Faldo

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- He is threatening to turn the Masters into a private victory tour, hammering Augusta National as few have before.But did Greg Norman sleep the easy, carefree sleep of a winner last night?What do you think? He looked up and saw Nick Faldo in his rear-view mirror late yesterday afternoon, matching him birdie for birdie, bearing down on him with that metronomic swing and unblinking gaze.It's only the most frightening sight in all of golf.Did Norman sleep easy last night? No way.Sure, he doubled the size of his lead during yesterday's second round, stapling a 69 onto his first-round 63 and putting six strokes between himself and every other golfer in the field except one.If that one exception were anyone other than Faldo, Norman almost could begin to celebrate.

The leaders ... Ernie Els 70-66-136 Shigeki Maruyama 68-68-136 Padraig Harrington 69-67-136 Duffy Waldorf 67-69-136 Bob Tway 70-66-136 ... and notable followers Mark O'Meara 69-69-138 Tiger Woods 70-68-138 Nick Price 68-70-138 Colin Montgomerie 74-64-138 Sergio Garcia 71-69-140 Mark Calcavecchia 74-66-140 Nick Faldo 73-69-142 David Duval 72-71-143 Greg Norman 71-72-143 Justin Rose 68-75-143 Phil Mickelson 68-76-144 Complete scores....

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Golf is the perfect sport for the obsessive personality, a giant gray area. You can't shoot a perfect round because there is no such thing. You can't have the perfect swing because there is no such thing. Even the best golfers find fault with their best rounds. Compulsive characters thrive in the vague climate. Everyone always thinks there is room to do better.The game is populated by those so single-minded, men who spend hundreds of hours hitting practice balls and talking elbow adjustment, men who die with their cleats on. Such tunnel vision is a part of every sport, of course, but it is suited to golf like Augusta to spring.

GULLANE, Scotland - The last time a British Open was held here at Muirfield, Nick Faldo played the role to which Tiger Woods has now ascended. A decade ago, Faldo was the No. 1 golfer in the world and the most intimidating figure at a tournament he had won twice. "I came here as the favorite. I was here with the intention of winning," Faldo said yesterday. "So that's very similar to what Tiger is thinking right now. He's the man to beat, and he's just got to be comfortable with the way he prepares."

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. -- Before he teed off yesterday in the third round of the $1.8 million Players Championship, Nick Faldo took a look at the leader board.It showed Fred Couples with a course-record, 9-under-par 63 on the TPC at Sawgrass and cozily positioned among the leaders in the tournament billed as the annual championship of golf's touring pros."The man's so hot he must be wearing asbestos shorts," the laconic Englishman said of Couples, whose recent run has taken him to the top of world golf.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- There will be no heart-tugging embrace between Nick Faldo and Greg Norman on the 18th green of Augusta National tomorrow. There will be no repeat for Faldo or redemption for Norman in the final round of the 61st Masters.There will be no Sunday replay for the two antagonists here last year.There will be no Sunday or, for that matter, Saturday.Faldo and Norman both missed the cut yesterday.Faldo's 81 was the worst round the former three-time champion had ever shot at the Masters and gave him a two-round score of 155. Norman's 74 was a three-shot improvement on Thursday's opening round, but his 36-hole total was two strokes off the cut.It marked the first time in 14 Masters that Faldo had missed the cut and the second straight year that the defending champion did not make it into the weekend.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- Two months ago, after he had coughed up the Masters, Greg Norman said that he still felt he was destined to do "something special" in the game that has made him rich, famous and frustrated.Norman was alluding to major championships to come, but the man answering questions about golf's Grand Slam, of course, isn't Norman, but Nick Faldo. The Shark-catching Brit won his third Masters in April, and now that the U.S. Open has taken over the major stage, is there any more logical choice to tame a soggy Oakland Hills Country Club and some typically nasty Open rough than Faldo?

SANDWICH, England -- On a tense, cotton-mouth afternoon when Royal St. George's was rigged to play at its bone-dry hardest, Nick Faldo switched modes from birdie-maker to par-producer and clung to a share of the lead going into today's final round of the 122nd British Open.Dogging Faldo's par 70 all the way was a ravenous pack, led by Corey Pavin, who rode two long birdie putts to a 68 that tied the Englishman at 8-under-par 202.One stroke back were Bernhard Langer, who posted a 70 despite having to take an unplayable lie in a seemingly singular bush amid the sand hills, and Greg Norman, whose less intense demeanor was reflected in a relaxed putting stroke that gained him a 69.Behind the leading four were a host of players, beginning with Nick Price, who got back into contention with a 67 for 205 to tie with Peter Senior.

GULLANE, Scotland -- What was expected to be a walk in the park for Britain's Nick Faldo turned into a hazardous journey in the 121st British Open yesterday at the Muirfield course.He prevailed at the end to win his third British Open title, but American John Cook will live with the memory that he gave it away."Absolutely," Cook said. "I definitely let one slip away. Not being on the plateau that Faldo is, I have to learn from this. I had a chance to win a major championship and I didn't."

