After announcing in April that July’s Open Championship at St Andrews would be his last Open appearance, Sir Nick Faldo has revealed that he now plans to extend his major career to Royal Birkdale in 2017.
Faldo, who will be 60 in two years’ time, tweeted on June 1: “New plan – Troon was first Open I attended & Birkdale the first I played – ’15 will be last at St Andrew’s, but I plan to be fit; play 2 more!”
Faldo has won the Claret Jug three times, twice at Muirfield in 1987 and 1992, and once at St Andrews in 1990. He now plans to play Royal Troon in 2016, and then Royal Birkdale in 2017.
Faldo will be joined by Tom Watson at St Andrews, who is bowing out of the Open Championship for the last time at the Home of Golf, while Greg Norman, who was originally scheduled to make his final appearance, has pulled out citing that he longer practices. He also added: “I’m not going to walk up to the first tee and feel like I’m taking the space of a young kid who could learn a heck of a lot more from it. I don’t believe in doing that. I think it’s so unfair to do that.”