It was oddly random. It was presumably planned.
And Nick Faldo’s video unmercifully was a dagger.
Posted early Sunday morning to the site formerly known as Twitter, it was just 29 seconds long. The video started with Faldo in a dirt ditch. He was leaning on what appeared to be a shovel. He was also wearing a blue T-shirt, with a white shark on it, and the words “Quint’s Shark Fishing,” a reference to the movie Jaws.
You may know where this is headed.
A conversation then started.
“Sir Nick, when was the last time you went shark-hunting?”
Faldo looked down at his shirt. He answered.
“Um, 1996,” he said, then laughed. “April ’96 was my last shark hunt.”
“How did it go?”
“Did well. I didn’t need a bigger boat, if you know what I mean,” he said, laughing. “The boat was big enough.”
And the video was then posted to the account shared by Faldo and his wife, Lindsay, with these words: “Remembrances of the hunt… when a certain [shark emoji] lost its chops. @Jawsthemovie @UniversalPics @thedailyjaws @NickFaldo006.” Faldo’s account later shared it, too.
There’s a lot here. Let’s ask some questions.
What happened in “April ’96?” Faldo won the Masters, the sixth of his six major victories. He had started the round six back of Greg Norman, then shot a 67, while Norman shot a 78.
Noted. Are there golfers nicknamed “Shark?” Yes. Norman.
Noted. Does Faldo have any recent beef with Norman? Yes. Norman is now the CEO of LIV Golf, and Faldo has had thoughts on the year-old league and its boss. His most recent came ahead of this year’s Masters, in an interview with the Telegraph.
“I’m not against them,” Faldo said. “They decided the grass is greener on their tour. Fine. The gripes I get is when he [Norman] said these things about doing it to grow the game of golf. We’ve all been here 40 years or more, hang on, mate. The fact is they got a ridiculous cash offer, which for some of them was the right thing to do.
“But as we said, it’s gone very quiet. So good luck with changing the game.”
Noted. So was the video spontaneous? Maybe, maybe not. But Faldo was wearing the shirt. And the video was shot. And posted.
Why Sunday?
Hmm, good question. Trash-talk has no days off, it seems.
