could give him is is that accurate well we didn’t have a lot to give you know that was um how far back do you want me to go I mean I heard you mention you you can go a little past this this past I don’t remember yes remember that dress you were wearing that yeah but that well you’re right that is a that is a girl’s uh nighty um I think they thought I was going to be a girl um I guess I would have been Nicola um I don’t know so um I was born Welling gar City in a two-bedroom semi my dad was a um unqualified account and he worked at The Foundry I mean they didn’t have a lot I mean they I did ask my dad um how much the rent was when they moved in there the rent was $2 a week born in that back bedroom with the doctor and the Midwife being an only child I had a this great back garden and I played I could entertain myself all day long and I had a bucket I had a ladder and a shed and those were my three toys that I had when I was a kid none of you know this you know and so that was my entertainment there’s great pictures of me sitting in the bucket or up the lab on top yeah we had that picture of you like it looks like you’re literally stuck in the ladder exact me that looks like hours of fun exactly I had a great Garden out back and I learned to play and entertain myself I had a couple of mates around I had a giant bush in the back Garden or bushes and and then across the road uh I had it was called the woods it was probably only a couple of Acres but we called it the woods because it was deep and dark we were scared to go down the far end when you’re this High you know you’re growing up and that was back of the steam steam engine steam trains used to come down the railway line so that was great if you heard a steam engine come you run down and go and see an old steam engine go through and that sort of thing so what’s the sense that you get maybe then and now looking back about how you were surrounded tough love sweet love no I think no I think I well back in that time you didn’t come come from a family that were Huggy Huggy or anything like that I mean saying for your parents to say that they love you was quite rare don’t happened later in life when your mom actually says she loves you you know so we we didn’t we weren’t lovey lovey that sort of family you know during this time though you know you think about well the great Nick falo he’s a six-time major Champion he was obviously born basically not just in a pretty dress but with a golf club in his hands and that wasn’t the case at all I mean you were swimming Cricket soccer you were playing everything I played everything at school and I loved it you know from 11 on I did everything things as you said swimming basketball and we did all that we did soccer and rugby I was a sportsman looking for a sport we didn’t have television until I was eight which was black and white I got color TV when I was 12 which was awesome because we used to watch Batman in color you remember when he go z z zap zap and po all that yeah all that suddenly that’s in color so how it all started was um um I’m watching the Masters in color in color which if you’re going to watch any event you got to watch it in color you have to watch the Masters in color absolutely and that you’re right it was the color so I saw these green trees I didn’t know anything much about it honestly know much about Golf and I saw Jack Nicholas and in his yellow and all this sort of thing Jack didn’t win that year it was way back this is 1971 but that was the inspiration for me to literally I came to my parents M next day said oh I want to try golf I said we don’t know anything about it we know there’s a club on the other side of town willing G City golf club and he said well we’ll go and get you some we’ll book you some lessons so and so it’s hilarious my mom said first deal was we have to have a haircut before we can go to a golf club you know this is now Posh you know so she got her best Bas and out the sink you know put it on my head and cut around so headed off to the golf club and went in there and the assistant was there Chris Arnold and said right how do we get started he said we book six lessons we booked six lessons and I’m like right I’m ready he said no the first one’s tomorrow I okay come back the next day started with my first lessons and so but golf is kind of as you said it’s Posh now now you’re over you’re all over at a golf club and you’re getting a haircut we’re going to make you look like a like you belong at the golf club but this was something new for your family very new very new and then once I got going um you know I kept I kept it quiet at school I didn’t say I was a golfer what what was it and Jack Nicholas in particular the guy well you know I didn’t it was really the moment that I then went out and and played or practiced golf my neighbor gave me a couple of clubs he gave me a seven and eight on I went down in the bushes and you rumage around and find golf balls I found about 20 golf balls through the bushes my mom being a dress maker sewed a practice bag I had a little bag and that was it so I used to head over to the field the school field up the road from me a different school and IED and I used to go down the long jump you know the line on the football pitch and put these balls out and there’d be the long jump pit down there right and so i’ i’ have had something to aim at so I’d hit these balls at the long jump pit which is filled with