Nicholas “Nick” Alexander Faldo MBE (born 18 July 1957) is an English professional golfer on the European Tour, and one of Europe’s most successful players of all time. Over his career, he has won three Open Championship titles and three US Masters titles. He was ranked the World No. 1 on the Official World Golf Rankings for a total of 98 weeks.

Tournament career
Faldo was born in Welwyn Garden City, England. He borrowed some clubs from his neighbours after watching Jack Nicklaus play the 1971 Masters on television. While working as a carpet fitter, Faldo won the English Amateur Championship and the British Youths Championship in 1975. He turned professional in 1976 and quickly achieved success, finishing 8th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1977 and 3rd in 1978 and winning a European Tour event in each of those seasons. In the former year he became the youngest player to appear in the Ryder Cup at the age of 21. Faldo was one of the leading players on the European Tour in the early 1980s, and he topped the Order of Merit in 1983.

However, feeling that he needed to refine his game in order to become a regular contender in major championships (British tabloids even dubbed him “Nick Foldo” after collapses at the 1983 Open Championship and the 1984 Masters), he spent the mid-1980s remodelling his swing under the tutelage of David Leadbetter. His performances dropped off for a couple of years as the changes occurred, but by 1987 he was playing at an even higher level, and he claimed his first major title at that year’s Open Championship. He managed to beat American Paul Azinger by one shot even without getting a birdie in the final round (he parred all 18 holes), after Azinger bogeyed the final two holes of the tournament.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Faldo was considered the best golfer in the world. He was noted for being remarkably composed under pressure, intimidating to his opponents, and won more of the four professional major tournaments (Faldo won six) than any other player in the world from 1987 through 1996 (Nick Price was second with three major victories during this period; Seve Ballesteros, a contemporary of Faldo’s from Spain, won five majors from 1979-1988). He won the Open Championship again in 1990 in St Andrews, Scotland by six shots, and claimed it for a third time in 1992, outplaying American John Cook. He also won two more majors when he won the Masters Tournament in 1989 and 1990. At the 1989 Masters, he shot a 65, the low round of the tournament, to get into a playoff with Scott Hoch. He won the playoff after holing a somewhat lengthy putt on the 2nd playoff hole (Hoch missed a 2 foot putt to win on the first playoff hole). At the 1990 Masters, he came from behind again to get into a playoff with Raymond Floyd, once again winning on the second playoff hole after Floyd pulled his approach shot into a pond left of the green. Faldo spent a total of 98 weeks altogether at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings, and claimed the European Tour Order of Merit a second time in 1992. During that time, Faldo said of his success: “The run doesn’t have to end. If someone is going to beat me then I’m going to make sure they’ve worked for their victory. Let them come and get it from me.” That year, he had worldwide earnings of £1,558,978, breaking the existing record.

Throughout this time, he remained a European Tour player while also visiting America regularly and playing events around the world, but in 1995 he decided to concentrate on playing on the PGA Tour, as his priority was to win further major championships (and three out of the four majors are played in the United States). At first this strategy didn’t seem to work, as he had a moderate 1995 season and start to the 1996 season, but he won a famous victory at the 1996 Masters to collect his sixth and final major championship. He went into the final round trailing Greg Norman by six shots, but was the beneficiary of an infamous Sunday collapse by Norman; Faldo shot a 67 to win by five over Norman, who struggled mightily en route to a 78. Though this is commonly remembered as the tournament Norman threw away, Faldo’s 67 was a memorable display of concentration and consistency which put pressure on Norman. After Faldo finished, he hugged Norman and whispered something in his ear, which years later Norman confirmed to have included the line “Don’t let the bastards get you down,” a reference to the media, which Faldo assumed would aggressively hound Norman for the loss (but which didn’t really happen). Norman who up until this time had little time for Faldo said in interview after defeat that “He (Faldo) had gone way, way up in my estimations” since then they have become firm friends and fishing partners a passion they both share.

