Golf: Faldo keen to risk all for victory

GULLANE - A relaxed Nick Faldo breezed into his favourite stamping ground of Muirfield yesterday and announced that a new risk-taking approach could be his strategy for this week's British Open.

Faldo, who turns 45 today, a day before the tournament starts, won two of his six major titles at Muirfield, including the last time the Open was held there, in 1992.

He won his first in 1987 by famously parring each of the final 18 holes, but Faldo knows a safety-first approach will probably not be enough to dislodge hot favourite Tiger Woods, who is chasing the third leg of a unique grand slam of majors in a calendar year.

"I'm a different person to the man I was 10 years ago," Faldo said yesterday.

"Then I was favourite, world No 1 and my life was golf. Now I don't have to prove a lot more. I have many other things going on in my life and my attitude can be more 'what the hell, let's go for it.'

"If there's a chance of going for it or playing safe, I'll be going for it a lot more now."

Faldo has not had the easiest of preparations for the third major of the year following Woods' victories at the US Masters in April and the US Open last month.

A stomach bug sapped Faldo's energy for six days a couple of weeks ago and he was still feeling "knocked out" at Loch Lomond last week where he failed to make the cut for the Scottish Open.

To add to his misfortunes, he slightly injured his knee while exercising on the treadmill at his hotel gym last week.

Otherwise his spirits are high. After five years "living out of a suitcase" his private life is settled following a divorce from his second wife and marriage to a third, while his course-building business is flourishing.

He won the rights last week to launch a Faldo golf institute close to Moscow and believes he is perfectly placed to tap rich potential in Russia.

His prospects on course have taken a turn for the better this year, too.

After five years in the doldrums following his last major win, in the 1996 US Masters, he finished fifth in this year's US Open and also threatened in a string of early European Tour events.

He is certainly not ruling himself out of contention at Muirfield, especially since another golfing "golden oldie," Eduardo Romero, who is 48 tomorrow, won a playoff at Loch Lomond on Sunday.

The course suits Faldo perfectly - "it's a shotmaking course, a fair test" - and no one in the field knows it better.

The man to beat, though, as Faldo readily admits, is Woods.

"In terms of swinging, physically and mentally he is a very strong man in all departments," he said.

"If he's not swinging right he can muscle it around the course, and every time he has a lead he is winning."

Asked whether Woods could be side-tracked by a new woman coming into his life in the shape of Swedish model Elin Nordgren, Faldo said: "No, I would be very surprised if he was. Golf is his life."

* Michael Campbell and Craig Perks will be New Zealand's only representatives at the Open.

The hopes of four other New Zealanders - Greg Turner, Stephen Scahill, Elliot Boult and Gareth Paddison - ended yesterday when they failed to win places at final qualifying.

Campbell and Perks had already pre-qualified, Campbell thanks to his world ranking which has improved two places to 14th, and Perks courtesy of his win in The Players Championship in the United States.

- AGENCIES