Profile / Bill Elliott / 18 November 2008 / 3 Comments

Bill Elliott has been left distinctly unimpressed by the BBC's soft touch interview with Europe's Ryder Cup losing captain - who tees it up on Thursday in the UBS Hong Kong Open.

Here's something quite interesting (I think)...Nick Faldo is playing this week in the UBS Hong Kong Open. Not commentating on, not making a guest appearance as a stand-up comic (well, he thinks he's funny), not, as far as I am aware, redesigning the course.

No, the big man is playing. It is not a knockabout field either. Defending champion and heroic smoker Miguel Angel Jimenez is in town, as is Graeme McDowell. To these we may add the likes of Jose-Maria Olazabal, Bernhard Langer, Niclas Fasth, Rory Sabbatini and t'other Rory, McIlroy.

John Daly, too, has been invited to the party to celebrate the tournament's 50th staging although asking him along to any kind of celebration is the serious side of dodgy, his last public outing involving police when he was arrested for drunken behaviour at a Hooter's bar a couple of weeks ago.

An interesting line-up then upon which to feast your eyes before deciding who might best offer a return on your money. Faldo, however, is the man who attracts my attention. Not that I think he will win - at odds of [830.0] just making the cut would be a minor triumph - but because it is curious that this semi-retired pro should be pitching up at this event.

There will, of course, be a commercially valid reason for him to be there but quite what this may be has proved beyond my own powers of investigation. What I do know is that Faldo suddenly appears to be everywhere after lying lower than a hungover snake following September's Ryder Cup.

For the past week the BBC have been promoting an "exclusive interview" with Faldo. This was carried out by Gabby Logan and shown late on Monday night. Having stayed up for it, I can only say it wasn't on late enough. Mrs Logan flew all the way to Brazil to chat to Faldo and what ensued was the sort of piercing questioning that makes Loose Women look like a hard-hitting version of Panorama.

All the decent questions were asked off-camera and then ducked when she actually came to talk to the most controversial Ryder Cup skipper of modern times. Faldo, for his part, fidgeted and jumped from one thought to the next with no attempt at any real connection between these brain activities.

He claimed he didn't have an opinion on what the press had made of his captaincy because he no longer looked at what was written. Yeah, right, and the Pope never takes Mass either. Mrs Logan then wound up proceedings by saying she couldn't understand what all the fuss had been about because she found Mr Faldo a "warm and open" guy. How very nice for both of them.

As a waste of space this heavily blurbed programme takes some beating. Never mind the ongoing and tedious investigations into Jonathan Ross' eternal crassness, how about a look at the waste of licence payers' money spent flying Mrs Logan and whoever else out to Brazil for the sort of interview that Faldo Enterprises could not have bought.

This should have been an opportunity for us to find out how Faldo felt about the Ryder Cup after several weeks' reflection. Instead it turned into the worst kind of puff piece. Hopefully a couple of journalists will take things further when he appears for interview in Hong Kong. Mind you, the first question should be: Why the hell are you here?

Comments (3)

1. ashley Khoo | 21 November 2008

   Wow you have a lot of anger for a man you have not met.
   Put all that energy into your Journalism and maybe you will become a better one.

2. G Stafford | 21 November 2008

   Likewise I am distinctly unimpressed by your article.
   Why should a semi-retired pro turn up at an event? Well, because Faldo is only semi-retired perhaps? If you had listened properly Faldo said he will still play some events and will play The Open next year. This is because he has the right to play whenever he wants because of his achievements.
   Obviously the fact that Faldo might be a nice guy doesn't fit with your agenda and yes, I'm sure a couple of journalists will grab him at some point and ask the usual tosser questions like 'aren't you bothered you lost' and 'has losing cancelled out everything you've achieved'.
   Great, can't wait.

3. Bill Elliott | 21 November 2008

   Nice to know there are people out there interested enough to comment on my words. Thank you. On a couple of points of information, however...(1) I first met Nick in 1978 and we have met regularly ever since; (2) I am not angry at all, just wearily disappointed at another example of television sport conducting a waffle-piss, stars-in-their-eyes piece of reportage; (3) I wasn't aware I had published a conclusion as to whether Nick is a nice guy or not. Still, good to know you're out there. Best wishes, Bill.

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