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Challengers' line forms behind Duval

Tiger Woods' frustration of late and Duval's British Open win mean Woods faces real rivals for a change.

By BOB HARIG

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 16, 2001

DULUTH, Ga. -- The air of resignation is gone, replaced by a fresh breeze. Sure, there will be plenty of heat and humidity this week at Atlanta Athletic Club. But there also will be hope.

David Duval's victory at last month's British Open, coupled with Tiger Woods' recent run of frustration, seemingly has altered the major-championship landscape. No longer does one man sit atop a mountain, unreachable.

That was more perception than reality, but try arguing against such a notion when Woods was capturing consecutive major championships by a combined 23 shots, then winning last year's PGA Championship in a stirring playoff with Bob May, who threw three consecutive 66s at Woods.

When Woods captured his fourth consecutive major title in April at the Masters, his sixth overall, the belief that he is unbeatable soared. And why wouldn't it? Woods added another dominating performance at the Memorial, his 28th PGA Tour victory and fourth in five starts.

But after a few lackluster performances, Duval's victory at Royal Lytham ... and the game is on.

Duval will try for his second straight major when the 83rd PGA Championship begins today, while Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia look for their first. All have been mentioned as possible threats to Woods in several attempts to force a rivalry with the No. 1 player in the game.

Now that one of them has broken through, the idea is a bit more feasible.

"Let's be realistic," Duval said. "There has not been a rival, period."

Certainly not along the lines of Nicklaus-Palmer, or Nicklaus-Trevino, or Nicklaus-Watson.

Jack Nicklaus won a record 18 professional major championships, but along the way he was challenged by the likes of Arnold Palmer, who won seven, and Lee Trevino, who won six, and Tom Watson, who won eight.

Of the top 10 players in the world, only Duval, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Davis Love have won major titles. Els won the second of his two U.S. Opens in 1997, during Woods' first full year as a pro. That's also when Love captured his lone major, the PGA. Singh is the only player other than Mark O'Meara with two major titles since Woods turned pro, but he has no PGA Tour titles since the 2000 Masters.

When Woods, 25, won at Augusta National this year, he was asked if he hoped for someone to step up and challenge him in the way Watson and Trevino did Nicklaus. Woods grinned: "I like it the way it is."

But Duval, 29, gives the masses hope. The Jacksonville native long has been anointed a challenger to Woods, having won 11 of 34 events early in 1998 to briefly claim the No. 1 spot in the world. Before his victory at the British, he also had eight top 10s in majors, including two seconds at the Masters.

"I have done a good job of getting there so much now that I might know the difference of what it takes," Duval said. "It may help if I continue to get myself there.

"I have greater confidence because of what happened at Lytham. I was obviously extremely excited about winning, but what I was more proud about than winning was how I played, really. I just feel good about going out and shooting the scores I did on the weekend (65-67) and winning the golf tournament. I just feel good about going out there and taking control and taking care of it myself."

Duval will be grouped with Woods and U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen for the first two rounds of the PGA Championship, the winners of this year's majors playing together.

And this time, it is Woods who enters with doubts. For the first time since the end of the 1997 season, he has finished out of the top 10 in four consecutive tournaments. His tie for 25th at the British Open was his worst finish in a major since the 1998 PGA at Sahalee.

"Certainly, Tiger is at an unbelievable level," his close friend O'Meara said. "But when he's just a little off his game, guys can beat him. That has happened."

"To me, I never felt intimidation," said Garcia, who finished second to Woods at the PGA two years ago. "I think right now, a lot of guys who maybe felt a little bit of that kind of intimidation ... they are getting rid of it. They are starting to play better and shooting good scores knowing that they can do it."

Even Woods admits that winning is the key. He holds a supreme advantage in the heat of battle, having won so many tournaments and executed so many shots under duress. And the longer nobody challenged him, the easier it was going to be for him, the more difficult for them.

Now, at least, Duval can draw upon his experience in England, where Woods was nowhere in sight during the final round.

"I think he's going to be a little more confident now in major championships because he knows what it takes to win a major championship," Woods said. "Anyone who wins a major and understands now what it takes, coming down the stretch or to prepare for a major to win, what kind of mental frame of mind you need to have for the entire week, and what kind of game it takes. And David accomplished all of the above. I think he's going to understand that and use it to his advantage in the future."

So will Duval now become the true rival for which golf fans have been clamoring? He laughs.

"I was over and done with the last two years, and then Phil was the true rival," Duval said. "And then after he didn't do it, it was Sergio after he won a tournament. You know, it's just flavor of the month. Depends on how I play. (Here), I'll be the rival. If I don't play great and Tiger wins, then I'm done again. I just go with it now."

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