THE return of Nick Faldo this week to the European Tour has left many golfers seriously revising their tournament prospects.

The outstanding player of his era and one of the finest of all-time, Faldo reached a rare plateau at this year's US Masters.

Six shots behind Greg Norman at the start of the last day's play, his unflappable consistency released final round demons in the Australian to give Faldo his sixth major championship.

This victory, the most clinically achieved of his career, presented hard evidence that when Faldo is on song he does not just beat opponents. He annihilates them.

Little wonder that the bookies make him a paltry 5-1, varying on how he finishes tomorrow in the Benson and Hedges International, to destroy the field when he tees up on Friday in the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth.

There are slightly more generous odds to be had on Burnley's Paul Carman, the Huddersfield professional who is only an occasional plunderer on the now vastly lucrative European Tour.

British Club Professional Champion and veteran of three Open Championships, Carman, a 250-1 outsider, gained entry to next week's event through his victory in the Club Pros at West Hill last August.

And unlike Norman, whom you suspect would rather encounter the Grim Reaper than Faldo again, Carman is relishing his opportunity to duel with the Masters champion - as well as the rest of European golf's most illustrious names.

"I love playing and I love competing," he told me this week when we talked in the cosy semi-detached he shares with his wife Catriona and six-year-old son Ross on the outskirts of Burnley.

"Nothing gives me more pleasure than qualifying for the Open or something like the Volvo PGA because that's where you play with the big boys.

"Over the years I've played against a lot of the established players like Sam Torrance, Seve, Olazabal, and Langer and you enjoy it. You feel you're up there with them.

"When I played on the Tour I was competing against these guys regularly.

"So next week holds no fear for me.

"On the contrary, I'm looking forward to it."

His sense of optimism is increased by the belief that his swing, a naturally developed and exceptionally smooth action, is as sound and reliable as when he held his Tour card between 1988 and 1992.

In that period he was reasonably successful, claiming several top-10 finishes, the best being fifth in the Italian Open of 1989.

It is a source of pride to Warrington-born Carman, 34, that he made his excursions on the Tour financially worthwhile, averaging winnings of £2,000 a week.

This hardly compares with some of the cheques taken home by Ballesteros, Olazabal and Faldo in the same period.

But it contrasts favourably with the losses incurred by many of the less-publicised names who have attempted to make their living in professional golf.

Carman maintains that he could have achieved even more if family commitments had not prevented him joining the Tour full-time and relinquishing his job at Huddersfield Golf Club.

But it is a situation he does not at all regret.

"If someone had come along with x amount of thousands of pounds sponsorship I would have considered playing full-time," admitted Carman.

"But, with a wife and a family, you need a little bit of security.

"So I didn't want to give that (the job) up.

"Because it's a big decision to make to throw away an income on the off-chance that you can be sufficiently successful.

"Okay, pickings are very rich now on Tour but there's a lot of guys who struggle, who just scratch a living.

"And I didn't want to do that so I tried to mix the two and I did all right.

"But I would not wish my life backwards.

"I'm very happy with everything I've had.

"If I had been a single lad I would probably have made a go of it but I would never want to swap my family for going to play on the Tour."

For the young Carman, there was more chance of him fashioning a career as a goalkeeper at Burnden Park.

His uncle, Alan A'Court, played 354 games for Liverpool as an outside left, being capped six times in the fifties, and Carman had a desire to emulate him.

He had trials for Bolton Wanderers and football seemed the direction in which he was headed.

But after finishing his exams, he walked straight into a club assistant's job at Widnes and, to this day, does not know why hitting a ball with his foot yielded to striking one with a set of clubs.

"I honestly can't remember how or why I just dropped football and decided to stick with the golf," recalled Carman.

"It just seemed to be the thing I wanted to do.

"My brother had started me in the game at the age of nine with a set of brown, cut-down clubs.

"But it had always been just a hobby, nothing more.

"However, when I left school at 16, I turned pro and began working at the municipal in Widnes and just took it from there."

Taking it from there has comprised many tournament successes, most noticeably the Club Professionals' Championship, virtually guaranteeing him a coveted place on this year's British PGA Cup team.

And it was through golf that Carman met his attractive wife Catriona, a dance teacher whose concept of golf is that "you carry a few sticks and hit a few balls".

Should Carman win next Monday week he will probably be the richest "stick-carrier" in the country - and anyone who takes those odds of 250-1 will be worth a few bob more too.

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