Nick Faldo: Zach Johnson a 'tough potato'

I enjoy listening to Nick Faldo's commentary on CBS and Golf Channel telecasts of PGA Tour events, and Sunday was no exception as I watched the final round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational that Zach Johnson won.

But Faldo needed broadcast partner Jim Nantz to bail him out a couple times when the subject was Iowa.

Nantz noted it was another Iowan, Jack Fleck, who won a U.S. Open playoff over Ben Hogan in 1955. Hogan was a logical topic, since the Crowne Plaza was played at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, and Hogan won what was then called the Colonial a record five times.

"Pretty tough potatoes, those Iowanians," Faldo said, clearly thinking of Idaho.

"Iowans," Nantz gently corrected him. "I think it's more wheat and corn."

I wouldn't hold it against Faldo. He is, after all, from the Welwyn Hatfield borough of Hertfordshire, England. How many of we Iowans could speak intelligently about that?

Of course, Faldo now calls Orlando home and has lived at least part of the year in the U.S. for a long time. But a lot of life-long Floridians probably don't know much about where we Iowanians live.

But we can take it. We're tough potatoes.