Q&A: Nick Faldo on ‘College GameDay’ in Bozeman, Bobcat fandom, retiring to Montana | MSU Bobcats

BOZEMAN — In September 2020, Sir Nick Faldo played at the Stock Farm Club in Hamilton with his wife Lindsay, singer-songwriter Huey Lewis and actor Kevin Costner.

Nick, a former professional golfer and commentator, designed the highly ranked Wilderness Club in Eureka. The Englishman is friends with Lewis, who owns a ranch near Stevensville, and the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Faldos to reevaluate their living situation. Montana became attractive largely due to those ties and the hit TV show “Yellowstone.” Costner, who stars in that show, joined the Faldos and Lewis for 18 holes that September day in the Bitterroot Valley (Nick playfully referred to the round as “Dancing with Seven Wedges Kevin” because Costner carried seven wedges in his golf bag; most players carry three or four).

Less than two years later, Nick retired from his commentating job with CBS and moved with Lindsay to the “Faldo Farm” just north of Bozeman.

During their half year here, the Faldos have become vocal Montana State sports supporters, and they were in attendance at Bobcat Stadium last Saturday for the 121st Brawl of the Wild.

Before that football game, Nick was on the set of ESPN’s “College GameDay” at Dyche Field. ESPN chose the six-time major champion to be the “celebrity guest picker” for GameDay’s first appearance in Montana.

Nick talked with 406mtsports.com on Wednesday about his GameDay experience, his Bobcat fandom, life in the Treasure State and more.

NOTE: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

406: How cool was that on Saturday to be the guest picker?

NF: Yeah, that was very cool. I think I got asked (to do) that the day before. College football’s so big. It’s fantastic. I heard earlier in the week that GameDay was coming to Bozeman, and then they asked me, so yeah, it was fun. Fun to spend time with the guys on the set. That was quite an experience for me.

406: First time you’ve been guest picker?

NF: Yeah, I’ve never done anything like that before. [laughs] That’s dangerous stepping into another sport that you don’t know enough about.

406: What was the most memorable part of Saturday for you? Was it the one where you were on the stage talking with Jess Sims? Or was it being on the set with Lee Corso and all them?

NF: Being with the guys was quite cool. That’s a duck out of water, isn’t it? [laughs] I’ve done a bit of live TV for a couple of months, and it’s fast and furious. I didn’t have a clue what to expect. Luckily, I did a bit of preparation. You’re thrown in the deep end, and I tried to have some fun out of it. I think it went quite well.

406: It seems like you’ve gotten pretty into the Bobcats since you moved to Bozeman. What sparked your interest in them?

NF: We’re enjoying it up here, and we wanted to be part of the community, and that’s probably the biggest thing, especially through the winter. We just wanted to be involved. As I said, we’re enjoying the community, enjoying the people, meeting some very cool people. It was kind of the thing: “Are you coming to a Bobcats game?” We said, “Well yeah, we’re around. We should do it just for a bit of entertainment.”

406: How have you enjoyed the experience of going to Bobcat Stadium and watching this team?

NF: We’ve only done the two games, and obviously this last weekend was the big one, all the buildup. We enjoy the fact that the town enjoys the atmosphere. Everybody is abuzz. People talk about it. You walk down Main Street and people are talking about the game and what you’re going to do and all that. “Are you going?” It seems like the whole town shows up for it, supports the team.

406: It was that (Cat-Griz) game and the Weber State game (you attended), is that right?

NF: Yeah, we did that. And then we did a big trip. We went all the way to Asia, all the way over to Vietnam for some design work I was doing. Once we knew we were around on the 19th, we said, “Well yeah, we’re coming. We can be around.” It was good that it fit with my schedule.

406: What got you to move to Bozeman?

