Paul Hayward's Blog
No time to choke...
Thursday 18th September 2008
Muhammad Ali's plight could reduce anyone to tears, but none of us expected Captain Faldo to reinvent himself as Captain Kleenex as he announced the first of the Ryder Cup pairings.
All week here in Louisville we'd been jousting in the interview marquee with Europe's leader. It hadn't been going well. When I asked him about his ego perhaps distorting his judgement he flinched and became dismissive. The next day he was downright rude as he dealt with the excitement generated by Sky's TV pictures showing the pairings he had jotted on a scrap of paper.
Faldo is here to represent European golf. He's its ambassador and figurehead. He appeared to mistake a ceremonial role for a chance to be prickly with Danish journalists asking about Soren Hansen.
Then, three hours before the opening ceremony, somebody mentioned Muhammad Ali. My colleague Brian Woolnough, in fact, who has grilled a few England managers in his time. Faldo's eyes filled with tears and words deserted him. But that was just the start. A follow-up unleashed more emotion. Raising his hand to his forehead, he said: "I've had everything up to there this week, so it was bound to come out."
Vulnerability had not been his most obvious trait. The only way the average journalist might have wanted to hug him was by the throat. Suddenly, Captain Combative seemed on the verge of being snapped in two by the pressure of this 37th Ryder Cup.
Later he explained that it was merely the anguish of seeing Ali in such a reduced state.
Reporters raced from the chamber to start punching lap-top keys.
The Ryder Cup isn't the Nick Faldo show. He won't swing a club. But still you sense he's capable of winning or losing it for the Europeans.
» About Paul Hayward | » View all Paul Hayward's posts | » Sporting Blog Index | ^Top
Business advisor to journalists, columnists and broadcasters: sport and media consultant