sand sand yeah just with sand yeah so I used to hit balls in that and I used to get mad if I missed the long jump hit you know if I didn’t get 18 out of 20 well the funny thing was cuz I then went back to see this long jump hit 20 years later after I’m now a pro and one and of course a long jump per I scored is 8 foot wide and 12 foot long and I thinking bloody hell no and I us to be get mad if I missed this thing from 0 it’s a hell of a shot yeah exactly so look what it’s doing to me then you go to practice ground and I really got into it so by the time I’m 14 I’m really loving it so my parents and so they bought me my first set of half set of golf clubs so I’ve now been practicing for three months so then at 14 I played my very first round of golf and I don’t know the rules of golf then and I know I lost the ball three times or something I didn’t know what that meant and but I only hit the ball 80 odd times 82 times she said so my very first round is decent I got over you shot 82 in essence the first time you play well yeah probably a few there are golfers around the world and maybe In This Crowd that are thinking what a bastard I have played my whole life whole life and haven’t got trying to shoot 82 exactly so I started with that by 15 I’m falling in love with the game of golf I made a decision I want to be a pro golf which is pretty darn cool at 15 to make a decision in your life right so I’ve got a per so by the time at 16 I um asked my parents because you know I’m now completely focused on it I wasn’t playing Trent at school but I obviously he wasn’t you see my school report at 15 and Nick has not suddenly lost interest he is not paying attention BL so I my I wanted to leave school at 16 which you could do that’s the only way to pursue a career so this is the amazing bit that my parents did for me um you know Lally went down to the golf club and spoke to in Conn and said well what do we do with this lad and he says what what a risk to say well yeah I think he’s talented send him out there or what so at 16 at 16 I was going to just give up school and go to the practice ground I mean this is a big shove your chips to the middle of the table move by obviously guy who’s bright and who’s you know who’s got a sense of humor and parents who are hardworking this is a big lead yeah so at 16 when I left school I literally was went into a routine of every morning I got up and had breakfast at home at 7:30 and I was out the door at 8:00 so I devised i’ strapped a piece of wood on my homebuilt bike so I could lay my clubs on and and strapped the clubs on and I and I would cycle through the woods to the golf club every day every day and I get there about 8:15 or so and then off I go down to the range and I’d hit golf balls and there was a little tree Little Pine Tree there and and I used to tip my balls out there and I had a green and I if you look at modern ranges how beautiful they are you think you’re deprived because you’ve only got one grain one green one bunk little did I know that I had one green one bunker and one FL right so I hit every every single shot at this over this bunker to this flag but I even saw with your hands right there I hit every single shot i h draw exactly I hit a fade yeah that that’s interesting because you’re you’re almost trying to create exactly shots on one simple hole absolutely I little did I know which now when a sports psychologist now comes oh my goodness this was targeting to the MTH degree because every single shot had a purpose cuz if I hit a good one I want to do it again again better and then when I got really good I could then do this it’s only about 8 on long or 7even on so but after got I could do this with a two on I could take a two on and hit a tiny little two on on this I’d hit him along the ground or whatever so I did that all morning till 12:00 and then I had my my lunch I used to go in and I didn’t even go in the clubhouse used to sit on top of the lockers and it was hilarious because were you welcome in the clubhouse no no not wer no he wasn’t member until I got that but Juniors weren’t really welcome at all you know back in that time and so I’d eat my lunch on the locker room and I go out and then I’d part for whatever half an hour or an hour around the Ping green then I’d go and play minimum of 27 yeah minimum of 27 holes I mean I keep going till dark and and usually on my own well nine times out of 10 on my own and um is that a little foreshadowing to where you get on tour where you were known as blinders on yeah yeah there may be I may be playing with three other guys two other guys one other guy but I’m alone on this golf course yeah well that blinker on as I call head down blinkers on yeah I had this ability to be totally engrossed in it which you know some people would deem that as advantageous you know then then that will give you a label obviously in the media that ends up giving you a label of who you are because obviously I was had this ability to be completely engrossed and I believe that’s how I that’s how Nick fer the golfer operated best being completely engrossed in it so the um the huge breakthrough for me was um Dad then said he’d take me to the open to tr the open was at trun and um we drove up we had a white VW Beetle and we loaded up with our camping gear and we drove to tr which in the pouring rain I never forget raining or what have you are you why why camping gear you going to camp out