Faldo was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1990 and the European Tour Player of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1992, and has won 29 European Tour titles. As Faldo entered his forties, his form gradually declined and he devoted more time to off-course activities. The last season that he played regularly on the PGA Tour was 2001. Afterwards, he refocused on the European Tour, but has consistently played less than a full schedule. His most recent top-10 finish in a major to date (and quite probably the final of his career) was a tie for eighth place at the 2003 Open Championship. As of July 2005, his career European Tour earnings are just under €8 million, and his PGA Tour earnings are over $5 million.

Faldo is also one of the most successful Ryder Cup players ever, having represented the European Team a record 11 times and played a key role in making Europe competitive in the event. Having won 23 of his matches, lost 19, and halved 4, he also holds the record for having played the most Ryder Cup matches. He also holds the record for the most points won by any player 25 and is one of only six players to have scored a hole-in-one in the Ryder Cup.

While Faldo’s professional individual tournament wins (39) pale in quantity to that of contemporaries Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer, the prestige and stature of his successes are impressive, and he has more major victories than any of these players. His CV boasts (often multiple) successes in high-profile tour events such as the French Open, Irish Open, Spanish Open, Swiss Open (now European Masters), the European PGA, the British Masters, the European Open, the Johnnie Walker Classic, and the Volvo Masters, as well as his Nissan Open, Doral Open and Heritage successes in the US. These wins are not only supplemented by his six majors, but also by his wins in invitational events such as the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge, the World Championship of Golf, and the World Matchplay, as well as his team successes in the Dunhill Cup, the World Cup of Golf, and of course the Ryder Cup.

In the first half of 2007, Faldo did not appear in any regular tour events. He did play in the 2007 British Open, missing the cut. In his first Champions Tour event, he finished tied for 14th in the Senior British Open.

Other activities and awards
In 1991 Faldo launched his golf course design practice Faldo Design, which has designed or remodelled dozens of courses spread across several continents. Designs include Chart Hills, Sporting Club Berlin, Ocean Dunes, Vietnam, and Cottonwood Hills near Hutchinson, Kansas. As way of opening his first course design in the UK (Charthills) in Kent, Faldo teed up on the dog-leg right par four. He drove in to the middle-right of the fairway, he then teed another ball and drove off, the two balls finished within 6 inches of each other and to this day can be seen set in to the fairway in a protective case. This was a mark of the man’s ability at his peak. He has other business interests including coaching schools and pro shops. In 1996 he launched the Faldo Series to encourage young European golfers both male and female.

There are 1,200 participants between the ages of 11 and 21 each year and the top 60 players qualify for the Faldo Series Final, hosted each year by Faldo at The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales. The most notable graduate so far is the Englishman Nick Dougherty, who won on the European Tour for the first time in 2005.

Faldo has written several golf instructional books.

Along with the Marriott hotel chain, Faldo established The Faldo Golf Institute in 1997. This is a golf instructional program designed to help golfers of every level improve their skills and enjoyment of golf. The Institute has four locations: Orlando, Florida, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Palm Desert, California, and Marco Island, Florida.

He was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1989, and was awarded the MBE in 1998.

Faldo was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2000, Faldo was ranked as the 18th greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

Faldo has been selected to captain the European Ryder Cup team in 2008.

Since cutting back on his playing schedule, Faldo has become a broadcaster for ABC Sports’ PGA coverage. While never considered to be a particularly charismatic player, Faldo has surprised many fans with his dry, British wit and insightful commentary as part of the ABC team.

On 3 October 2006 it was announced that Faldo had signed a contract with CBS to replace Lanny Wadkins, to become the network’s lead golf analyst. “I view this as a fabulous opportunity for me, which may come once every 10 years. But it will seriously curtail my playing career. My playing days aren’t completely over but my priority now is given to CBS.” Faldo’s decision means he missed the 2007 Masters, an event he has won three times. CBS has signed a six-year contract with the US PGA Tour and will broadcast 21 events from 2007.

Personal life
He met his first wife, Melanie Rockall, when he was 21. They married in 1979, but five years later they parted when she discovered he was having affairs with his manager’s secretary, Gill Bennett, and Diana Love. His divorce from Rockall came before his championship successes, and her settlement was relatively small.

