David Duval: Former World’s No. 1 Still Grinding For Pride, Love Of Golf

November 1, 2008

David Duval

(Interview conducted at Pebble Beach Golf Links during the 2007 Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational.)

Eleven years ago, on an overcast Saturday afternoon at Pebble Beach Golf Links, David Duval did what most of golf’s greatest players have failed to do. Joining John Cook, Duval equaled the course record with a 10-under 62 and moved into a three-shot, 54-hole AT&T National Pro tournament lead. Duval didn’t win after a final-round 71, but his second-place tie with Tiger Woods matched his rookie effort in the 2005 tournament.

More important, Duval’s third-round outburst marked the beginning of the first of his five straight years of golfing nirvana. He won 13 tournaments and more than $13 million during the span. And early in the half-decade spree, he became the world’s No. 1 player.

But as has been well documented, not much has gone well for Duval in golf since the 2001 season when he compiled top-10 finishes and claimed his last victory, the British Open.

For a variety of life’s obstacles, Duval hasn’t had a top-10 finish in the 42 tournaments in which he’d competed during the past five seasons. And while his wife endured a difficult pregnancy, Duval played in only seven official tournaments last season, including a tie for 36th (4-under 284) at the AT&T.

But Duval, 36, will be back in 2008 for his 14th PGA Tour season. With Dudley Hart, Duval was granted a Family Emergency exemption, a new one-year exemption for the tour.

With his family healthy and with a new outlook, Duval began his season preparation last November while playing in the Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational.

Following an early tournament round at Pebble Beach, Herald Correspondent James Raia interviewed Duval just off the 18th green. Duval was cordial, smiled frequently and spoke at length about career, the PGA Tour and the new expectation.

Question: You’ve received a new Family Emergency exemption for 2008. What’s your plan and approach for the season?

David Duval: I’m planning on playing a full schedule. I don’t exactly how many spots I’m going to get. It’s based on the average in my category and taking away the seven times I played last season. So it’s going to work out somewhere from 20 to 22 or 23 and 20 is a full schedule for me anyway. So, it works out fine.

Question: What’s your reaction to the PGA Tour’s decision in your case?

Duval: My reaction is that it was a situation that maybe just hadn’t come up in the past. That’s one of good things about the Tour is that there is some flexibility in the rules and bylaws. Seemingly, there were some oversights and they rectified them. You can’t think of every situation that’s going to come up.

When I kind of started the process and spoke to Henry Hughes (the PGA Tour’s Chief of Operations) for a good long while about it, he said ‘Some of the difficulty we see is how we can make it retroactive for you or Dudley (Hart).’ I said regardless of whether it’s retroactive or not, for the person in the future, you’ve got to make sure it helps them out totally.

It’s a unique situation and at least we brought it into the light. I think when it was brought to the board, I think it was pretty unanimous that something needed to be done for my situation and Dudley’s situation. And that’s where the office of the Commissioner has to come into play. As a commissioner, it’s your job to make that decision — a hardship medical exemption. That’s part of the job.

Question: The first time you tried for the exemption it was denied and then you requested in again. Is that right?

Duval: Yes, it was denied. Tim (Finchem) said at first, ‘I just don’t see how it would fit in with the way the rules are written and blah, blah, blah. I asked him if he would take it to the board. He took it to the board back at the Memorial Tournament (May 28-June 3) and from that point forward, it was pretty much unanimous.

I believe it to be true; a lot of the corporate partners of the PGA Tour were asked their take on the situation and what they would do as employers. I guess the response was they said you’ve got to take care of your employees. I think it’s good to see the Tour in this situation. It proves it’s a pliable organization when something like this comes up.

Question: Why did you play in the Callaway event?

Duval: It was just to play, to try and get back in the groove, so I’m no longer hitting mulligans, you know. I love being here (Pebble Beach).”

Question: What is your physical fitness? You used to be pretty adamant about working out, perhaps to an extreme. Is that a fair statement?

Duval: I got into a bit of a situation of too much. I don’t know why, but with all the little pains and injury problems I was having, nothing seemed to get back to normal, so I stopped everything. At this point, I’m not doing a whole lot although I do plan on getting back into it. I think now I’ve finally got into the perfect shape — round.

The thing is I really enjoyed it, all that working out. I still like it when I do it. But now with my family and stuff and over the past few years with my back problems, I thought it was wise for the time to stop all of it and let everything heal up.

Question: Everyone knows you were the No. 1 player in world. How does a player who has been in that situation approach their career when they’re no longer there? Is it “baby steps” of improvement and do you long to still have that as an attainable goal?

Duval: Well, I don’t have a set goal of trying to be No. 1 in the world again or anything like that. That was more of a by-product of good play. My primary goal when I turned professional was to find out how good I could be. In hindsight, I don’t now if that was too narrow of a goal to focus on because it didn’t address what happens when you find out, you know?

Question: Can you explain that again?

Duval: I have never thought about records and things like that. I feel like I’ve had a pretty blessed career. I think for a bit of bad luck I probably could have won the U.S. Open a couple of times and the Masters three or four times. If I had gotten a few good breaks.

Question: Considering all that, can you summarize how you feel about golf and the PGA Tour now?

Duval: You know, I’ve been through long stretches when I couldn’t even swing golf clubs because of back problems. But I played in Phoenix a few weeks ago and since then I’ve played nine holes, so it’s not like I’m working hard again, not yet.

But I feel like I’m a top-10 player, a top-20 player, a top-30 player in the world still, that’s how my head thinks. I’m extremely rusty competitively. It’s just a matter of getting a little sharper and finding out where I am when I get can get back out there on Tour.

Posted in PGA Tour, Player Profiles