Not too long ago, Sir Nick Faldo was chatting away about golf in Scotland when he mentioned that the time had come to set the record straight about the so-called “Faldo Fiver.” This, by the way, is the name of the trophy for which the members of Harris GC in the Outer Hebrides have been competing for the last 31 years.
To explain, the event had its origins in an unscheduled trip paid to the Hebridean Isles by Faldo and a friend called Del Bingley, a well-known band leader, on 22 August, 1991.
Faldo, as everyone knows, had enjoyed a sensational season in 1990, winning the Masters and the Open at St. Andrews besides tying for third place in the US Open. Nineteen-ninety-one, on the other hand, was something of a letdown when he failed to finish in the top 10 in any of those events. And when, after his T17 finish in the Open at Royal Birkdale, he had had his fill of questions as to what had gone wrong, he suddenly felt the need to get away from it all.
He and Bingley loaded up the Faldo car – it was one of the first in the Mercedes 500SL range – and set out for nowhere in particular on Scotland’s west coast. For the first few days, they stopped at whichever B&B caught their eye. Then, at Bingley’s sudden suggestion, they decided to take a ferry over to Harris.
When Faldo eventually learned about the annual tournament for the “Faldo Fiver,” he felt at once honoured and tickled that the tournament should have become such a success story.
After docking at Tarbert, they set off on what was probably the only road out of that little town, one which wended its way across endless moors of Hebridean sheep. They had not gone too far when Faldo remembers exclaiming, “Look at this piece of land!”
There was a sheep’s blowout in the side of a hill, a sandy trough which, to the eye of one who even then had plans to become a course designer, looked like a bunker in the making. Then, seconds later, they rounded a corner and saw what looked like a flagstick fighting feverishly against the wind.
“A golf course,” they chorussed. Like a couple of school-kids, they stopped the car, took out the six or so clubs that happened to be in the boot, and leapt the intervening wall. That done, they headed for the clubhouse where, on noting that the green-fee was £2 apiece, they put a fiver in the club’s honesty box.
Sir Nick does not remember how he and Bingley played but he will tell you that they relished every minute of the experience.
“It was awesome,” he said, “I just love the tranquillity of all the Scottish islands and this was a very, very special day.”
When Faldo eventually learned about the annual tournament for the “Faldo Fiver,” he felt at once honoured and tickled that the tournament should have become such a success story. Indeed, he mentioned as much in his commentary at the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush.
Which brings us to what he had said about wanting “to set the record straight.”
“Though I signed that fiver it wasn’t my fiver but Del’s,” he said. “This might sound ridiculous when I’d just won the Open, but I didn’t have a penny on me.”
Lewine Mair
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