Nick Faldo has always been known for having the smoothest swing and the stiffest demeanor.
Now that he's back on the PGA Tour, the old Nick Faldo is no more.Faldo was nailing one-liners as easily as practice putts Sunday after winning the Doral Ryder Open by one shot despite hitting his last tee shot into a pond.
Faldo found it easy to make light of American beer, British tabloids and his wife's spending habits on the day he won his first tournament in the United States since the 1990 Masters.
"I miss civilization, decent bread and real beer," Faldo said of his first year back on the PGA Tour since 1989.
When a cellular phone rang in the press room, Faldo didn't miss a beat.
"It's probably my wife. Tell her the check is in my back pocket and it's safe to shop. She shops for all of Great Britain."
Faldo's jovial mood - he even did a Forrest Gump imitation - undoubtedly stemmed from his barely avoiding a playoff with Greg Norman or Peter Jacobsen, the co-leaders after the third round who both struggled in windier conditions on the final day.
Faldo's tee shot on the 18th hole rolled into a pond, but he hit a perfect 230-yard 3-wood onto the green and two-putted for a bogey-5, his first of the day.
All Norman needed to do to force a playoff was par the hole, but he hooked his second shot 40 yards wide of the green and it splashed into the pond.
When Norman's playing partner, Peter Jacobson, barely missed a 75-foot birdie attempt on the same hole, Faldo had won his first PGA Tour event since the 1984 Heritage Classic.
Faldo had a 3-under-par 69 for a four-day total of 15-under 273 to win by one stroke. His round included four birdies and the one bogey on No. 18 - "a good 5," he called it.
Norman started play Sunday without having had a bogey in the tournament, but he ended up with three of them - including the deciding one on the final hole.
"I knew the shot was in the water as soon as I hit it. I felt the club twist in my hand," Norman said. "There was a big clump of grass right behind the ball. It was just sitting in the wrong place."
Jacobson tied Norman at 274 after a final-round 73.
Justin Leonard , Steve Elkington and Davis Love III finished two shots back. Hale Irwin and Woody Austin finished three strokes back.
Faldo, who played the European tour after leaving the PGA Tour, is using a cross-handed putting style this season. He needed to make a 3-footer for bogey on No. 18, and it rattled in.
The victory was worth $270,000 - $45,000 more than he took home for winning the Masters in 1990.
At Ojai, Calif., it may have been the first time Bruce Devlin aimed directly at a lake. Only this lake was a green under water.
With the rest of the field dismissed when the final round of the FHP Health Care Classic was rained out, Devlin beat second-round co-leader Dave Eichelberger on their second playoff hole Sunday to end a 23-year winless streak.
"It's been a struggle," a tearful Devlin said. "When you've been in a hole where it's real dark, it's sometimes hard to climb out of it."
Devlin won $112,500 - his first triumph on the Senior PGA Tour. Eichelberger collected $66,000.
Devlin won when his 22-foot birdie putt skidded across the waterlogged green and into the hole at 17, which looked more like a lagoon than a putting surface.