Sir Nick Faldo has never been one to shy away from controversy. In fact, that is exactly what makes him such a captivating pundit.

Faldo was an exceptional golfer during his playing career, winning 43 times worldwide including six major championships.

While he may not have been the most popular player on tour among his peers, public opinion of the Englishman completely shifted after he became one of the best commentators in the business.

Nick Faldo‘s enthralling personality, along with his quick, dry and classically British wit, endeared him to the American audience.

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However, what separated him from the rest was his refusal to back down when discussing controversial topics. He always tackled them head on, and that was the case back in 2016 when Dustin Johnson was on the wrong end of a farcical decision from the USGA.

Johnson finally got over the line to win his first major championship in 2016 when he lifted the US Open trophy at Oakmont. However, his first major triumph certainly did not pass without incident.

Nick Faldo’s reaction after the USGA apologized to Dustin Johnson in 2016

On the fifth hole of his final round at Oakmont in 2016, Johnson’s ball moved by a minuscule amount on the green after he stepped away from reading his putt. After the incident occurred, the now 42-year-old informed a rules official about what happened, and he was told that, as he had not caused his ball to move, everything was fine.

However, one USGA official – Craig Winter – was looking over video footage of the incident in the scoring tent, and he believed that Johnson had, in fact, violated the rules.

Johnson, who held a one-stroke lead over Irishman Shane Lowry at the time, was approached on the 12th hole of his final round and informed that he could well face a penalty. The strange thing was that he wasn’t told of the decision until he completed his final round.

He won comfortably in the end, with the one-stroke penalty he received not affecting the outcome. However, the USGA were forced into apologizing to Dustin Johnson after they received huge backlash from the American’s peers.

And Nick Faldo gave his opinion on the matter, highlighting how well Johnson did to maintain his composure after the incident occurred.

“It was a major kerfuffle with the rules and the way they handled that and all that added drama,“ the Englishman admitted.

“But the bottom line is that Johnson pulled through. If there’s a rule infringement on tour and it’s reported, the officials will come to the TV studios and review it.

“They will meet the player after the round, but for some reason on Sunday they interjected on the 12th tee. There must be nothing worse for a player than being told ‘maybe you’ll be penalised’.  

“The USGA has since apologized, but it changed the whole scenario. He’s had mishaps before in trying to win a major and for him to deal with it like he did, I think he handled it very well.“

As Faldo said, Johnson deserves huge credit for the manner in which he got on with his business after being on the wrong end of a decision that would almost certainly have affected the vast majority of elite level golfers to the point of no return.