NF: A lot of things changed for people through COVID. We were on the beach in Florida. We designed a house and we had some land on the beach there in Ponte Vedra. Then COVID hits and we all sit around and think about things. There was a moment, wasn’t there, when we didn’t know, was this the end of the world, basically? We kept saying to ourselves, “Hey, we always keep saying we’d love to have our own farm.” If this really was going to be mega bad, we thought, “Where would we like a farm? In England, Scotland, Sweden, Canada, whatever?” When we kept saying, “Well, we love Montana.” And, of course, we’re watching “Yellowstone” as well, and every time you see the scenery, we’d both go, “Ah, look at that. Isn’t that great?” That was 2020, end of the year. I’m friends with Huey Lewis, and I said, “We’re going to fly across to golf and fish with him,” and then I had some other guys who wanted me to fish as well. So I said, “Well, let’s do a little tour of Montana.” I said, “We’ve got to go to Bozeman. We’ve never been to Bozeman. We hear it’s the best town.” And then I said to Lindsay, “Out of curiosity, Have a look.” And she said, “Well, there’s this little place on the river.” I’m like, “River?” I know it’s tough to get real close to the river up here, and I missed an opportunity in England years ago to buy river(front property), and I regret that. So we jumped on it. And I said, “Well, this is really nice.” We enjoy the scenery, the peace and tranquility. We get rid of traffic. We love to pull up to a four-way stop and have a laugh. You see one truck half a mile to the left and maybe two trucks to the right, and that’s it. We laugh at that. So that’s great. I think it’s the space, the whole scenery, people are nice, downtown Bozeman is very nice. We’re all part of it now. Sitting in the snow is different. [laughs]

406: The cold, I’m sure, has been jarring. Is that fair to say?

NF: Yeah. But when the sun’s out, it’s wonderful. You can be in any temperature in the sun and it’s nice. But I kind of miss… it was so easy in Florida, you just put a pair of shorts on and a T-shirt and you go down to the (golf) practice ground whenever you want. Now, I’ve got to get more organized. I’m waiting on a simulator to put into the barn so I can hit balls while it’s snowing and still do some stuff. I kind of miss that I can’t hit golf balls right now. But I look at the scenery each day, and I think, “This is cool.” I’ve just been out driving on the slippery roads. You’ve got to be very careful, got to be sensible up here. It’s a different world, and we’re loving it.

406: I’m also a pretty die hard golfer, and I haven’t even touched a club in at least a month now, or I guess a few weeks. It’s tough. It’s beautiful in the summer and spring and most of fall, but then once you get into winter…

NF: It’s a true winter. That’s the only thing that scares me. It’s snowing now, and obviously it could still be snowing in April, so that scares me a bit.

406: Your farm, is it in Bozeman proper, or is it in Belgrade or (somewhere else)?

NF: Belgrade. We’re along Springhill (Road). We’re looking straight at the Bridgers. We’ve got that as our view, and it’s a wonderful view. It’s quiet now down there. We’re on the river. We’ve got to get organized now. We’re in the process of building and everything, so that’s going to take time. This is a long project for us, and it’s going to be fun.

406: Are you part of the Yellowstone Club. Is that something you’ve been involved with over the years?

NF: No. We didn’t want to go up the mountain. We’ve made friends with Sam Byre, the owner up there. He’s kindly invited us up a few times, and Ming Tsai, the chef up there, as well. So yeah, we will go up and visit at times, but we wanted to live down here because we like the space.

406: Have you played any courses in Bozeman?

NF: I’ve played Black Bull. We’re members there. I haven’t played the others yet.

406: Is it weird to be going into a year not commentating for CBS?

NF: Yeah. I’ve been talking golf for 18 years. Normally, you’re off at this time anyway. Normally, we stop in August and go all the way through to January, so that’s kind of no different now. But I guess next year will feel different when I’m not jumping on a plane. But that’s all part of it. I was getting tired of that. I’ve been flying two flights a week for, what did I say, 40 years now (combined as a golfer and commentator)? Not 52 weeks, but nearly 30 weeks of the year, I was flying two flights a week, and then going to the same hotels. All the hotels are getting worse as they get older. Very few refresh because it’s so darn expensive. All of that, I just got tired. I got worn out of all of that and thought I’d rather do some other things, have time to myself to do things. I enjoy other sports, and you’re so limited, you’re so stuck, you can’t do anything. Up here, September and October are such great months, and I wanted to be here for those months to enjoy them rather than doing all my TV for six months, and then you’ve got to rush around doing other jobs in September and October. I thought, “I’ve got to have time to enjoy life as well.” I love my fly fishing. I want to be a better fly fisherman. I’ve got more chance of being a better fly fisherman than a golfer now [laughs], so that’s what I want to do. And do some other things. I have a chance to go and watch some other sports around the world, which would be very cool.

406: Like football, obviously.

NF: Yeah, you’ve got football here. I love motor racing, would like to get to Le Mans next year, things like that. Who knows, might go to Wimbledon. We just don’t get a chance. Your schedule just gets in stone, and then you’re stuck doing the same thing. And I genuinely want to build my design business up. That’s going really well in Asia, and I want to relaunch in Europe and America because I genuinely love doing that. I want to spend more time on it rather than rushing in for a day and waving your arms around. It’d be nice to actually be on site for a few more days and really get my teeth into building some great golf courses around the world.