between we’re going to Camp we’re going to Camp we’re not and go to the go to the open every day yeah we’re going to find the camping field and Camp so we drove into I never forget we drove into trun and there was Tony jacn in his Rolls-Royce with Tom weof their best and they were filling up with gas Tony’s in his purple his lilac and wi scu’s in his rer bear plad trousers and we went off to find this camping s on the side of a hill you know the freaking wind and rain and we camped and I can’t remember how we at or whatever but I remember it being so cold even in the day I kept my pajamas on under my clothes and I put my clothes over the top of my pajamas and my dad would drop me off like whatever in the morning he say right I’ll see you right here you know at 5:00 and and I was gone and I would just go off and disappear and I’d go run around the golf course i’ go to the range did you want to see as many golfers as you could yeah I went on the Range and watch you know I watched Jack and Arnold and I had Miller wisoff and I had toino and Gary play right six guys I watched them and um so I watched them to I was so I could memorize the little idiosyncrasies you know so so I so when I then came back to Welling G City I could mimic them so I’m watching them on the range and then I disappear round back to find our our Porter John’s are called toilets in England you know it’s pretty ugly name in it so there I am in our British BL thing box it’s a big green box you know and amazingly Jack jumps over the fence right in front of me to try and avoid you know the fans or whatever to get to the practice ground so jck Nicholas jumps over the fence and I’m like like right in front of him and so he goes into the the L and he’s only one with only two of us around so he goes in there for a couple of minutes and then comes out so Jack disappears off he goes and so I go in this L and I’m looking around and there’s nobody around so what does any 16y old boy do he you I go down I Whittle in every single spot and I say I’ve whittled where Jack Nicholas has whittled no way yes I can’t hit a golf ball like Jack yet but I can thought I can Whittle where Jack Nicholas whittles so that was so what this did for me which was amazing I then went back to Welling G City and I would play against these guys so Jack faded it and Arnold drew it Millow faded it wisoff drew it player drew it Travino faded it so I go and play and with my imagining friends I’d go and play a three ball every afternoon just so they understand you’re by yourself but you’re in your mind you’re playing the other two guys at the time whoever you’re picking and you’re saying I’m playing Jack so I’m going to draw fade it playing and so you’re playing all these different shots against your heroes in your mind again it’s the self-taught bit of commitment of a because if I’m saying I’m trying to hit a three-wood fade and I’m Jack nich of course Jack Nicholas is going to get a great shot isn’t he so I go in to every shirt with the intention you know I’m J because he’s going to knock you on the green sure it may not go on the Green but you go in with the right intentions so again it’s teaching me this we fast forward again sports psychology go oh my goodness this is visualization to the best and I thought this was really unique to me and now here we are 40 years on and I now interview Jack and he said well I spent time with Baron Nelson I went you know his coach sent him to Byron and he said so I I I’d spend time with Byron so the next tournament I pretend I’m Byron Nelson then he spent time with Sam Sneed and I went hang on time out you I said I did that I thought I was special get me you mimic Your Heroes I mean it’s it’s such a powerful thing but you had to be so solitary because at the time not only have you left school but all your buddies you know they’re they’re they’re doing their own thing you’re over here my best mate Steve Ellis you know was like he was going off to be a plumber and um literally and I literally head off I’m going off to the golf course so it was almost end of friendships as well I Disappeared into a different world a completely different world trying to be a golfer so the end thing was to come to America we came and uh coach Williams was at University of Houston suddenly I’m going to class which after affecting my practice time didn’t like that and we used to have to run from class Quick Lunch couple of guys had cars and we had to drive to golf courses which was 45 minutes when we’ go straight to the first team and play no warm up anything and it and it was coaches qualifying all this sort of things so I got fed up at that and so I then went in his office I said I’m out of it I’m going home now he said you’re homesick I said no I’m not just going home you miss your girlfriend no no I just want to go so so that was it I left after 10 weeks so you go home and at 19 uh you make your pro debut yeah my club gave me £500 and my dad gave me another £500 and back in those days you you know your whole expenses for the week would be like $2 sort of thing that would include everything hotel and Cy everything and I’d gone off and I’d played back badly it’s a lose if you go play badly being lose I remember him being very he was down the end of the garden very upset you know 112 quid it was an awful lot of money to him you know an awful lot of money and then and then I went to Nigeria and I won big money I W I came