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The year of 1989 saw Nick Faldo winning his first ever Green Jacket and
appropriately enough the man handing it over to him was his great rival
on the home front- Sandy Lyle. Faldo had opened the tournament with a
fine round of 68 but then a 73 and a 77 seemed to have put him out of
contention. Nick thought differently however and a magnificent closing
effort of 65 saw him level at five under with Scott Hoch and into a
play-off. The American missed from just two feet on the first play-off
hole and an appreciative Faldo seized the moment on the next hole with a
fine birdie. There were also victories that year at the French Open and
the World Match Play and then the Ryder Cup was retained thanks to a
14-14 result at the Belfry. To top off what had been a wonderful few
months Nick was crowned the 1989 BBC Sports Personality of the year.
If
the late eighties had been impressive then the year of 1990 was nothing
short of sensational for Nick Faldo. He retained the Masters with a
play-off triumph against Ray Floyd and in doing so became the first man
to achieve this feat since the great Jack Nicklaus in 1965-66. He
followed that up by tying for third place in the U.S. Open where he was
just one stroke behind winner Hale Irwin and at the Open at St. Andrews
he was simply untouchable. Faldo played some sublime golf and rounds of
67,65,67 & 71 left him at 18 under par and five shots clear of his
nearest rivals Payne Stewart and Mark McNulty. (David Scranage)
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