How Nick Faldo’s Masters Victories Changed The Face Of Golf

A picture taken just after the conclusion of the 1989 Masters displays how the fortunes of British and European golf had changed through that decade. A kilted Sandy Lyle helps a beaming Nick Faldo into a slightly ill-fitting green jacket. After 53 years without a Masters champion, Britain had produced two in consecutive years. After Lyle had played his famous shot from the bunker and then danced a jig on the 18th green in 1988, Faldo followed the Scotsman’s success with a memorable playoff victory over a disconsolate Scott Hoch in 1989.

Masters wins by Ballesteros and Langer earlier in the 1980s, and the Ryder Cup success at Muirfield Village in 1987, had given top players on this side of the pond confidence they were capable of beating the Americans on their own turf. The Masters of 1988 and 1989 confirmed it. Faldo went on to defend his title in 1990, Ian Woosnam claimed his Major at Augusta in 1991 and Faldo would make it a hat-trick of Masters wins in 1996. Britain had climbed into golf’s premier league and Nick Faldo had been instrumental in securing the promotion.

Faldo’s Journey

Nicholas Alexander Faldo turned professional in 1976 at the age of 18 having taken up the game just four years previously. His early career in the paid ranks was successful by the average pro’s standards, although Faldo had no wish to be average. He won his first European Tour event in 1977 and played in the Ryder Cup that year as a 20-year-old. He continued to win events and to feature in The Open Championship through the early 1980s. He played in The Masters of 1979 and again in 1983, 84 and 85, recording three top-25 finishes.