ENERGIZER SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 7, 1997

Bob Duval

BOB DUVAL: Bogeyed the first pole. 3-putted the first hole.

BOB DUVAL: Got it up-and-down twice. I mean, it was probably the best round of golf I have played this year on the TOUR, as far as tee-to-green, and, then every now and then, you get those days when you can see the line and all the putts. And, I mean, I saw the line just all day long and everything I guessed was right. And, you know, I think -- I don't know how many greens I hit, Phil, but I hit most of the greens except for maybe 10 and 12 and I backed it down the hill. Where did I birdie? I birdied --

BOB DUVAL: Right, knocked it in on 2 on 8. Par 3, hit good 5-iron in there, made about 15-footer. 7, I hit sand wedge and had it about 15, 20 feet and made that. 8, I had it about 15 feet above the hole for eagle and just rolled it down, missed it, made birdie. 9, I hit a terrible putt for birdie hit about ten or twelve feet there. 10, I rolled it back down the hill and hit probably my best chip shot in six months and made par with about a 4-footer. And, 11, I mean, 11, I drove it - I don't know - so far down there, I had sand wedge to the green and hit it about three feet from the hole; made birdie there. Then I had a good up-and-down the next hole, 12, hit it to the right of green; chipped it by about 15 feet; made it for par. Then 13 just is a scary hole, and you just -- you hit a driver and hit a 3-wood as hard as you can to get it over the water and hit something to get it on the green and 2-putt it. That is what I did.

BOB DUVAL: I hit driver off the tee, yeah, on 13. Then 14 hit it right under the lip of the bunker again like I did yesterday, but it came back just a little bit on the fairway bunker, and hit a 7-iron out of there. I had 150 yards to the front of the green; hit 7-iron and got it right on to the front of the green. And then, you know, trying to get it close, and it just went in the hole from about 60 feet, yeah, it just kept rolling and rolling and rolling, fell in the hole. So, it is like, you know, going from 5 to 3 on that hole. 15, I hit 4-iron off the tee, it is -- just doesn't set up for a driver for me. And, hit a 4-iron up there and sand wedge, I pulled it about 20 feet and 2-putted. 16, playing down wind, I hit 4-iron off the tee again to keep short of the bunker; hit a pitching wedge about four feet, five feet, made that for birdie. 17, I hit a 7-iron, just got it on the front of the green, 2-putted, made about a 3-footer for par. And 18, I mean, that 18th drive, I hit pitching wedge to the green. And, that makes that hole a lot easier and hit it, what, five, six feet, seven feet from the hole and made that for birdie. So, I mean, it was a round that could have been- I don't think it could have been any better, but it could have been worse. But every now and then you make those pars, it sets up the whole round. What is the next question? Can I win? Right? I mean, David won --

BOB DUVAL: Oh, just -- I mean, just anything. We don't talk a lot of golf. He said, "How are you hitting it?" I said, "Well, I didn't hit it real good yesterday. I made seven birdies and four bogeys the first day." And he said, "Well, you know, just slow it down. You have a tendency to get fast." And, today I did. I mean, everything felt comfortable today. And then, the first four, five holes, all my shots into the greens were right between clubs. It was yardages that were just in between and then after I hit that -- made that birdie on 5, it seemed like every drive I hit was a perfect yardage for some club that I had in the bag. I didn't have to back off it or try to hit one hard. And it was just -- just fell into the perfect yardage. And, you know, it is easier then; it is a lot easier playing when that happens.

BOB DUVAL: First time I looked at the board was, I think, 16. 16 when I -- I think there is a board on 16 or maybe 17. And, I looked at it and, you know, saw that I was after Hubert made double-bogey on 13 and bogeyed 14, and you know, I think Bob Murphy was up there 6-under, 7-under too. But, that was first time I looked at it. And, I said, man if I can make a couple of putts coming in, I might get to the top of that leaderboard. I didn't really realize I was leading.

