Nick Faldo, the six-time major winner feels he is on the verge of seriously
challenging for his first win in Europe since 1994 following another encouraging
displayin the Lancome Trophy in Paris.
Faldo finished joint sixth in Switzerland the previous week and claimed a
share of 12th place at St-Nom-La-Breteche with rounds of 70, 67, 74 and 66 to
lie fifth in the European Ryder Cup points standings after the first two
qualifying events.
"I called my coach Mitchell Spearman on Saturday night in New York and he had
my swing on computer and we discussed a few bits," Faldo said.
"I had lost the resistance in my knees but really firmed them up on the last
day and it made a big difference.
"I played really solidly, managed to give
myself a lot of chances, got in the groove with the putter and it was a really
good day.
"Saturday was a bad day but that's part of it, learning from it.
"I can take
what I learnt on Sunday forward and practise hard this week, Mitchell is going
to come over for a couple of days.
"I know what I want to work on so hopefully by the time I get to Germany
there won't be the bad day where you don't know what's going on.
"It would be
nice to play like Sunday for 72 holes. It would be a big difference.
"My putting has really improved, I'm starting to hole those 15-footers, the
ones where you hit a good shot in and want to capitalise.
"I'm making some good
saves, I need to improve the short game but the overall swing at times is very
good.
Faldo's last two outings have been encouraging - but with one poor round spoiling a winning chanceAllsport
"I'm starting to hit some good pressure shots now which is nice.
"I'm just outside the real pressure. It would be nice to be on the
leaderboard just one or two (shots) back and you have to play with that
pressure, I haven't quite got into that yet.
"That's another learning curve. But there were enough pressure shots that I
played that you can feed off and start to believe if I can put myself in that
situation I can handle it now.
"Saturday was very sloppy but it was good that I was able to sort it out, it
was great to havepositive day on Sunday rather than leave wondering what the
hell had caused it. That was a really good turnaround.
"There is lots to work on but at least it's positive, it makes it enjoyable
that you're working to make things better rather than just to find things."
