Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator.

Faldo continued his European Tour successes in the early 1980s, winning two consecutive Sun Alliance PGA Championships in England, in 1980 and 1981.

In the mid-1980s, Faldo began rebuilding his swing under the tutelage of David Leadbetter, to reorder his game and become a regular contender in major championships (many contemporaries and commentators viewed his all-encompassing swing change as excessive, although later players have adopted similar strategies to varying degrees—most notably, Tiger Woods).

Leadbetter felt that although Faldo's swing "looked beautiful," and had "marvelous rhythm," it "camouflaged a number of faults".

In cool misty weather conditions, Faldo's solid and steady play in the final round won him the Open title a day after his 30th birthday.

Faldo missed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th green which would have made him the first British player since Tony Jacklin in 1970 to hold both major national championships.

"[15] The following month, Faldo won his second Open Championship at St Andrews, Scotland, by five shots, becoming the first golfer since Tom Watson in 1982 to win two majors in the same year.

Perceived by some golf fans to be an aloof stoic character in the mould of Ben Hogan,[18] Faldo displayed visible emotion after his Open-winning putt on the final hole at Muirfield in 1992, trembling and shedding tears.

At first this strategy didn't seem to work, as he had a moderate 1995 season, but in April 1996 he won a famous victory at Augusta to collect his sixth and final major championship.

After Faldo's victory at the 1996 Masters, he had just one further tournament win in his career at the 1997 Nissan Open in Los Angeles, at the age of 39.

Other than Vardon, only one golfer from outside the United States (Gary Player from South Africa) has won more majors than Faldo.

While his professional tournament wins (40) pale in quantity to that of contemporaries Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros, and Bernhard Langer, the prestige and stature of his successes are impressive, and he has more major victories than any of these players.

He spent a total of 97 weeks altogether at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking, an achievement surpassed by only one other competitor, Greg Norman, during the decade of the 1990s.

Faldo is one of the most successful Ryder Cup players ever, having won 25 points and having represented the European Team a record 11 times.

Former Walker Cup captain Peter McEvoy said of Faldo: "He is a leading contender to be Britain's finest ever sportsman in an individual sport.

[29] BBC commentator Peter Alliss suggested that much of the flair in Faldo's game was lost in the mid-1980s when he remodelled his swing.

[29] His three Masters titles at Augusta came after mistakes by Scott Hoch missing a short putt in 1989, Raymond Floyd hitting into a pond in 1990 and from a collapse by Greg Norman in 1996.

Two of Faldo's Open Championship wins came after mistakes in the closing two holes by Paul Azinger in 1987 and John Cook in 1992.

Although not a particularly powerful player for a tall man, Faldo's strengths included his distance control, course management and his strong competitive mind.

"[41] In 1990, British golf writer Peter Dobereiner suggested that Faldo was "obsessively driven by the impossible dream of technical perfection.

Faldo had picked Ian Poulter as a wild card ahead of Darren Clarke, who already had two tour victories that season.

This tactic seemed to backfire, as the US, leading by 2 at the start of the day, gained the 5 points they required by the eighth match, rendering the last four irrelevant.

While never considered to be a particularly charismatic player, Faldo surprised many fans with his dry, British wit and insightful commentary as part of the ABC team.

The trio garnered many positive reviews, with Faldo and Azinger often exchanging verbal barbs and engaging in humorous banter.

On 3 October 2006, it was announced that Faldo had signed a contract with CBS to replace Lanny Wadkins as the network's lead golf analyst.

In 1996 he launched the Faldo Series to provide opportunities to young golfers, under the age of 21 from around the world, both male and female.

The registered charity boasts a number of successful graduates, the most notable being; Rory McIlroy, Yani Tseng, and Nick Dougherty.

[61] In a 2019 article on England's best golfers, Golf Monthly described Faldo as "arguably the greatest English player of all time".

[30] Faldo's three-year relationship with Cepelak ended when he met Valerie Bercher, a Swiss PR agent working for marketing company IMG.

CUT = missed the halfway cut DQ = disqualified "T" indicates a tie for a place 1Cancelled due to 9/11 QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = Tied NT = No tournament Amateur Professional Player in italics denotes current number one Great Britain & Ireland Europe