BOB DUVAL: I mean, everybody -- I mean not everybody, but a lot of people have said that this is the type of golf course that falls right into my game. And, I mean, I have heard that before and shot 78 too. It seems that where I am driving the ball, it has a tendency to get over these hills some of these hills, where I know Hubert and Jimmy Powell were hitting it into the hills and getting no roll and I was driving it over the hills and getting it back down, I think 7 I had sandwedge to the green. I think they were hitting 6-irons, and you know, maybe it does fall into my -- I mean, right now I really like the golf course. I am not going to say anything -- I don't want to make it mad.

BOB DUVAL: I think yesterday. I played the practice round with Hugh Baiocchi and Bobby Eastwood didn't play really well. But hadn't seen the course and then the Pro Am, I didn't play too bad. And, then yesterday I, you know, had a 3-under and made some bogeys. But, that is -- I mean that is the way I play a lot is I make -- it is like I told you before, Gary, I just try to make more birdies than bogeys. And, yesterday I made three more birdies than I did bogeys. Today I made six more birdies than I did bogeys. So, if I can keep making a lot of birdies, I really don't worry about the bogeys. And bogeys don't bother me. It is those others that they put out there that you have trouble with.

BOB DUVAL: Well, I mean, probably emotionally it was the highest leading up to it to see if I was going to finish in the top 31. And, it was hard sitting on the sidelines not being able to defend what you have done all year and watch people pass you. And, you know -- but, I mean, I should -- like I told somebody, I should have shot two shots lower in the Qualifying School and I wouldn't have had to worry about it. That is the rules and, you know, I got to the number that I thought was -- that everybody said if you get above 480,000 you are probably going to get it and then Hubert and of Jimmy Powell just went on by last week one making 72,000 and one making 40,000 to pass me. But, then to learn, I mean, that I was top 31, everybody -- the people called me, my friends called and said, you know, the way we got it calculated, because it wasn't on the internet, and the way we have got it calculated, you finished 31st and, you know, I didn't see anything. I don't have the Golf Channel at home and everything else, so, next morning I called the PGA TOUR office. We had the car packed because I figured I was 31, but I wasn't sure yet. And, we had the car packed and I called the TOUR office and I said: "Okay, I just want to know, am I 31 officially or not?" So, they said, "You are." I said: "Thank you, I am heading to Myrtle Beach."

BOB DUVAL: Oh, no, I mean, because the worse I could finish was 32 and 32 is Bobby Eastwood, I think finished 32 last year and he played in 95 percent of the golf tournaments, I think. So, I mean, it wasn't a bad -- I mean, that is not a bad number. But, the magic number is 31. That is when they tag it "Fully exempt," you know, and that is a nice tag to have.

BOB DUVAL: If I finished below 35, I figured I'd go to the Q-School again just to improve my position. But, you know, it is unfortunate with Larry Gilbert maybe not being able to play again, you know, 32 is going to be as good as 31 next year. But, that was my plan. Below 35, I would have gone to the Q-School.

BOB DUVAL: Oh --

BOB DUVAL: Eagles.

BOB DUVAL: Yeah.

BOB DUVAL: Yeah, I mean, I wasn't nervous hitting those shots or anything. I mean, watching -- I guess the best part of playing the last two days is just watching Hubert around the greens. That -- he is probably the master. He hit a chip shot on 16 today off that hard pin when all I do was putt it. He had a little wedge and almost made it. I am saying, man, I couldn't have taken a wedge off that, I would have bladed it or done something. He is one of the best at it. Just watching his rhythm and everything else, I just figured -- Rabbit told me on 10: "Get it on the green; give us a chance for putting good." And, I hit a good shot. And 12, I thought I had a decent shot, rolled 15 feet by, but it was like, again, I just saw the line and hit the putt and it went in.

BOB DUVAL: Yeah, we stay pretty loose.

