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Spencer Robinson

GLANCING down across the green landscape that stretched as far as the eye could see, Nick Faldo made no attempt to contain his enthusiasm.

 'Building a championship course gets my juices flowing. That's why I've come back,' said Faldo.

 The six-time Major champion had just returned from a three-hour tour of the Mission Hills Golf Club site where he is designing a course that he expects to become the finest in China, and among Asia's most sought-after championship venues.

 Unlike his January visit to the Shenzhen club that attracted hordes of inquisitive onlookers, this was a strictly private trip, arranged at Faldo's personal instigation and coinciding with his Omega Asian PGA Tour debut in the Macau Open.

  Faldo's zeal for the Mission Hills project is obvious and genuine. Contractually, he was not obliged to pay an extra courtesy call to the site. Yet such is the potential to sculpt a course that will live long as a testament to his design skills, that he had no qualms about returning to cast his eye over the progress that is being made, and to check that his explicit wishes are being carried out.

 With shapers and construction experts in tow, Faldo appeared to relish the opportunity to get his hands dirty, metaphorically and literally.

 Wading through the mud and slush, he seemed oblivious to the inclement weather.

 Later he talked expansively about golf course architecture in general and the prospects for his Mission Hills masterpiece, in particular.

 It was a refreshing and engaging side to the normally guarded and media-suspicious Faldo not often seen by the public.

 Throughout a professional career that has brought him fame, fortune and 40 tournament triumphs over more than two decades at the summit of his profession, Faldo has said he believes he has received a raw deal from the media, especially in his native England.

 His move across the Atlantic to the United States may have enabled him to distance himself from the British tabloids, but his wariness of those who have pried into his personal life has not diminished.

 At post-round press conferences over the past few years, he's chosen to adopt a policy of detailing only birdies and bogeys. He offers little embellishment and has easily mastered the art of monosyllabic answers.

 One British newspaper had planned to send a feature writer to Macau, with the specific intention of writing an article about Faldo.

 But when it was made clear that Faldo would not grant an interview to the organisation, the trip was shelved. Yet anyone in Faldo's company, either at Mission Hills or during his pre-tournament media conference, would have found it difficult to put a negative spin on any of his actions or words. Indeed, his Mission Hills experience was totally positive.

 'This is a unique piece of land here,' gushed Faldo. 'If they had said they wanted me to build a resort course here, I'd have fought it.'  But Mission Hills chairman David Chu willingly gave Faldo a free hand.

 So, what will be the special characteristics of the layout, which is scheduled to be unveiled at the start of 1999 and will complement a pending Jumbo Ozaki course and the two existing Jack Nicklaus designs?  According to Faldo, who hopes and intimates the course could stage an international event as early as next year, there will be spectacular shots across rock walls and some severe traps.

 'Distinctive bunkering, a la Pebble Beach,' he said, adding that the degree of difficulty of the course will easily be altered by the choice of tees and the placement of pins.

 In keeping with the design philosophy he has incorporated into courses that bear his name in England, Germany, Indonesia and the Philippines, Faldo sets out to offer a 'what you see is what you get' challenge that is fair and exciting. Blind shots are rare.

 'I try and let the holes go with the land and let the player see what's ahead so he automatically knows where to go.'  And what does he want players to say when they complete their round?  'The goal has to be that they remember all of the holes; that every hole stands out and that [the designer] got the very best out of that piece of land.'  Although Faldo's course-design business is burgeoning (and nowhere more so than in Asia), he says collecting Major titles to add to the three US Masters green jackets and three British Opens he has acquired, remains his primary goal.

 While there's nothing new about Majors being his focus, Faldo says that he's changed. He has, in his own words, mellowed. Over the past week, there has been evidence to back up those claims. What should have been a straightforward journey to the Portuguese enclave, for example, turned into a marathon adventure that tested both his nerve and patience.

 Due to bad weather, the helicopter from Hong Kong that had been hired to transport Faldo and his entourage was cancelled so he hopped aboard a jetfoil.

 A third of the way into the 50-minute ride, an engine failure meant the vessel had to be towed back to the Hong Kong terminal. Finally, some four hours behind schedule, Faldo set foot in the Portuguese enclave, his sense of humour intact.

 His mood was still jovial and light-hearted when he faced the media the following morning. He talked openly about his golf game having suffered from 'analysis paralysis' and confessed that his playing career is currently at a low, along with his world ranking, which has plummeted to 29th.

 However, such was the conviction with which he stated his belief that there are more Major titles in him, that those who dare to write him off as a spent force do so at their own peril.

 It has even been whispered that his previously insatiable appetite for playing the game and practising has waned. Not true. Desire, dedication and determination are as much a part of the Faldo make-up as they were five, 10, 15 and 20 years ago.

 As darkness descended on the Macau course on Tuesday evening, one man stood alone on the driving range striking floating golf balls into the South China Sea. The search for perfection clearly has not been abandoned.

 Neither has the professional pride in his performance that has always been a hallmark of his game, whether or not he's receiving a generous appearance fee, as is the case in Macau where he's reputed to be being paid more than the event's total purse of US$200,000.

 Courteous, but cool, to China's Zhang Lianwei and Thai Prayad Marksaeng - his playing partners for the first two rounds - Faldo, as ever, was wrapped up in his own performance.

 Familiar 'the world's against me' grimaces and muted mutterings greeted less-than-perfectly executed shots, while stares of anger and astonishment accompanied near-miss putts.

 When he accepted the invitation to take part in Macau's first professional golf tournament, Faldo knew that anything less than a convincing victory would only serve to provide further ammunition to the critics who have said his glory days are behind him.

 Whether he emulates Tiger Woods (Asian Honda Classic), Bernhard Langer (Alfred Dunhill Masters), Vijay Singh (Passport Open) and Steve Elkington (Honda Invitational), all of whom triumphed on their Omega Tour debuts, we'll discover this afternoon. If he does, he can count on receiving no more than faint praise. If he doesn't, then news of his demise as a Major player will continue to gather pace.



Faldo sets designs on China