golf update
Nick Faldo has dropped two places in the world rankings, despite his impressive form in the Lancome Trophy in Paris, but the six-time major
winner feels he is on the verge of seriously challenging for his first win in Europe since 1994.
Faldo finished joint-sixth in Switzerland the previous week and claimed a share of twelfth place at St-Nom-La-Breteche with rounds of 70, 67, 74 and 66 to lie fifth in the European Ryder Cup points standings after two qualifying events.
The performance of others has dropped Faldo from 107th to 109th in the new world rankings published yesterday.
However, Faldo can still take
confidence that the downward spiral that saw him slump to a low of 187th last year seems to have been halted.
''I called my coach, Mitchell Spearman, on Saturday in New York and he had my swing on computer and we discussed a few bits,'' Faldo said.
''I had lost the resistance in my knees but really firmed them up on the last day and it made a big difference. I played really solidly, managed to give myself a lot of chances, got in the groove with the putter and it was a really good day.
''Saturday was a bad day but that's part of it, learning from it. I can take what I learnt on Sunday forward and practise hard this week, Mitchell is going to come over for a couple of days.
''I know what I want to work on, so hopefully by the time I get to Germany there won't be the bad day where you don't know what's going on. It would be nice to play like Sunday for 72 holes.
''My putting has improved, I'm starting to hole those
15-footers, the ones where you hit a good shot in and want to capitalise.
''I'm making some good saves. I need to improve the short game but the overall swing is very good. I'm starting to hit some good pressure shots now which is nice.
''I'm just outside the real pressure. It would be nice to be on the leaderboard just one or two back and you have to play with that pressure, I haven't quite got into that yet.
Faldo will not be playing in this week's Belgacom Open at Royal Zoute but is competing in the German Masters in Cologne the following week.
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