home i’ gone for 10 days I came back with 1,200 bucks for 10 days and in cash and spread it on the dining room table Yeah and pushed this money around CU $1,200 in cash who’s at the table just Mom and Dad you know just going this is this was the start of making and that was early 77 and then I start playing better and I start finishing third and all sorts of wing and winning so you’re obviously a goal guy so the first goal was to be a pro golfer I’ve already done that now I’m a pro then I want to be on tour top 60 I make it 58 then I want to be I want to make the ride a cup team in 1977 only my second it’s only my first full year so I’m actually technically a rookie and I finished eighth in our order Merit and I make the rider Cup team I’m the youngest at 20 and I make the who’ you beat with r well I beat everybody it was great right so day one I played with Peter house my partner which was great we played Lou Graham and Ray Floyd day one beat them next I’m playing Big Jack and Ray Floyd so this is the first time I’ve obviously going to play against him and I was I was long in those days I had a ailla graphite shafted thing with about this much talk in it you could twist and uh Tony pen head and I was long with this thing so I hit this thing down the fourth and I’m 20 yards past Jack and I’m standing there looking forward and I can feel his eyes are in my back of my head and I think and he’s looking him and I look back and he a bright red bright red uh cardigan he had on and this sort of thing so got long story short I beat him two and one and then I played Watson the next day he was open champion and I beat him one up so I’ve only been playing golf for six years and I’ve just beat Nicholas and Watson at the Ridder cup and from the outside they because they’re going oh God this is the Wonder kid the one in the million kid and you know they either like me or don’t like me and so that’s already entering it’s already entering the picture exactly this kid’s this kid thinks he’s better than everybody else well I don’t I I think I was quietly confident I mean you get more and more confident you learn I mean self-belief is another huge thing you have to have you would know every Sportsman you meet any by guy who’s at his best has got you got to have that much self-belief every whatever you’re doing there’s a sabotage button in your mind if you don’t believe you know you’ve got to have it and you that’s the most wonderful thing to go and play a sport when you believe that you’re as good as the sport your goals top 60 make the wrer yeah so yeah like I was explaining then I want to be a multiple winner on tour then I wanted to be European number one yes I you know all these things happen then I wanted to win Maes and it’s all about Comfort isn’t it because you I listen to guys talking and and if you’re not comfortable going climbing the the ladder if you’re not comfortable going to the next stage you ain’t going to get there if some guy goes yeah I can win this week or other guy gives you a freaking two minutes answer going around the houses he doesn’t actually say I can well he’s not going to win is he but the guy goes you I can win this week got more likely to ever get me why why are you doing all this number one it was a passion of of the game um I love I love competing I love the everything about golf I love the practicing um you know every single shot is a goal you know when you hit a really good even on my Welling Gan City range when I hit a a wedge to here if the members are watching I try to hit one inside it so every single shot is a goal in the game of golf um but now but but when you finally get out there on tour and you learn to compete and you want to win and you and back in in my era you had to win to make a difference to your lifestyle if you wanted a bigger house better car all that sort of thing for your family you had to win to make a difference I won five times in 1983 to win £100,000 which $150 $160,000 get me five times I won to do that so in 1983 you’re competitive you have a shot at the Open Championship which it’s the British open the Open Championship 84 the Masters you’re there but you don’t get it done in the end neck falo starts the final day in contention but drops a shot at the first and misses the Fairway at the second his bid to bring the open back to Britain seems to be over before it’s even started and the British press which can be nasty nicknames you El foldo m because you come close don’t win Come Close don’t win in these Majors El foldo what did what did seeing that do to you well it was a tough era the 80s were an amazing ERA with the media they I take a quote and chop it up and and portray you as something completely different that’s what they did they did a good job on that I mean everybody thinks I’m a dick you know so so for and that’s what they did they wanted me to be the bad guy that had Sandy LS the good guy they wanted me so they have and it’s unbelievable were how you if you put up quotes from other famous Sportsman the Ian Botham we know great cricketers or sebco you know him athletic you see somewhere along the line we’ve all said I never said that there’ be quotes in the papers and we weren’t even freaking well there let alone said it get me so they’ make stuff up for years and we never did anything about it I mean now you have PR and all sorts of things I asked one of our leading presenters came to my house and I said