Sir Nick Faldo

Ryder Cup Debut

The last Ryder Cup to be held on a links was [Royal] Lytham [& St Annes], which was when I made my debut. Me and Oosty [Peter Oosterhuis] were together. First morning was foursomes and he gave me the honour. We played [Ray] Floyd and Lou Graham. I was the youngest ever to play in it before [Sergio] Garcia pipped me. We used to lose back then ... we expected to lose. But I won, which was nice.

Ryder Cup Captaincy

I enjoyed some parts, some parts I didn't enjoy. I know I'm not going to get another chance, so there's not much point in thinking about it [laughs].

The boys did well last time [in 2010]. We won, that's what's important. We've held three Faldo Series finals at Celtic Manor, which is why I could speak authoritatively about the weather. And I could predict it! I've been there and felt the rain coming horizontally off the Severn Estuary. Gleneagles [2014 Ryder Cup venue] weather could also be challenging.

Faldo Series

When people like Rory and Yani [Tseng] were winning on the Faldo Series, you couldn't see the X-factor. You know, we always want too much now. We ask the question: 'Do you want to be world number one?' If the kid says no, or doesn't answer it, you think: 'Blimey, he lacks ambition.'

But when I look back on my career I remember that all these things happened in stages. First goal was to be a pro golfer, then go on tour. Then you play a bit and think, 'Oh, I could win.' Then you win a bit and you want a major. I played a couple of years and I thought I could win an Open, but that didn't happen for nine years. Then the Number One thing came about and you think, that could be interesting. Then when you get close to it you really want to be number one.

I didn't start at the age of 18 knowing I wanted to be number one, but the media forces these kids to say it now and then criticizes them for it.

Twitter

I love Twitter [check Faldo out @TheSirNickFaldo], but it shouldn't be taken seriously. Someone dangled a carrot and said if you have x number of followers it has a commercial value, and that's got these guys thinking. I think the danger is that you react too quickly to it.

It's like mobiles in general; you react too quickly to it. If you've got a phone in your bag and it starts to ring, you always react to it. You walk over to see what's just happened; a call, a message, a posting – you react to it.

I think the guys have lost the solitude, the wonderful solitude of going practicing and only thinking about hitting golf balls. Because I know it happened to me. Once I started changing, trying to become a businessman and all sorts of things then you lose that wonderful, you know, 'I'm gonna tip a bag of balls out and hit them.' You lose that 100 per cent concentration. There's so many distractions now. Every move of the day is recorded.