Throughout the years, Sir Nick Faldo has made a name for himself by being extremely straight-talking.
Sir Nick Faldo was, by all accounts, a very tough competitor in his heyday, and he rarely spoke to his fellow competitors during tournament rounds.
However, that all changed when he gave up playing competitively. Faldo became hugely outspoken, and LIV Golf has often been the target of his rants.
He never pulled any punches when talking about the current state of the professional game during his commentating duties, and he has continued with that approach since he hung up the mic, so to speak.
The Englishman does not hold back when offering his opinions and as fans, that’s exactly what we want from pundits.
Back in April, Faldo suggested that LIV golfers have gone soft, due to the ‘fail-free’ nature of the league.
However, two years before then, the six-time major champion took an even more aggressive swipe at the players who left the PGA Tour to join LIV.
Nick Faldo revealed what really angers him about LIV Golf
Faldo was a traditionalist in every sense of the word during his playing days.
So it’s no surprise at all that he has never been a fan of LIV Golf.
When speaking to Sky Sports in 2023, Faldo made it very clear that those who chose to join LIV should not be allowed to play in the Ryder Cup.
“They shouldn’t be there (the Ryder Cup) because they’ve gone off and you’ve got to move on,”
“They’re all at the age where Europe needs to find a new breed of 25-year-olds that can play half a dozen or more Ryder Cups, and I think we’re going to have that.”
“It’s a rival tour. If you work for a company for 20 years and you then leave to go to a rival company, I can promise you your picture won’t still be on the wall. You’ve moved on. Fine, off you go.
“They made that decision and I’m sure they knew it was going to cost them. They were playing the maths game. They were getting a huge chunk of money up front, and they knew it was going to lose them sponsors, but they thought ‘I still win’.”
“It’s a closed shop: 48 guys given loads of money,” Faldo said. “What gripes me is it’s not growing the game of golf. That really gets me when they fly across the world to a country that’s been playing golf for 100 plus years and say, ‘we’re growing the game of golf’.
It’s a fair point from Faldo, but these comments were made before Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton joined LIV.
It’s fair to say that the European team would be considerably weaker without those two playing at Bethpage Black later this month.
Why Nick Faldo finds LIV Golf to be ‘antagonistic’ and ’embarrassing’
Faldo actually made a great point about the LIV Golf schedule.
He questioned whether they are actually trying to grow the game as they claim.
The Englishman explained: “If they keep saying they want to grow the game of golf, go and take it to new regions. Countries in the early days of being interested in golf now. Try that rather than just trying to antagonise everybody. “Whatever they want to do, go and do it. Let these youngsters play what we deem is real, competitive golf. Once you’ve decided to retire, disappear, move on, or go to another job. No one’s going to talk about you, so just go and do your thing and get on with it.
Faldo then fired a parting shot at LIV, labelling the golf league as ’embarrassing’.
He said: “They’re antagonistic, pitching events up against big events on the PGA Tour – and it’s the same here in Europe,” Faldo said. “It’s pretty embarrassing.“
Faldo certainly didn’t mince his words back in 2023, regarding how he felt about LIV Golf.
Quite what the LIV hierarchy think of Faldo’s remarks remains unclear.
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