look I need some advice on how to handle the media and I said do I get PR and he if you have PR they’ll murder you if they know you’re being PR driven well now it’s a standard thing for an athlete to have PR machine behind but if you hire PR back then then they know it’s bothering you and the next day they go tell us about you’re 67 you’re like off right if you don’t mind yeah know if you hear he’s a dick he’s a dick he’s a he’s a dick did you ever look in the mirror and go am I a Dick Breaky P yeah you know when I every morning every morning I stand naked in front of the mirror I like to start the day with a good laugh so now I’ve never no I honestly I think you go the other way you have to then learn that what you do you believe you’re doing is right you have to say to yourself I did the best I could today I did my best when you’re playing great you know you’ve got the media like that you really have but when you when you trip oh GE they are going to pound you as your fall and they want to and they want to cuz they just it’s how it’s very very British to say oh here look at him now here get his comeuppence one day you know you know I let me ask you this so they say El fullo you have come close but you haven’t won a major then you go through this major swing change you hired David LED better something was it was it the swing I’ve seen your early swing you’re not a you’re a pretty standard guy it was a good it was very 70s very long long arms long you know it had a lot of lag and this sort of thing well there’s lead better there drag and lag and all this that’s like an early hinge is that what what is he teaching you setting setting the wrist here boy setting so setting it you know hindsight was the most stupid thing ever to do you know midseason changing a swing and you’re working on a back swing and you haven’t got a a down swing and I was rehearsing the such exaggerated moves to trying to learn to get my arms to rotate so my game just went wo very quickly and that was really tough so you call these your Wilderness Years cuz it took the dark dark years or the dark days or whatever that was that was brutal because I’m now playing lousy I’m practicing like a lunatic go to the tournament and you’re overpar or whatever you’re missing cut you’re making minuscule checks or anything I lost sponsors you know my income went whoos playing Lous at the open at 85 you know Sandy then wins the the open cuz I wanted to be the first Englishman since Tony to win an open and Sandy wins it so nothing’s i’ played the r a cup in ‘ 85 and I played lousy so I wasn’t part of that celebration so this whole world is collapsing so in ’87 I wasn’t even the Masters all right and Jill flew over and I met her at at Atlanta and that was really hurt me because all the media and other players had flown into Atlanta for the Masters and they all turned left and went to austa National and I have turned right and went to Hattisburg to play When the B events right I mean this that that’s as low as it gets right yeah and I’m like wow that hit me nothing against Hattisburg you want to go to Augusta I want to go sure you want to go I’ve been there before and you want and so basically I was and I went off to and fortunately we’ just been working with there and we’d found this famous little move to drop the thing down I could now hit a fade and it was going good I went to Hattisburg and I shot 4 67s and finished second and that was it and that was the clicking point I then came back to Europe I played and I won the Spanish open in May of 87 and I said to myself I need to win one more before the open because I’m going to win the open and I went nah I’m all right I don’t have to win another one honest and so end up if we go to mirfield you know our big giant Yellow scoreboards at the Open Championship and they walked up the first Fairway and there was a big Bo empty they just said welcome to M and I looked up and I saw falo at the top of the board there no name obviously I you visualized I saw I didn’t have to I just saw it f and I and I put my head down went I’m right I can handle that and off I went and then I opened with three straight B birdes and shot five under for the opening two rounds in yucky weather and we were down at the Marine hotel and I was like don’t bother packing I said we’ll be sitting here having breakfast and we’ll be on and the BBC would be there I’ll be having my Monday morning breakfast BBC with The clar Jug on the on the table you know you’re going to win I don’t know that’s what I’m seeing get me that’s what I’m think I’m thinking that’s what I can see this is what’s going to happen and if we go off on play and that here you are a shot back going into the final round is that sabotage button reachable for you back there no no no that day was incredible cuz I I was in the is the we called it then you called it cocoon Tony Jack called it cocoon so I called it cocoon now we call it in the zone so that was the moment when you’re on that pting green as a kid with all those this to win the open I’m now looking at this thinking and I looked at the leaderboard and Roger D was in at four and I I thought I said you got to hold it that means you just got to hold it if you want to win this you got to hold it oh a smooth stroke and the relief on his face willion so many others had chances but the end of the week there was just the one winner Nick falo from England I got over that part and