BOB DUVAL: Yeah, he started at the beginning of the year. Then he got hit by a car down in Sarasota. He was out for six months, and then he joined me at Pittsburgh. That is his first week back, and -- no, Michigan. He joined me in Michigan when I finished second to Gil Morgan, so, I don't know, we have been friends a long time, Rabbit and me. He is from Ponte Vedra area, and he caddied for me when I played in some TOUR events back in the '70s. And, so we have known each other a long time. And, he caddied for me at the Q-School and got me a conditional card and I employed him for the year.

BOB DUVAL: Yeah, 7 was long. I mean --

BOB DUVAL: Yes, I have always hit it long. It seems like I have gotten longer this year just probably because this is the first year in a long time I have played all the time and gotten stronger and timing probably. I mean, today was exceptional. I haven't hit it -- I don't know -- I haven't hit it that long consistently in a round of golf this year and it just seemed like every one just kept exploding off the club face and, I mean, it was a good feeling. I didn't feel like I had to do anything different, just swing.

BOB DUVAL: Sand wedge. Had 108 yards to the flag.

BOB DUVAL: I had pitching wedge, 130.

BOB DUVAL: Yeah, yesterday I got it up to the top of the hill and had like 120, I think.

BOB DUVAL: Similar. I think when he was coming up he played a lot with us, with the guys that I played with. I think David learned to hit it long and I was always basically preaching to him, you know, longer is better. I mean, learn to hit it long and then you can always back off it. But, once you got that length, you are never going to lose it. You know, he hit it a lot longer than he did the first two years on TOUR. He hit a lot longer in college than he did then. But, he did learn that 280 yards in the fairway is better -- still better than 300 yards in -- because 280 just make every par 4 easy. 6-iron, 7-irons, 8-irons. And, similarities or differences. Differences: David, I guess, came up in the age when you learned to hit the ball pretty straight. I used to like to work the ball a lot, right-to-left, left-to-right, high, punch shots that, kind of stuff. And, I think I am -- I have gone the other way now trying to make a body swing and not hit as many of those funny golf shots that, you know, try to hit it high in there or just hit it at the flag. I don't try to curve the ball as much as I did. My basic shot is a left-to-right off the tee and I got a 4-wood or a 3-wood in my bag that I can hit right-to-left. That is the only club in my bag I really want to hit right-to-left. And, so everything else, I try to hit it straight or cuts a little bit.

BOB DUVAL: I think he has got to teach me. (laughs) I think he is going to teach me. Because --

BOB DUVAL: No grass growing under my feet when I am playing. My dad taught me - he is a golf pro - he said: "Miss it quick, if you are going to miss it or hit a good shot quick, there is no use laboring over the shot."

BOB DUVAL: Yeah, I don't know when David got slow. I think they got slow -- I think the colleges taught him to get slow and be deliberate and everything. You know, and a lot of the sports psychologists say never hit a shot until you are ready. There has been a lot of shots that I would have never hit then. Because I mean, there is some holes --

BOB MURPHY: That is it, Rookie, you are out of here.

BOB DUVAL: -- there are some holes that you don't want to hit. If you never hit a shot until you are ready, then I mean -- so, I think that is where that came from, a lot of it in college, because I noticed college golf did get slow in the last ten years, a lot of slow players.

BOB DUVAL: Oh, yeah, yeah, I will just after I drive it by him, I just say "Hit it." (laughs).

BOB DUVAL: I think he was 13.

BOB DUVAL: That was at Timiquana Country Club. He was 13. That is where I -- where I was head pro.

BOB DUVAL: Yes.

BOB DUVAL: We play $10 birdies, $10 per hole, $10 -- is this legal on the TOUR?

(Audience laughter.)

BOB DUVAL: $10 a hole.

BOB DUVAL: He is up right now. But, I mean, now that I have got a year, I might, you know --

BOB DUVAL: But, I get to play the front tees.

BOB DUVAL: No. No.

BOB DUVAL: Thank you.