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It was always going to be a tough act to follow the momentous year of
1990 and so it proved as Faldo failed to challenge in any of the majors
and had a poor Ryder Cup where he contributed just one point from a
possible four. That year just proved to be just a blip however and 1992
saw Nick lifting his third claret jug with his success at Muirfield.
Faldo opened the tournament in blistering fashion with rounds of 66,64
and then 69 to be four shots clear of his nearest challenger John Cook.
The final day produced some uncharacteristic errors from the Englishman
and as the pair went down the 15th he trailed by two strokes. Faldo
steadied himself to play what he later described as the "best four holes
of my life" and his two birdies coupled with the American's poor finish
saw him as the Champion once more.
On receiving the trophy Nick,who was
not particularly renowned for his singing voice,entertained the
galleries with a rendition of Frank Sinatra's 'My Way'! That year also
saw a joint second place finish in the PGA Championship,fourth place in
the U.S. Open and to top things off he also led the Order of Merit. In
1993 Faldo all but retained his Open title in a thrilling championship
played at Royal St. George's. His total of eleven under par included a
record equalling 63 in the second round but he was upstaged by a typical
last round charge by Greg Norman who shot 64 to win by two strokes.
Nick went even closer to adding to his collection of majors when
trailing Paul Azinger by just one shot in the PGA Championship and he
then performed admirably in the Ryder Cup,winning three points from five
in Europe's 15-13 defeat. (David Scranage)
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