"I wish I could have another go"

IT SEEMS a little odd to think that the man who for so long harboured a reputation for his near-manic obsession with the pursuit of golfing excellence should be considering missing this week’s Open Championship due to a family commitment.

Nick Faldo, after all, did not win six majors without it coming at some considerable personal cost. Two marriages and a well-publicised bust-up with a girlfriend have been interspersed among the titles, along with an acrimonious end to one of the game's most successful player-teacher relationships that Faldo enjoyed with David Leadbetter for more than 10 years.

Yet the Englishman perceived by most to have been peculiarly and extraordinarily driven by his desire for perfection during the 1980s and 90s will slip away from the Kentish links of Royal St George's should his pregnant third wife Valerie go into labour over the next few days.