AS TWO-TIME MASTERS CHAMPION Nick Faldo, 38, practiced chip shots on a Tucson golf course last January, University of Arizona golfer Brenna Cepelak watched in awe. She told her assistant coach, Tom Brill, that she wanted to meet Faldo. "I said, 'Why don't you just introduce yourself?' " says Brill. " 'Ask him to dinner. You've got nothing to lose.' " Cepelak, 20, followed Brill's advice and, after a brief chat with Faldo, returned beaming. "She said, 'We're having dinner Friday night,' " says Brill. "She seemed excited. That was the start of it."

But not the end. In the 10 months since that first meeting, Faldo has left his wife of nine years, Gill (pronounced Jill), 37, and his relationship with Cepelak has become a scandalous sensation in British tabloids. "Faldo Seduced Me Like a True English Gent" headlined The Sun last October, followed by a story under the banner "No Sex Till Third Date." In response, Cepelak—who grew up in Albuquerque and was New Mexico's high school girls champion from 1991 to 1993—apparently has dropped out of college. "I feel traumatized," says Cepelak, who will not confirm that she is involved with Faldo. "It's really difficult. My life has been squeaky clean up to this point."

The British papers have had the couple trysting in Spain, France and Tucson. Brill confirms that the pair have kept in touch, in person and by phone, since January. "It kind of grew into the romance they have now," says Brill, who lost contact with Cepelak over the summer. When she returned to school in September, though, he realized how serious the relationship had become. The week before the Ryder Cup matches in Rochester, N.Y., in early September, Faldo turned up in Tucson to spend time with Cepelak.

On Nov. 1, the day after Faldo attended a Celine Dion concert at London's Wembley Arena with Gill and their children—Natalie, 9, and Matthew, 6 (Georgia, 2, stayed home)—he bolted. Faldo moved out of the family's $4.5 million mansion in Windlesham, Surrey, according to The Sun, which reported his departure two days later. "Nick doesn't live here anymore," Gill said. "He's living in a flat (three miles away)."

Since then, Gill has hidden out at home, avoiding reporters camped outside her gate. Deborah Couples, former wife of U.S. pro Fred Couples, spoke with Gill on the phone recently and describes her as "very hurt." Says Deborah, who was divorced from Couples in 1993: "Gill said, 'I did nothing wrong.' She hopes [Nick] has a change of heart and breaks it off with this girl. You're a source of inspiration during the lean years, and then when [your husband] gets to the top, it seems you can be easily replaced. It's quite a shock."

Faldo is no stranger to marital drama. His first marriage, to Melanie Rockall, now 38, dissolved in 1984 after 4½ years when Rockall discovered he checked into a hotel with another woman he claimed was "Mrs. Faldo." The imposter turned out to be Gill, then his manager's secretary, whom he married in 1986. According to Deborah Couples, the Faldo children are aware of their father's latest dalliance. "It's difficult," she says. "The 9-year-old asked 'Why does Dad have a girlfriend?' " As for Cepelak, she told London's Daily Mirror last month, "Don't blame me for the breakup of Nick's marriage. I feel sorry for Gill and the children, but I don't feel my relationship with him should be seen as the cause."

Before his love life turned complicated, Faldo was known mostly as a single-minded perfectionist whose life seemed consumed by his golf game. His fierce drive has yielded five major tournaments—the British Open in 1987, 1990 and 1992, and the Masters in 1989 and 1990. Born and raised in Welwyn Garden City, a small town north of London, to George Faldo, an accountant, and his wife, Joyce, 14-year-old Nick fell in love with the game after watching Jack Nicklaus on television in 1971 and soon began playing obsessively. In 1976, at 19, he turned pro and last year, according to The Sun, earned roughly $6 million.

Concentrated and humorless on the course, Faldo, one of the few PGA players with a woman caddy, had a prickly relationship with the British sporting press, which rewarded him for his early failure to win a major with the needling nickname "Foldo." That changed when his game reached its peak. Gill Faldo, for one, would like to remain an admirer. "She's keeping an open door," says Couples. "I think she's willing to forgive him and hopes this is some phase Nick is going through. But she wants him to end this relationship with this 20-year-old. That's her strong message."

PETER CASTRO
MICHAEL ARKUSH in Tucson and DON SIDER in Florida

  • Contributors:
  • Michael Arkush,
  • Don Sider.