it was great I stood over that and as I took it back the little voice went yes the little boy said yes in my mind and it went and it went in I think thank God he didn’t say no I wouldn’t be sitting here you know so um it took me N9 years to get there and and it was just sheer relief it was just like I’ve done it I finally want it open what’ your parents say oh poor things they could they can’t talk about it you know they could they couldn’t uh they couldn’t handle it yeah my my oh I you to get me eventually no they they just struggled with uh with that when I when I got back home I was back at the house and uh you know my poor dad was outside and he didn’t know how to come in and hug me you come close the next year at the US Open same thing I said to Joe don’t pack I’ll be in the playoff tomorrow and I didn’t have a bloody shirt I had to well wear a yellow shirt and I hated your yellow shirt I had to wear a yellow bloody shirt that’s all you had left all I had left only clean shirt I had left that’s why I lost the playoff I had to wear a yellow bloody shirt thought I was chicken I thought it was you know yellow’s yellow color is a chicken’s color it yellow belly yellow whatever so that’s awesome so basically you P your packing four gamers in baseball they call it this is my gamer now I need a fifth one it wasn’t there but you know that was a shame cuz I got close to US Open would loved to have cuz that was really right up my street US Open course and then what would that meant for you as a British kid to win the United States Championship absolutely yeah it was you never did it no I got closed about three times so yeah when you look at your career and think cool I wouldn’t have minded three of them as well but didn’t happen but you know you gave your best you believe you believe you gave your best all the time but man if you’re going to win here yeah you win at Augusta oh you win at Augusta Augusta is the biggest event now back in that the open was definitely the biggest and then but now this generation this era we’re in now the Masters is the biggest tournament in the world by miles it’s huge and so in 89 I’m I’m now playing really well Jack’s there so I thought I’ll get a GLE said how you doing I said Well Jack you I’m playing playing great but I said I don’t know whether to let it happen or make it happen so he says I know what you mean and Carries On putting and walks off I’m like hello fill in the blank space you what which one is it so so obviously I say to myself obviously I let it go and I and I’m after 27 holes I’m 600 and I’m leading I’m going down the 10th fairy I might been leading by three I’m not sure and then I started thinking about it and trying to make it happen and I then play the next 27 holes in nine over so now I’ve just shot 77 I was actually in tears coming down the 17th hole CU I’ve screwed it up so much and I came in and and I saw the the the tea times come out and uh and I I looked at him and I thought come on you can beat this lot you know so I went back to the went back to the club went back I had a different putter now so I thought you had you had to win with a bullseye everybody seemed to win with a good old bull just the old like thing from a putt putt golf course yeah well a bit better than that but it’s pretty it’s pretty but it’s pretty Bare Bones yeah yeah it’s simple got this up went on the Ping green I thought oh that felt good and the back of the 16th green the ball is here and the hole is just there only 15 ft there it doesn’t look it like TV but I felt like or I was aiming 12 feet left on a 15t p I’m aiming over there and I hit this thing and it goes in can’t believe it go to 17 and it’s starting to rain I slap this thing up the hill in it goes again you see my face it’s just like okay so now I’m in the playoff and got hoax got two footer and they put the camera on my face you can see it now it’s proof cuz I didn’t move I just stand in the like this and I honestly said to myself I said I can still win this I said but it bloody doesn’t look very good right now you’re right you know I mean he’s got two feet to win yeah two feet to win and he misses it and then it was like Wow and so we go down 11 I bed the 11th hole four days in a row in regulation every day I bogie it the 11th hole there is is a nasty little hole well it’s got nasty you know but now day it was wide open faway so hit this thing down the right and the rain is coming down it’s getting really dark and I nailed a three iron I hit a three IR that I couldn’t believe and I saw this thing draw my caddy Andy Pro who was good old Watford boy from England you know comes I said hey Pro what do you think of this one he says Co all looks a bit of a blur to me gav oh thanks yes I all right you get down the other end on the flag then so he gets the so I got over that part and my swing thoughts were really technical that week it was left take it back with the left hand hit it with the right hand I just said left I was squeezing it like this I let go of it oh my God and yeah honest I got I said right left right left right and I went w and it good speed what a way to do it he’d had four fives at this hole and we did say on the te what a moment it would be if he got a birdie and he did and he is the champion for 1989 what what did this stamp a validate what what did this mean to you well that was huge I mean you imagine that’s now you win a second major um I mean every time