My problem here apart from making too many changes in mid-swing is on the green because

My problem here, apart from making too many changes in mid-swing, is on the green because in three days I’ve made one 15-footer.”I’m struggling with the pace and reading of the greens, but the pins are in tough positions, as you can see in a lot of the scoring so far. I’ve tried to make life easier by getting the ball close to the pin but even if you do it you can find yourself in the wrong corner of the green, and it means there are a lot of side-winding putts.”The pin positions are very tough indeed. In the good old days here, when I won, they put the pin on three yards of flat green because of the idea that you can’t be too unsporting But now they like to see grown men weep. The game has moved on and that’s the only way to protect a links course when the wind goes down. They have chosen all the wicked spots.”Not so long ago such a statement from Faldo would have sounded less like a touch of course assessment than the airing of an old theory that he was the victim of some deep and intricate conspiracy. But a pattern of breezy self-analysis, even in the most unpromising circumstances, seems to be firmly in place.

There were times out on the course when the old bleak Faldo seemed just a flounce or two away. When he pulled his drive into the rough on the par-five 17th, and lost his last big opportunity to edge another step closer to the leaders, his shoulders slumped briefly, and then when his third shot rested short of the green, he angrily discarded his club. But these were fleeting moments of despair and, when he emerged from the scorer’s tent, much of the recent buoyancy had returned.”You’re getting wet – good,” he observed to a group of golf writers he once regarded as a modern version of the Spanish Inquisition. And when someone protested that he was supposed to be a changed man, he shrugged and agreed that it was a case of “no more Mr Nice Guy”.

He has a much lighter touch now, and though some may have the sceptical theory that the mood swing is likely to last roughly as long as the impressive upturn in his form, he remains buoyed by something that is difficult to distinguish from genuine hope.Certainly he believes that his presence here offers rather more than mere nostalgia. “Though it is tough, I definitely believe this course is playable – and something decent is do-able. I’m a few shots back but hopefully the weather is going to change and we will get a bit of wind. It means that with these tough pin positions a round of 68 or 69 can look very good.