Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991 TAG: 9104110095
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: AUGUSTA, GA. LENGTH: Medium
"The old one doesn't fit. I need a 46 long," Faldo said after a final practice session for the golf tournament that begins today on the flowered, rolling hills of the Augusta National Golf Club course.
Faldo, the tall Englishman with the elegant swing, will seek an unprecedented third consecutive Masters title along with the famed green jacket that goes to the winner of the first of the year's four major championships.
"I'm not thinking of defending, or repeating," Faldo said. "I'm just thinking of playing 72 holes of good golf.
"Of course I want to win; that's what I'll be trying to do. But to do that, I have to play good golf. That's what I was trying to do last year. My approach this year is the same."
His physique is not the same.
Faldo put on nearly 10 pounds, reduced his body fat and, he said, added about 20 pounds of muscle in an off-season conditioning program.
"My legs are stronger, my back is stronger, I'm hitting the ball longer," said Faldo, 6 feet 3 and up to about 215 pounds.
"It ruined my wardrobe," he said. "I've thrown away 40-50 pairs of trousers and all my jackets."
Faldo, recognized in most circles as the most outstanding player in the world, pointed to five men as the major obstacles in his quest for a new green jacket.
"Woosie," he said. That's Ian Woosnam, the 5-4 1/2 Welshman who won the USF&G Classic at New Orleans.
"Jose Maria Olazabal," Faldo said. He's the young Spaniard who put together a record-breaking scoring performance last fall in the World Series of Golf.
"Curtis [Strange and [Tom] Watson have been playing better lately," he said. "And [Steve] Elkington. He played awfully well in the Players Championship.
"There's bound to be more. Some new guys, some young guys.
"This is Augusta. There's always some of those, the guys who have you looking at the leader board and saying `Who?' "
No such question is necessary about some other likely contenders - Seve Ballesteros of Spain, Greg Norman of Australia and, possibly, Jack Nicklaus, the only other golfer to win consecutive Masters.
Nicklaus, the only six-time winner of the Masters, comes into Augusta fresh off a repeat victory in The Tradition on the Senior Tour in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Although 51, Nicklaus is convinced he can become the first golfer to win on the regular and Senior tours in the same season.
"If I didn't think I could win, I wouldn't bother to play," he said.
Watson recently has offered glimpses of the form and flair that helped him to five British Open titles and made him a six-time player of the year.
"I think I'm playing well enough to win," Watson said.
Ballesteros, also trying to shake a slump, was exuding the old confidence he showed in two Masters and three British Open victories.
"I feel better about my game, about myself, about the week, than I have in a long, long time," he said.
Among the leading homegrown products are Rocco Mediate and Paul Azinger, who led the American tour through the early part of the season.
Mediate, who uses a 49-inch putter, hasn't finished lower than 15th this season and scored his first victory. Azinger has one victory, a second and a third.
The field will play a course that was seriously damaged in a flood last October.
The 11th green, where Faldo scored playoff victories each of the two previous years, was destroyed. It was rebuilt to its original conformation, with all the same rolls and slopes and undulations.
"If you didn't know it had been rebuilt, you'd never guess it," Faldo said.
by CNB