Motor Racing: Furious Faldo blows a fuse

WHEN Nick Faldo was at peace with himself and the world he wanted the paying cognoscenti to say: 'I saw Nick Faldo play golf.' Unless you are Richard Branson or related to the Wright brothers, you had better hurry up.

The former world No 1 who announced here that he will be a card-carrying member of the US Tour next year, had a relatively successful time yesterday in the third round of the Lancome Trophy on a course that probably wouldn't figure in his top 500.

He shot 66, a route that he will be taking next season, and then blamed the Fourth Estate for driving him down that road. Faldo was in a fury: 'You've ruined it for me,' he said. 'The way you portrayed me made me look stupid with a capital F'

Last week he volunteered the view that the European Tour was lagging behind America, most of the courses weren't up to scratch and he was thinking of defecting. In response, Mark James and Mark Roe volunteered the view that Faldo was talking out of his hat. James said that the leading players were 'dominated by money to a ridiculous degree'. Roe accused Faldo of hypocrisy in that it wasn't the quality of the courses that dictated his schedule, but whether he received appearance money.

The backlash infuriated Faldo and yesterday he got it off his chest with a vengeance. Asked if his decision to move to America was an easy one, he replied: 'The easiest in the world after the shit thrown at me last week.' Two days ago he said he was 'disgracefully treated' at Woburn. Asked to elaborate yesterday he said: 'Yes, by you lot. You totally took the wrong end of the stick. You've ruined it for me. I can't come in and say anything constructively. That was the last straw.'

Despite the fact that he has been in better moods, Faldo retained a sense of humour. 'There's a famous French phrase,' he said. 'An oeuf is an oeuf.' He didn't laugh and nobody else had time to before he renewed his assault. 'This is what I find so fabulous. I criticise you in a 20ft by 20ft tent and you can't handle it. I can be criticised in front of 20 million people.'

He also referred to remarks made by Peter Alliss, the BBC television commentator, who during the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth described Faldo as, among other things, behaving like a classic only child.

Faldo, who once dismissed the Lancome Trophy as a cross between a Parisian fashion show and a garden party, is playing here because the tournament is run by his management company, IMG. Asked if he would play here next year he said: 'I don't know.' He has committed himself to playing in at least 17 tournaments on the US Tour next year and that's about twice as many as he's played in Europe this year.

Despite his 66, Faldo was eight strokes adrift of the joint leaders Vijay Singh and Miguel Angel Jimenez. 'I'm a little bit out of it,' Faldo said, and that has been his story throughout 1994.

Seve Ballesteros, runner-up at Woburn last week, is having another good run here and today he resumes in third place, three strokes behind Singh and Jimenez. 'I think I'll need a 64 to win,' Ballesteros, who yesterday shot 66, said. Earlier in the week, he said he sympathised with Faldo's sentiments. That was in relation to the Englishman's views on the quality of the majority of Europe's courses. When Ballesteros, who is not joining the US Tour, was made aware of Faldo's outburst, he said: 'Golf is a large family and it includes players, the audience and the press. Any problems should be solved within the family.' At the moment there are elements in the family who are at war.