Golf and business certainly go hand in hand.
Justin Rose and Nick Faldo—the last two Englishmen to win major golf championships—are both getting ready for their next challenges on and off the course.
They'll both be in the field next month at the British Open at Muirfield in Scotland, where the six-time major champion Faldo won in 1987 and 1992.
"I've got great emotional memories of that spot," Faldo told CNBC on Thursday, explaining why he's decided to play in this year's Open Championship, a major he won in 1990. (By the way, he also won the Masters that year. His other two victories at Augusta came in 1989 and 1996).
"My last competitive round was at St. Andrews, which was three years ago now," Faldo, 55, said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "About a month ago I thought, 'Why not? Let's go and do the walk, enjoy the week.' Probably the last chance I get to walk Muirfield."
Rose, 32, will be there too—gunning for his second major—fresh off his U.S. Open win at the grueling Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia. He became the first golfer from England since Tony Jacklin in 1970 to win the U.S. Open and the first Englishman to win any major since Faldo's 1996 victory at the Masters.
(Read More: Rose Wins US Open, More Heartache for Mickelson)
As Rose tries to figure out his next steps and which of the myriad of business opportunities to explore, he told CNBC he's learned from countryman's mistakes.
"[Jacklin] felt he was dragged all over the world doing things that he thought he should be doing as a major champion," but Jacklin said his game suffered for it, Rose told "Power Lunch" on Tuesday. "You have to relish the opportunities that [winning] will bring, but at the same time weigh them out carefully."
Rose focused and stuck to his game plan during the U.S. Open with the help of a mental coach—a life coach of sorts that athletes and businessmen alike can benefit from, he said.
"There's a stigma about it still. It's not that you have a problem and that's why you need a guy like this. It's to deal with life—to have everything in balance," Rose said. "When you are doing well in business, when you're doing well in sport, your life is in balance on and off the course, in and out of the office I would imagine. [There are] definitely sort of similarities there."
While he hopes to still compete on the course, Faldo has concentrated more recently on his job as a golf analyst for CBS Sports and the Golf Channel—an NBCUniversal network owned by Comcast—and his business ventures, which include the Faldo Golf Series. "It's a junior program. We take kids from 13 to 21. They play events across Europe, across Asia. … The exciting thing is I'm now going to bring it to America."
(Watch: Faldo Gives CNBC's Joe Kernen Putting and Chipping Advice)
"Rory McIlroy and [the LPGA's] Yani Tseng ... came through my series. Both became world Number Ones. Of course, Guan Tianlang, the young 14-year-old kid at Augusta, he plays my series as well in China."
Among his sponsors and partnerships, Faldo is an ambassador for the Glenmorangie brand of Scotch whisky. "I'm a connoisseur."
"The important thing in business now," he continued, "is I like to team up with people … that are fun being around." It's not like "being a golfer when you signed and then you went off to play golf. You have a different relationship with brands now. You want to be more involved them. You want to help them as best you can."
From the world's elite professionals like Faldo and Rose to the weekend warriors entertaining clients to the titans of Corporate America cutting deals on the links, golf as a metaphor for business and life remains a common thread and continues to fuel the popularity of the sport.
—By CNBC's Matthew J. Belvedere. Follow him on Twitter @Matt_SquawkCNBC.
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