Fired-up Faldo eyes Ryder Cup return
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Your support makes all the difference.Nick Faldo is ready for the start of what he admits will be one of the hardest tasks of his golfing career - winning back his Ryder Cup place.
Nick Faldo is ready for the start of what he admits will be one of the hardest tasks of his golfing career - winning back his Ryder Cup place.
Left out of last year's team by Mark James after failing to qualify, Faldo has virtually given up the US Tour for the next few months to concentrate on the opening of the Cup points race in Europe.
"I'm playing a minimum of 10 counting events between now and the early part of next season," he said on the eve of the Canon European Masters, the opening qualifying event, which starts today in Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland. But without a solo victory on either side of the Atlantic for over three and a half years - or anywhere else, come to that - Faldo knows that a place in Sam Torrance's 2001 side is not going to be presented to him on a plate.
"I'm going to give it a whirl, but I think it's going to be tough. There's a lot more strength in depth in Europe now. Things have been changing rapidly," he added. "I can remember when rounds of 70 used to put you in contention. Then it was four 68s, now it is four 67s - and you know it at the start of the week.
"You have to get your skates on. Before, you could ease yourself in over the first 36 holes but that's not happening now," Faldo said.
"I'm going to be trying to play well every week because I still want to play my 15 events in America next year to keep my card there. That means to make my place I've got to play well every week I'm in Europe."
In an effort to keep up with the pace, the 43-year-old Faldo - record cap-holder and record points-scorer in Ryder Cup history - has been "blasting it" on a treadmill at home.
Faldo has also been studying videos of his swing - recent ones rather than from his heyday, however, for the simple reason that "my body has changed".
"I'm quite a bit heavier now. Heavier than I want to be actually, but I am fit and I'm also happy with the way my swing's coming along," Faldo said.
"It got a bit loose last month, but I've shortened the backswing and am now more aggressive through the ball."
Lee Westwood, the defending European Masters champion, reckons there are around 30 players with a chance of making Torrance's team. He also believes that nobody can consider themselves a certain qualifier. "I think we have a lot of world-class players," he said. "Nobody was talking about Thomas Bjorn as a world-class player until he was second in The Open in July, but one or two good results change that and we're getting more and more opportunities on the world stage, which is good."
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