He married Bennett in 1986, and the couple had three children: Natalie, Matthew and Georgia. They split up in 1995 after Faldo began a relationship with 20-year-old American golfing student Brenna Cepelak.

Their three-year affair ended when he met Valerie Bercher. The spurned Miss Cepelak famously battered Faldo’s Porsche 959 with a golf club, causing £10,000 damage. Faldo’s relationship with Bercher, a Swiss PR agent, began in 1998 when they met at the European Masters golf tournament. At the time, Valerie was working for marketing company IMG. She left her fiance Olivier Delaloye and married Faldo in July 2001 (the same day as his ex-caddie Fanny Sunesson got married, in a different location) in a lavish ceremony at his Windsor home, and they have a daughter Emma Scarlet (b. July 2003). It was announced in May 2006 that Faldo had filed for divorce.. Golf World famously summed up the true mark of genius when they profiled the careers of Faldo and his arch rival for many years Greg Norman. “Norman has played and won more events 87-43, however Faldo has won more US and European tour titles 36-34. Norman has won more money, Faldo has won more majors 6-2. Norman has won more friends, Faldo more admirers.”

Professional wins (43)

PGA Tour wins (9)
1984 (1) Sea Pines Heritage
1987 (1) The Open Championship
1989 (1) The Masters
1990 (2) The Masters, The Open Championship
1992 (1) The Open Championship
1995 (1) Doral-Ryder Open
1996 (1) The Masters
1997 (1) Nissan Open

European Tour wins (27)
1977 (1) Skol Lager Individual
1978 (1) Colgate PGA Championship
1980 (1) Sun Alliance PGA Championship
1981 (1) Sun Alliance PGA Championship
1982 (1) Haig Whisky TPC
1983 (5) Paco Rabanne Open de France, Martini International, Car Care Plan International, Lawrence Batley International, Ebel Swiss Open-European Masters
1984 (1) Car Care Plan International
1987 (2) Peugeot Spanish Open, The Open Championship
1988 (2) Peugeot Open de France, Volvo Masters
1989 (3) Volvo PGA Championship, Dunhill British Masters, Peugeot Open de France
1990 (1) The Open Championship
1991 (1) Carroll’s Irish Open
1992 (4) Carroll’s Irish Open, The Open Championship, Scandinavian Masters, GA European Open
1993 (2) Johnnie Walker Classic, Carroll’s Irish Open
1994 (1) Alfred Dunhill Open

Other wins (7)
1979 ICL International (South African Tour)
1989 Suntory World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time)
1990 Johnnie Walker Classic (Asia - the European Tour first sanctioned this event in 1992)
1992 Toyota World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time), Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf (Jamaica - unofficial event)
1994 Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa - unofficial event)
1998 World Cup of Golf (with David Carter)

Major Championships

Wins (6)
Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runners Up
1987 The Open Championship 1 shot deficit -5 (68-69-71-71=279) 1 stroke Paul Azinger, Rodger Davis
1989 The Masters 5 shot deficit -5 (68-73-77-65=283) Playoff 1 Scott Hoch
1990 The Masters (2) 3 shot deficit -10 (71-72-66-69=278) Playoff 2 Raymond Floyd
1990 The Open Championship (2) 5 shot lead -18 (67-65-67-71=270) 5 strokes Mark McNulty, Payne Stewart
1992 The Open Championship (3) 4 shot lead -12 (66-64-69-73=272) 1 stroke John Cook
1996 The Masters (3) 6 shot deficit -12 (69-67-73-67=276) 5 strokes Greg Norman

1 Defeated Scott Hoch in sudden death playoff - Faldo (5-3=8), Hoch (5-4=9)
2 Defeated Raymond Floyd in sudden death playoff - Faldo (4-4=8), Floyd (4-5=9)

Team appearances
Ryder Cup (representing GB & Ireland / Europe): 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985 (winners), 1987 (winners), 1989 (tied match and retained trophy), 1991, 1993, 1995 (winners), 1997 (winners). He is scheduled to be the non-playing captain of the Europe team in 2008. Faldo has the career records for the most points won in Ryder Cups, and for the most Ryder Cup selections.
Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing England): 1985, 1986, 1987 (winners), 1988, 1991, 1993.
World Cup (representing England): 1977, 1991, 1998 (winners).
UBS Cup: 2001, 2002, 2003.
Double Diamond: 1977.
Four Tours World Championship: 1986, 1987, 1990.
Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1978 (winners), 1980 (winners), 1982 (winners), 1984 (winners).
The Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners).

