Nick Faldo to retire after 16 years in booth with CBS and Golf Channel

Nick Faldo’s 16-year career as a golf commentator on CBS Sports is coming to an end.

Faldo announced Tuesday that he’s stepping out of the booth, which he currently shares with Jim Nantz, and retiring. Faldo was last seen in the 18th tower for CBS at the RBC Canadian Open nine days ago, just ahead of the U.S. Open, and will be working this week at the Travelers Championship.

Faldo, a six-time major winner, once said he never imagined himself doing TV work at all.

“Just the complete opposite,” he said in 2013 at Oak Hill Country Club ahead of the 95th PGA Championship. “I said ‘There’s no way I’m going to be on tour for 28 weeks a year, and then retire and be on tour for 28 weeks a year and sit in a TV tower. No way.”’

Nick Faldo (left) and Jim Nantz are joined by Memorial Tournament host Jack Nicklaus in the CBS Sports booth at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 3, 2017 in Dublin, Ohio. (Photo: Chris Condon/PGA Tour)

It was a stint on ABC at the 2004 British Open that changed his mind about doing TV work. He was with that network for three seasons before CBS brought him on in 2006, replacing Lanny Wadkins as lead analyst.

“My job is the how, what and when guy,” he told the Democrat & Chronicle. “I let the viewer know what it’s like to be a pro golfer in a certain situation. How is he going to do, what is he going to do and what went wrong.”

On social media, Faldo noted that the first PGA Tour event he played was the Greater Greensboro Open, and that the last event he will work as an analyst will be that same event, now called the Wyndham Championship, 43 years later. He also said that he intends to settle at Faldo Farm, which is currently under construction in Montana, with his wife Lindsay, and devote more time to family and fishing.

Faldo, 64, won 33 times internationally, another nine on the PGA Tour and he won six majors: three green jackets at the Masters and three British Opens. His best finish in the U.S. Open was solo second in 1988; he also tied for second in the 1992 PGA Championship. Along the way, he held the top spot on the Official World Golf Ranking for 97 weeks.

Faldo also has a successful golf course design company, which has done work in more than 20 countries.