you win a major it’s just or any even what every time you win a tourn you always used to say oh that’s nice nice and I can still do it so that was just you know you’re on a roll you’re thinking that was what it was all about you come back the next year at Augusta again I got my knickers in a Twist you know thinking like defending at the Masters and then I lucky like the month before I said no it’s going to win another one so I got on the right mental train I started reasonable nothing great um but then day three I I know I sh 66 day three and then we come out day four and I’m playing with Jack so I thought wow this is a bit of an omen because you he was the only man to have won back to back Masters now I’m playing with him we should say what ball are you playing I says well I’m playing titless one and Jack says I’m playing titless one I’ll change he right you’re looking at him like you were me okay give me a four or something so I took a four and I thought are you superstitious at all probably yes I’m sure that it broke the pattern or something so I took six up the first HIIT it in the bunk and knocked it out on the Green threee P so I’m sure from the outside it’s like if I was in the commentary Tower I’d say done you know that’s him finished so but somehow went to the second and I said I’ve got to make four down the second so I made four and off we went and da d da d da and we get to the 12th hole and the famous the fam very famous famous part three we both hit it on the green and I said go thank goodness we don’t play this ho every day of the week you know and Jack goes yeah I’ve been playing for 32 years and so I said so I said well that’s older than me Jack you know so anyway so now got the playoff against Ray Floyd and then I said to myself I’m not putting my jacket on him that was my motivation I said I am not putting my jacket on Ray Floyd you know so I went down that hole I remember saying to myself bloody hell he’s in it already and I saw this thing turning in the air and boom he’s in the pond and I went bloody hell what what’s he done and then you start thinking I’m trying to work out what can he make so he’s going to drop it chip it he’s going to make a five so how do I said now how do I make a four pretty it’s about as simple as Sports can get well yeah it’s weird and so I hit this wonderful little eight half shot right at the flag and then I’m putting and I lagged it with the mega lag you know like an inch behind the hole and I’ve W again and that was like unbelievable you know then that was real I’ve got everybody’s in tears around it and um you know that was obviously amazing to then to win the second time and be only to Jack to defend the master was was amazing feel the quote on the wall the word is control that’s my ultimate to have control this seems to fit so many different parts of your life well that thing that came probably when I went to St Andrews in 1990 um you know just won the Masters it was most wonderful feeling when you’re playing that well how nice is that to go to an open and go I I can shoot level 67s here it’s great saying it 25 years they did because if you said it at the time they’d say what a dick right wouldn’t they but you know now you go oh it all came true but honestly I that’s how I felt with my game and uh that to to play this this game and have you know that to me what it was all about that you practiced so darn hard that when you went and teed it up you knew how you it’s what they all do Jack’s had it Tigers had it these boys have got it Jordan Rory Jason when you walk out in the on their first team and you know you’re going to have a great day that’s what a feeling fast forward to 1992 and of all these shots that we’ve heard you talk about you call your approach shot at 18 that me yeah at mirfield in 1992 the best Sunday the British Open the Best Shot you ever hit Yeah well yeah I started with a four shot lead and I blew it so so here comes El falo again yeah so this would have been my scar to be lead in the open world number one now and four in the lead blah blah blah and blowing it that would have been it and I said just forget everything forget the whole week everything and then they come to 18 and now got three iron four to win and I got over that thing and that was when that’s when everything becomes automatic and I just kept saying to just just take it away if I can just get it moving if I can just get the club to there just get it to and I took it away and I’m glad you’re going to show it because you watch watch my chest after the shot I saw the same thing watch my chest like your hyper venal yeah look at that took the pain workor off the flag so I just got a two the DAR thing and uh it was a funny little ski slope with the back of that green and it cuz the ball was sitting up and it I hit it a little high and it came out a bit funny but because it just wandered down it was finished the foot and you know I tapped it in and you saw I I broke down because it was the first time I’ve ever as I said I thought I’d I’d have blown it I’d have screwed up I was I was on the knife agge of winning and losing that one I I feel like you’re even semi emotional now thinking of those I do I get I get I get like that because um hey when you when you play with that’s a real emotional passion emotion at moment isn’t it you fortunately I won’t ever forget that when you anything you do in your life of emotion you you know that’s