Sir Henry Thomas Cotton (26 January 1907 – 22 December 1987) was a prominent British golfer of the 1930s and 1940s.

Henry Cotton was born in Cheshire. In 1920 with his brother Leslie, he started golf at the Aquarius Golf Club in Honor Oak, South London. In 1923 Henry Cotton won the Hutchings Trophy, the club championship. They left in 1924 to become professionals.

He started his career as a professional golfer at the age of 17, and was known for working extremely hard at his game, often practising until his hands bled. Cotton placed great emphasis upon accuracy and differed from modern golf teachers in the great emphasis he placed upon the role of the hands in the golf swing. Although emphasis was given to a correct grip, he also emphasised the need to build up the strength of the hands and forearms. The competition golfer, equipped with such assets could counter an off centre strike off the face of the club and still achieve a powerful, yet accurate shot. He also stated the need to “educate the hands” in that the competitive golfer had to achieve an awareness of the position of the hands during the golf swing itself, something modern teachers have not stressed greatly, preferring a more passive role for the hands.

He achieved fame during the Great Depression years with three victories in the British Open (1934, 1937, and 1948). He also succeeded in winning many titles on the European circuit during the 1930s.

During World War II he served with the Royal Air Force, and raised money for the Red Cross by playing exhibition matches and shows. This earned him an MBE.

Cotton served as captain of the Ryder Cup team in 1947 and 1953.

Following his retirement from competitive golf in the early 1950s, Cotton became a successful architect of golf courses and wrote 10 books. He also founded the Golf Foundation, which helped thousands of young boys and girls get started in golf.

Cotton was a lover of the high life, including champagne, caviar and bespoke tailored clothes. He lived for a while in a suite in a 5-star hotel, and later bought an estate complete with butler and full staff, traveling everywhere in a Rolls-Royce.

He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1980.

Cotton was knighted in the New Year’s Day Honours of 1988, named Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG). This was reported in some media as a “posthumous knighthood” because he was dead by the time it was publicly announced. However, he had accepted the knighthood before dying, and it was made effective from the date of his death.

Tournament wins
1930 Belgian Open
1932 News of the World Match Play
1934 The Open Championship, Belgian Open
1936 Italian Open
1937 The Open Championship, German Open
1938 Belgian Open, German Open
1939 German Open
1940 News of the World Match Play
1946 French Open, News of the World Match Play
1947 French Open
1948 The Open Championship
1954 Penfold Tournament

John Henry “J.H.” Taylor (19 March 1871 – 10 February 1963) was an English professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the modern game of golf.

Taylor was born in Devon. He was a member of the fabled Great Triumvirate of the sport in his day, along with Harry Vardon and James Braid, and he won The Open Championship five times. Born into a working class family, and orphaned as a boy, he began work as a caddy and labourer at Westward Ho Golf Club at the age of eleven. He became a professional golfer at nineteen, and was employed by the Royal Mid Surrey Golf Club from 1899 until his retirement in 1946.

Taylor was a co-founder and the first chairman of the British Professional Golfers’ Association. Bernard Darwin wrote that Taylor “had turned a feckless company into a self-respecting and respected body of men”.

Open Championship wins:

1894 - Royal St George’s
1895 - St Andrews
1900 - St Andrews
1909 - Royal Cinque Ports
1913 - Royal Liverpool GC, Hoylake

Taylor captained the 1933 Great Britain Ryder Cup team to a win over the United States and remains the only captain on either side to have never played in the matches.

