Sir Nick Faldo, who won the Open at Muirfield in 1987 and 1992, returned to competitive golf on Thursday. Photo: Richard Heathcote / RA via Getty Images
The three senior musketeers of professional golf walked the links of Muirfield in the British Open on Thursday with pride, few regrets and less-than-great results.
Was this golf or nostalgia? Does it matter?
Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and Fred Couples teed it up at 9 am in Scotland, on a day on which the weather resembled Palm Springs in March. The knowledgeable and appreciative Scottish fans surrounded the first tee in a show of respect.
These three totaled 172 years on Earth, eight British Open titles and 15 major titles in all.
Watson, 63, with five British titles, two Masters and one U.S. Open, could play here because he finished second in his stunning, near storybook run in 2009, when Stewart Cink beat him in a playoff. Thursday, he shot a four-over 75.
Couples, 53, with a Masters title to his name, could play here because he won last year’s Senior British Open. He shot the same as Watson.
Faldo, 56, known around here as Sir Nick, has three British and three Masters titles and can play in the British as a past winner until he reaches 60. He hadn’t played in a tournament for a long time, decided recently to give it a shot at a Muirfield course where he won in 1987 and ’92, and suffered the humiliation of rust with an eight-over 79.
Couples and Watson still can smell victory and have stayed competitive at times recently. Not so Faldo, who had his son caddying for him and the day in perspective.
“That view, standing on the first tee, with the crowd and the people in the stands and everything,” he said, “that was – I’ll take that as my shot of the day.” – Los Angeles Times
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