going to stick with you why such a good Ridder cup player you’re the best Ridder cup player almost like the Triple Crown the most rider cups yeah uh the most matches the most points here’s this solitary Sir Nick falo who then gets into the team competition why why does that register with you because it the the team bit my argument the team is a team of two it’s not a team of 12 it’s you and your partner taking on the other guys so I loved it because match play is the is the ultimate in uh in a present time you know we always talk about stay in the present don’t we well match play is it so you what are you doing I want to hit that Fairway so you hit down now he stands at that second shot what am I doing I’m trying to hit this six iron to here and it doesn’t it goes off the green and now you look at the Chip Shot what are you trying to do hold it doesn’t it goes this far past so that means I’ve I got this part for the win or the other half it’s all factual simple as that and you so every shot I could get I loved it I got so engrossed in it I could play it was awesome to see guys in tears of joy and and sorrow um given their all I can’t do it interview with you and not ask you about 1996 winning the Masters does it bother you that that victory for you is known more for Greg Norman not finishing instead of you shooting a brilliant 67 to win no not at all because I I know that uh and we all know the race is from the first T to 72nd Green in in in in golf and uh I know I shot 12 on the par because austa is austa and we’ve seen history that we’ve seen guys win from three back and we’ve seen guys lose with a three shot lead with three to play so he knew that that three was the magic numers so I kept saying get within three and let’s see what happens and I got within three after I said do it after nine sure enough after nine I’m within three and we all know what happened Greg unravels but I still had to play golf I’m still sitting on the top of that hill at number 11 I’ve still got to hit the freaking thing on the green it’s like nobody says oh it’s all yours mate carry on no you still got a play and you know when your stomach’s turning on the 12 trying to hit that green you still got to pull the club back so it uh you know that’s so I’m very proud of that day because even I would stand there and go all right the wheels are going to come off no they’re not no they’re not come on and i’ I’d walk myself through each shot mentally and and I clawed my way through it I would imagine for you as you know now you’re you’re in your late 50s in your lifetime there was one moment that happened to this boy who left school after seeing Jack Nicholas walking around Augusta whose parents supported him in every step of the way let him be his own man you get kned oh well yeah yeah you give your tickets or they give their tickets to your children oh yeah we had a quiet day yeah your mom and dad are not there but you go to dinner after oh yeah yeah yeah yeah and your dad at that dinner grabs you by the face and it could make me cry and he says to you what he said you’ve been such a lovely boy so um from the other side of the track yeah rode his bike across town to hit balls and your dad in one simple sentence gives you all the validation I know it was um very sweet as we said we never uh we we never the big Huggy Huggy style but um that’s impossible to Fathom isn’t it that your your lad is um about to go and get kned it’s a big thing in Britain to be kned in Britain for a common man you know is the highest honor we can get it’s amazing it’s so British it’s wonderful it may be British yeah but father to boy yeah no country to have this one lad and he ends up there at Windsor Castle be kned it’s uh different different world I’d like to ask on this show what’s next what’s next is um same old same old right as I always ask the golfers um you know the TV schedule’s really huge this year for me I’ve had such good feedback for the last year or so that you know I think it’s helped my confidence to try be a bit more of an ENT I always and you’re right I always think of my dad because he he was as I say the theatrical side was in him so you know I think there’s a bit of it inside me still well let’s see fun questions oh would you rather babysit a nonstop crying infant for a day or have an unwanted house guest for a week um I I take the baby less time I think I could turn a baby around yeah I think I could bounce it around and stop it crying yeah just shock them you go there’s an alligator and they go worked every time or Natalie and the rest of them yeah would you rather have to sew all your clothes or grow all your food oh is a I think I grow all my food now I think yeah sewing just because my mom now that’s boring isn’t it sew I I can sew a bloing button on that’s about it have to iron my own shirts for TV we all do people don’t know that they think rich and famous isn’t it amazing we’re in there bloody we’re on get only only ey this you see me swear to God yeah you put the jacket on you could have anything that’s what I say I’m not going to see this B I just do that much and that’s it ready here’s where you got to he got to a six-time major Champion he got to the World Golf Hall of Fame and he got to being introduced as Sir Nick falo ladies and gentlemen an undeniable icon Sir Nick falo thank you all very much thank you thank you standing thank you than [Applause] [Music] than [Music] [Music]