The Odd Couple

Underdog that he is, Azinger's unharnessed competitiveness and candor caused him some high-profile confrontations when he entered the top levels of the game. He had a run-in with Greg Norman in 1987 after publicly questioning Norman's then-paltry number of American wins, causing the Shark to confront Azinger on the practice putting green, saying, "I understand you have a problem with me," leading to a tense exchange. And it was no accident that Azinger and Seve Ballesteros also pushed each other's buttons during their matches in the 1989 and 1991 Ryder Cups (see accompanying story).

Azinger's lot is to feel, show and express his emotions more readily and openly than is common for a professional golfer. It was why his eulogy at Payne Stewart's funeral was so moving. Wearing rolled-up pants as an homage to his friend, Azinger told a hilarious story of the mechanically challenged Stewart showing off his new bass boat by running the engine as it sat in a garage, only to watch it catch fire and blow up. But the laughter turned to tears when Azinger, his voice breaking, barely managed "Goodbye, Payne."

It's not surprising then that any tension that exists between Faldo and Azinger has always come from the latter. In his new life, Faldo has presented a blithe spirit of confident self-promotion. Openly campaigning for a television job years ago, he told Golf Digest's Guy Yocom, "This boy has it all. I can be serious and analytical. Or philosophical, or dramatic. I'm quick and always good for a laugh." And last year, he summarized his experience at ABC thusly: "Zing ended up being the straight man, and I was the funny one, bouncing things off him, going off at tangents. They seemed to like my English-isms, so I used that to my advantage."

"I left two separate messages apologizing... I like Nick.
...I don't know how I slipped."

Azinger admits it rankles to have received comparatively less praise for his own work. Add that his golf prime was interrupted and ultimately robbed by cancer, that he is out of television and feeling physically and mentally spent as a competitor on tour, and it's not surprising that Azinger enjoys puncturing Faldo's balloon like a guest speaker at a celebrity roast.

"Yeah, I've felt my accomplishments have been minimized in comparison with Nick's," Azinger admits. "I try to brush it off, brush it off, but that's a real feeling. There's always a little something there."

It has come out publicly when the two captains have made joint appearances to promote the matches. On a conference call last year, after Faldo gave a weak dodge to a question about his testy relationship with Colin Montgomerie, Azinger assumed a plaintive voice to point out, "That was a horrible answer."

Later, when Faldo chose to illustrate the popularity of the Ryder Cup by contrasting the number of reporters on the conference call with how many he'd get if he were promoting Nick Faldo Enterprises, Azinger piped, "So the Ryder Cup is bigger than Nick Faldo Enterprises? That's huge."

At a PGA of America gala last October in Louisville, Azinger stayed on the offensive. When a replay of their singles match in 1993 was put on the screen, Azinger pulled out the line he had first used on NBC during the 1995 Ryder Cup. "Look at that: I had cancer, and he still couldn't beat me."

When Faldo contended, "I look better in shorts," Azinger countered with, "I look better naked."

Finally, Azinger pulled out the big guns. "Nick and I are like this," he said, extending his index and middle fingers together. "This is me," Azinger said, extending only the index finger. "And this," he added, exposing only the middle finger, "is Nick."

Overmatched, Faldo only smiled. He has learned in his makeover that being humbled just a bit makes him more appealing.

Of course, this game can get a little edgy. Before the Masters, Azinger gave this take on Faldo to a British writer, Ian Stafford of The Daily Mail.

"Nick Faldo has tried to redefine himself," Azinger said in a tape-recorded interview. "I'd say he is both who he is and who he was. Some people have bought it. Some have not. But if you're going to be a p---k and everyone hates you, why do you think that just because you're trying to be cute and funny on air now that the same people are all going to start to like you?

"The bottom line is that the players from his generation and mine really don't want to have anything to do with him," Azinger added. "He did what he did as a player, and there are relational consequences."