Sir Nick Faldo From the Top Rope!

Americans haven’t heard too much from Sir Nick Faldo since he left the CBS broadcast booth in late 2022. To be honest, the last few Masters telecasts haven’t been the same without the six-time major champion.

He hasn’t hung up the mic quite yet, as he fills in for SkySports during Masters week. And before next week’s edition gets underway, Faldo sat down with talkSPORT to discuss a variety of topics, but he had LIV Golf and its members in his crosshairs.

“I saw it many a time. The guys would fist pump—I made the cut, I still have a chance to win,” Faldo said. “That's more important than, ‘Oh, thanks very much. I'll waltz around for 54 holes and I've got a guaranteed check.’ That's not sport. It's not good for you, that sort of thing.

“Sport is bloody tough. The fear of failure is just as powerful as the quest to win. And I think when you're on a fail-free tour, you can't fail. It makes you go soft. I think some of those players have gone soft.”

Ironically, LIV posted this video on social last week in an effort to make their players sound and look like they still care a lot about the game—little warning: this thing is cringe city.

And while conversations between the PGA TOUR, LIV, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund continue in an effort to bring the game back together, Faldo said LIV should stay on its own.

“Personally, I think they should just go and do their own thing,” Faldo said. “LIV is LIV. Go and play the tour. You know, it's caused the ruckus. The players have done incredibly well—they've found a way to double the bloomin’ prize money. They're all making a fortune, both sides.

“It's the one and only business model in the world where the money's going out the window and very little's coming in. No company—you couldn't go to your bank manager and say, ‘This is my business model.' He'd say, ‘Excuse me? We've only got this coming in and that going out?’

“I say the players are the luckiest things in the world, because you've got guys we've hardly heard of, who’ve never won, playing in $20 million tournaments.”

As for his thoughts on the TOUR, Faldo says telling the stories of each player is key.

“The (PGA) TOUR has just gotta keep promoting personalities and that sort of thing. Tell the story, get the public interest and we'll see. Augusta—got a feeling we'll have a good one and the viewership will be good. Maybe things are picking up on the TV side in America. Let's see how it goes.”