Taylor was also involved in designing courses in the south of England such as Andover Golf Club in 1907 and also Heaton Park Golf Course, Manchester in 1912. He was made an honorary member of the R&A in 1949, and was president of Royal Birkdale, whose course he had designed, in 1957.

Tournament wins
1894 The Open Championship
1895 The Open Championship
1900 The Open Championship
1904 News of the World Match Play
1908 French Open, News of the World Match Play
1909 The Open Championship, French Open
1912 German Open
1913 The Open Championship
1929 Dutch Open

Harry Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was an English golfer and member of the fabled Great Triumvirate of the sport in his day, along with John Henry Taylor and James Braid.

Harry Vardon was born in Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands. As a child growing up on the island of Jersey, Harry Vardon did not play much golf. Inspired by his older brother, Tom, he eventually took up the game in his teens and by age 20 he was so good that he turned professional. Vardon was the first professional golfer to play in knickers — the “proper” Englishman dressed in an uncomfortable shirt and tie with a buttoned jacket. Nonetheless, within a few years he became golf’s first superstar.

In 1896, Harry Vardon won the first of his record six Open Championships (a record that still stands today). In 1900, he became golf’s first international celebrity when he toured the United States playing in more than 80 matches and capping it off with a victory in the U.S. Open. He was the runner-up of the 1913 U.S. Open, an event portrayed in the film The Greatest Game Ever Played. At the age of 50, Vardon was the runner-up at the 1920 U.S. Open.

During his career, Harry Vardon won 62 golf tournaments including the German Open in 1911 and the British PGA Matchplay Championship in 1912. He popularized the grip that bears his name, one still used by over 90 percent of golfers. In his later years, Vardon became a golf course architect, designing several courses in Britain. Following a bout with tuberculosis, he struggled with health problems for years but turned to coaching and writing golf instruction and inspirational books. Harry Vardon died in 1937 in Totteridge, Hertfordshire, England. After his death, the PGA of America created the Vardon Trophy. It is awarded annually to the player on the PGA Tour with the year’s lowest adjusted scoring average.

During his peak years, Vardon was known for his exceptional accuracy and control with all clubs, the greatest ever seen to that stage.

In 1974 Harry Vardon was chosen as one of the initial group of inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame. His most prestigious medals, including those from his six British Open Championships, are on display in a tribute to him at the Jersey Museum. In the annals of golf, Harry Vardon is considered one of the greats of the game. In 2000, Vardon was ranked as the 13th best golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

Vardon Grip
Harry Vardon was also famous for the Vardon Grip, the grip most popular among professional golfers. In the Vardon grip, one places the little finger of the trailing hand (the one placed lower on the club - right hand for a right-handed player) in between the index and middle finger on the lead hand (the hand that is higher on the club). The lead-hand thumb should fit in the lifeline of the trailing hand.

Tournament wins
1896 The Open Championship
1898 The Open Championship
1899 The Open Championship
1900 U.S. Open
1903 The Open Championship
1911 The Open Championship, German Open
1912 News of the World Match Play
1914 The Open Championship

1 Defeated J.H. Taylor in 36-hole playoff by 4 strokes
2 Defeated Arnaud Massy in 36-hole playoff: Massy conceded after 35 holes

Performance in the U.S. Open
Vardon played in the U.S. Open three times. He first played in the event in 1900 and he won by shooting 79-78-76-80=313. The event was played at the Chicago Golf Club that year.

Vardon did not play in the U.S. Open again until 1913. He finished in second place, losing to amateur Francis Ouimet in a playoff. Edward Ray was also in the playoff. Vardon shot eight-over-par (75-72-78-79=304). In the playoff he shot a 77 while Ouimet shot a 72 and Ray shot a 78. The event was played at The Country Club. The golf world was shocked when Vardon and Ray lost to 20-year old amateur Francis Ouimet.

Vardon played in the U.S. Open for the last time in 1920. He finished tied in second place, one stroke behind fellow Englishmen Edward Ray. Vardon shot eight-over-par (74-73-71-78=296). The event was played at Inverness Club that year.