Faldo surprises himself with 67

Nick Faldo returned from his honeymoon to surprise even himself when the PGA Championship began Thursday.

As the strongest field ever assembled in golf - 95 of the world's top 100 - tackled the Atlanta Athletic Club, the 44-year-old Faldo shot a 3-under-par 67 to sit three behind New Zealander Grant Waite after the opening round.

Faldo, alongside Scotland's Andrew Coltart on 67, had said on the eve of the tournament that the 7,213-yard, par-70 layout, was "a slugger's course and too long for me. I've only got two birdie chances."

But after five birdies Thursday, he insisted he had been joking. "What I said was just to make Tiger feel better," he said with a smile. "I didn't want him to feel intimidated by me."

Faldo, without a solo win since March 1997, has not played since missing the halfway cut in the British Open last month.

He was married for the third time the following week - as was his caddie Fanny Sunesson, though she for the first time - and did not start hitting balls again until last Friday.

"Ten years ago, I was genuinely competing to win. Now it's just an opportunity to go out and enjoy it and see what happens," he added, before agreeing that that was not the total truth, either, but a ploy. "I use that to take the pressure off. "

Faldo is 28th in the Ryder Cup standings and could leap right back into the picture for a wild card or even an automatic place if he builds on his start.

"I'm just here playing," he said. "I'm not thinking about anything other than the shot I'm trying to shoot."

The one that pleased him most was a 5-wood to five feet on the 227-yard 15th - "a career 5-wood" he called it - and he followed it with another birdie to turn in two under.

When he also birdied the fifth and seventh, Faldo was sharing the lead. ut he bogeyed the difficult 463-yard eighth and left a 20-foot birdie attempt an inch short on the ninth.

Email this page to a friend