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England -- An eerie sort of golf symmetry descended on the Lancashire coast yesterday and covered the British Open. Senior golfers acted their age, obscure major pretenders drifted out to the Irish Sea and the major players positioned themselves for either a Masters reprise or a Grand Slam blowout.Tom Lehman, who held the third-round lead in the 1994 Masters, shared it in the 1995 U.S. Open and held it just a month ago in the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills, is back there again.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The smell was unmistakable. As Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen of South Africa stepped onto the first tee yesterday at Augusta National Golf Club for the final round of the 66th Masters, there was a hearty stench from the muddy path nearby on which most of the huge gallery was standing. They were there to witness history in the mucking. Woods had a different scent altogether, the kind that the world's best golfer has experienced many times. While sharing the lead with Goosen after three rounds, Woods and nearly everyone else here understood what was going to transpire.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - As Tiger Woods lined up his final putt last night in the 129th British Open, he was not thinking about the records he was about to break or the championship he was to win or the streaker who had momentarily interrupted his celebration as he walked down the 18th fairway at the Old Course. At 19-under par for the tournament, Woods wasn't thinking about breaking Nick Faldo's Open scoring record but about the challenge he had presented himself after winning last month's U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - Maybe Tom Morris - Old or Young, take your pick - can be raised from the dead to play Tiger Woods on their terms with their clubs at their Old Course. Maybe Tom Watson, one of only three men in history to win the British Open five times, can have a few strokes taken off his scorecard here and a couple of decades given back to his game. Or maybe, as Nick Faldo suggested before the 129th Open began Thursday, Tiger Woods should just play blindfolded. It might be the only way for Faldo's Open scoring record to survive today's final round.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - His eyesight is failing, the result of a degenerative condition that prevents him from seeing any shot farther than 50 yards. His legs are wobbly, the result of taking medication more than a year ago that caused them to swell to more than twice their normal size. Sam Snead turned 88 on May 27 , yet remains one of golf's most irascible and irreplaceable figures. He still has nearly the same ability to swing, and zing. The man many consider the most naturally gifted player in history, the man whose 81 victories spread over six decades are PGA Tour records, has returned to the Old Course.

SOTOGRANDE, Spain -- Brad Faxon waited two years for his chance at redemption. He carried the memory of a crucial missed Faxon putt in the final day of the 1995 Ryder Cup all the way to Valderrama Golf Club and the opening morning of the 32nd Ryder Cup.What happened to Faxon at Oak Hill -- blowing a 7-footer for par on the 18th hole that would have tied David Gilford -- won't be forgotten. But Faxon will carry a new memory with him, a 6-footer for par on the 18th hole that enabled him and Fred Couples to beat Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood.

POTOMAC -- Four shots off the lead is not exactly where Nick Faldo would like to be entering the final round of the Kemper Open, but given his lousy start, he has put together two strong efforts.The Englishman opened with a 2-over-par 73, then charged into contention with a piece of the tournament's low round, a 6-under 65 on Friday.Although Mark Wiebe separated himself somewhat from the field yesterday at TPC-Avenel, taking a three-stroke lead, only Mike Springer is between Faldo and the leader.

POTOMAC -- Four shots off the lead is not exactly where Nick Faldo would like to be entering the final round of the Kemper Open, but given his lousy start, he has put together two strong efforts.The Englishman opened with a 2-over-par 73, then charged into contention with a piece of the tournament's low round, a 6-under 65 on Friday.Although Mark Wiebe separated himself somewhat from the field yesterday at TPC-Avenel, taking a three-stroke lead, only Mike Springer is between Faldo and the leader.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The 60th Masters will be recalled forever as Greg Norman's Greatest Choke, and Nick Faldo knows it."I hope I'm remembered for shooting a 67 on the last day and storming through," Faldo said, "and not what happened to Greg."That would be the biggest collapse in the history of golf's four major championships. Faldo finished 12-under after that sterling 67 to become only the seventh man to win the Masters three times, but the more compelling numbers at Augusta National Golf Club were provided by Norman, who had a pitiful 78 to crawl in five strokes back.

POTOMAC -- There will be no fans trembling with excitement at the prospect of his handshake or autograph. There will be no players in contention feeling snubbed by a lack of attention. There will be no hype and hoopla and hysteria that has been evident the last three weeks on the PGA Tour.You-know-who won't be here.But there will be something unusual about this year's Kemper Open.It's not merely a field of dreamers.Even without Tiger Woods, this week's tournament will have enough high-profile players to bring out crowds estimated to reach 50,000 for each the last two rounds.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- There will be no heart-tugging embrace between Nick Faldo and Greg Norman on the 18th green of Augusta National tomorrow. There will be no repeat for Faldo or redemption for Norman in the final round of the 61st Masters.There will be no Sunday replay for the two antagonists here last year.There will be no Sunday or, for that matter, Saturday.Faldo and Norman both missed the cut yesterday.Faldo's 81 was the worst round the former three-time champion had ever shot at the Masters and gave him a two-round score of 155. Norman's 74 was a three-shot improvement on Thursday's opening round, but his 36-hole total was two strokes off the cut.It marked the first time in 14 Masters that Faldo had missed the cut and the second straight year that the defending champion did not make it into the weekend.