NICK FALDO will skip down Magnolia Lane this week with all the nervous energy he did on his first visit there in 1979.

At 49, the greatest modern golfer Britain has produced probably believed that the spine-tingling debuts were well in the past. But here is another . . . and a scary one at that.

"I've always said exactly what I thought, but if I do that at Augusta, only one thing will happen . . . I'll be out, " he said, smiling as he thought of the expulsions that befell the previous loose-lipped. "I'll be walking on eggshells and have my guidelines right next me; they're not 'fans', they're 'patrons', it's not 'rough', it's 'first cut'. Actually, I may not say anything, I may just do sign language. Only joking.

I'm sure Augusta will cut me some slack on my first year."

In fact this will be his 25th year at the National, although the first when the microphone, instead of the putter, will feel like a live snake.

When Faldo was appointed last autumn . . . at a reported $8m ( 6m) a year . . . as the lead analyst for American network CBS the three-time champion reluctantly had to decline his annual Masters invite. In doing so, he finally admitted to himself he was no longer a player. "That's it, from that moment on, I was a commentator, nothing else, " says the man who has already been hailed as golf 's leading analyst in his short time on air. "I was toying with playing on the Senior Tour, but it's funny how your destiny can change in an instant. I won't play again until The Open.

There just aren't the minutes in the day to do any more."

Indeed, the division of Faldo's time is a feat that certain atomic scientists would find fiddly. Apart from being in the booth at 28 events and playing in at least two more ("more than I ever attended as a player"), Faldo has four children to keep tabs on and his famed Junior Series to oversee. And if all that is not enough, then Faldo also happens to be leading Europe into next year's Ryder Cup dust-down in Kentucky.

It is perhaps fortunate, therefore, that, for the next 12 months at least, this captain intends to play a largely hands-off role. "To be honest, the build-up's probably got out of hand, " he says. "It's talk, talk for months if not years; just pure speculation.

Sure, I want to get to know all the players, but the last thing I want them to think, as I phone them for the umpteenth time, is 'Christ, it's him again, what does he want now?' "If they want to chat then fine, they know where I am and I will be there to listen.

I'm at most tournaments in another capacity and if they want a beer, then great. I'm a different character than I was when I was a player and well up for socialising. Otherwise we can wait until it all starts to pan out. It's always been the same; it's the last three months when it gets serious.

You know who the backbone of your team is by then, who are the locks, and then there's usually four guys who are in, four who are out and it fluctuates until it's decision time.

That's when it'll get interesting and I can hang on."

Faldo is not expecting another K Club walk and points to the fact that 12 of the matches were settled on the last green, only one in America's favour. "It was closer that it looked, " he says. "It's all about momentum and, boy, did we have it. It can so easily turn around, though, and we must guard against that."

What would undoubtedly help in staving off any such complacency would be another two years of Europe's major drought, although Faldo seems not nearly as worried about the eight-year hiatus as certain other analysts. "I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again, it's all about being there and getting used to the thick of it. A lot of our boys have done that now; Luke [Donald], Padraig [Harrington], Sergio [Garcia], Monty [Colin Montgomerie] and others. It'll eventually click for them. It is tough, though, when Tiger's operating at this level."

Indeed, Faldo fully expects to be heralding the world number one on yet another victory march down the 18th come Sunday evening. "Any fool would fancy him, " he says. before reminding that this particular fool was there at the birth of the TigerAugusta love affair 10 years ago.

"I played with him in the first round and the way he came back from that front nine, when he was as bad as I was, [Woods shot 40 on the opening nine] was quite something. That's when Tigermania truly began and, although I realised my playing days were counting down then, that rammed it home."

Faldo's own Masters odyssey was far from finished, though. On Thursday, a new chapter will open. Just so long as he remembers to call them patrons.