On the 10th anniversary of his first Masters victory -- and only three years removed from his third -- Nick Faldo has lost the magic.
The six-time major championship winner is mired in a two-year slump that shows no signs of abating.
The Brit, who was the No. 1 player in the world for 81 straight weeks in the mid-1990s, isn't even in the top 75 in the rankings now and hasn't won a tournament since the 1997 Nissan Open.
``My swing got a little out of whack, a little out of time,'' Faldo says. ``I've got to firm up the main areas that are causing the mistakes and correct them. Then I have to work them in. It's been a little bit of a slow process.''
It's gotten so bad that Faldo has even struggled in the Masters, one of his favorite events. After making the cut in each of his previous 13 years, Faldo hasn't been around for the weekend the past two years.
All the high scores and missed cuts since early in the 1997 season have had a snowball effect on the 41-year-old.
``You've got to have good feedback -- that's all I'm looking for,'' he said. ``You make some good swings, and you hit the shots you're trying to hit under tournament conditions. That gives you good feedback. That's really want you need to do after you haven't played well for a while. When you haven't played well for a while, all you've seen is negatives.''
Not even David Leadbetter, the swing guru who rebuilt Faldo's swing in the mid-1980s and helped him win the three Masters and three British Open titles, could help his pupil.
Leadbetter, who started working with Faldo in 1985, was let go by Faldo last summer. Faldo now works with Chip Koehlke, an instructor with the Faldo Golf Institute in Orlando, Fla.
``I'm sure there are a multitude of reasons,'' Leadbetter said, when asked about Faldo's slump. ``I think a lot of it started with his putting. He started putting poorly, and it put a lot of pressure on his long game. You start missing those makable putts, and you're not making the birdies. Then you try to hit it closer and miss the green and don't get up-and-down for par. It puts a lot of pressure on your long game. All of a sudden, you get a negative reaction, and it goes right through your game.''
Faldo's fellow competitors, even Greg Norman, the man he vanquished in the 1996 Masters, don't like what they're seeing.
``I personally hate to see it happen to anybody,'' Norman said. ``I hate it because what is it? Is it in your head or your heart or your body physically?
``I think it's a solution that the individual has to figure out for himself, but I don't want to see people go through pain like that because you know he's hurting. You just know it because he is a competitor.''
``Faldo is in a situation right now where he hasn't played well,'' said PGA Championship winner Vijay Singh. ``People just look away from you after a while.''
Though his scores don't reflect it, Faldo sees progress. He believes he will return to his former level.
``Oh, yeah,'' Faldo said. ``I think it's getting closer all the time. I've just got to do a little bit more work.''
``I think he lost a little bit of his focus the last couple of years,'' Leadbetter said. ``He seems to have gotten it back, and he's working very hard. The week before Augusta last year, he didn't practice that much. He didn't have quite the intensity the old Nick Faldo had.''
Leadbetter says all great players, even Jack Nicklaus, have their dry spells.
``Hopefully for Nick, and the game because he's such a good player, he gets something back,'' Leadbetter said. ``It's hard to tell if he will. There is no reason why he shouldn't. He's fit and strong. Look at Mark O'Meara. He's a better player than he was 10 years ago. Age is not necessarily a factor.
``Nick's got to get some confidence going, and he's got to putt a little better. If he can build on that, I'm sure he'll be back.''
``He will figure it out,'' Norman adds.
Faldo's off-course life could have affected his play. In addition to breaking away from Leadbetter, he split with his girlfriend of three years, Brenna Cepelak, only a week after a hefty divorce settlement was finalized with his second wife, Gill.
``Sometimes you feel like you have to clean house for whatever reason,'' Leadbetter said. ``He's had a pretty turbulent private life.''
Chip shots: Nick Faldo
Faldo has a new look on course this year: an endorsement deal and hat with Adams Golf and wraparound sunglasses.
Faldo struggles to recover the Masters-winning touch
