Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
David Duval, enthused again after the Ryder Cup, overcomes triple bogey to open with 69.
By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 18, 2002
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- A long year is coming to an end for David Duval, a year you would think could not end soon enough. But Duval is still trying to make the best of it, not wanting to write the season off just yet. And he has the Ryder Cup to thank for that.
The former British Open champion who once derisively referred to the Ryder Cup as an "exhibition" returned to the United States with renewed vigor, despite the U.S. loss to the Europeans three weeks ago.
It is no coincidence that he has played some of his best golf of the year since, contending at the Michelob Championship and Invensys Classic.
"I left there enthused about golf and I left with some passion that I found that had been missing for quite some time," said Duval, who opened the Disney Golf Classic with 3-under-par 69 Thursday.
That might not seem like such a great score at the birdie-fest known as Disney, where Bob Burns, Jeff Sluman and Hidemichi Tanaka led after the first round with 63s.
But consider that Duval's opening hole on the Palm course at the Walt Disney World Resort ended with triple-bogey 7. He played the remaining 17 holes in 6 under par.
"I got in late (Wednesday) night and I was not quite ready to play when I started," Duval said. "A 7 woke me up pretty quick. I am looking forward to the rest of the week. I am proud of myself for hanging in there. I kept going. It would have been easy to pack it in, especially after the last four weeks. But I want to keep going, keep playing well."
This is unfamiliar territory for Duval, who typically has his ticket to the Tour Championship punched by early spring. Since his rookie year on the PGA Tour in 1995, Duval has never failed to qualify for the season-ending tournament that invites the top 30 money winners.
In fact, the 13-time tour winner has never finished lower than 11th on the money list since his rookie year.
But he came to the Disney tournament 73rd on the money list with $829,868. And that's despite two of his better tournaments of the year, including a tie for sixth in Las Vegas on Sunday. He needs a victory and a runner-up finish (or vice versa) this weekend and at next weekend's Buick Challenge to qualify for the Tour Championship in two weeks.
"I'm fully aware of that," Duval said. "That is why I'm playing. I still have two events left. There is enough prize money available for me to earn my way into the Tour Championship. You never know."
It's a nice change for Duval, who has had little to be happy about this season. Expected to take off after winning the 2001 British Open, Duval has no tour victories since.
He does have plenty of reasons to offer for the decline. Several injuries (neck, shoulder, wrist) and the breakup with his fiancee are big on the list. Even after taking some time off, Duval was not the same for a long time.
"There's not a player out here, whether you're David Duval or Tiger Woods or somebody else, if you don't want to be out there competing, you're going to get beat up pretty good," Duval said. "For me, my head has been in different places this year simply because I've had other things going on that I've had to focus on and pay attention to. There's been adjustments I've had to make and new lives and lifestyles to get used to, and that's all.
"I really feel uncomfortable sitting here talking about it simply because it's no different than something you may have gone through recently. You know about it for me because I'm more of a public figure, but everybody ... has gone through the same things."
Duval said he started playing poorly last fall. He then missed the cut at the Masters and U.S. Open and was not in contention at the British Open (tie for 22nd) or PGA Championship (T34). Last weekend's tie for sixth was just his second top 10 of the season.
His problems on the golf course stem from poor driving. Duval is 171st in driving accuracy. And despite ranking fourth in birdie average, his scoring average is just 70.7, which ranks 49th. In other words, he's making too many bogeys.
But he has seen progress since the Ryder Cup, where he went 1-1-1, then visited the Europeans' team room for their postmatch party. Duval was one of the last to leave. He came home with much more than a hangover.
"The year's not over," he said. "I feel like I can still get in the top 30. I've won three in a row before, I can do it again."
WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP: Colin Montgomerie defeated Fred Funk 3 and 2 in a 36-hole first-round match at Virginia Water, England.
Montgomerie faces British Open champion Ernie Els.
Ireland's Padraig Harrington defeated Canadian Mike Weir 4 and 3 and faces Sergio Garcia in the quarterfinals. Vijay Singh won 1 up over England's Justin Rose and faces Retief Goosen.
The fourth match will be completed today after darkness stopped play. Nick Faldo and Michael Campbell were tied after 42 holes with defending champion Ian Woosnam awaiting the winner.
-- Information from Times wires was used in this report.