PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 16, 2001

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Only hit 13 of 17 greens? I guess, maybe that's why I shot 4-under. I played well. You know, I made a few mistakes, not many. I felt like I could have made a couple more putts, but I did make a great save here and there. I made one on 3. I made one on 9. Just kind of balanced out. I was really pleased to make par on the last hole like I did.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, all in all, yes. Like I said, I had some putts I felt like I could have made. I missed it a few times from inside eight feet, which I don't like to do, which I guess none of us in here do. I made a few other putts, though, and I chipped the ball in. Sure, I would liked to have made those, but I don't think there's -- like I've said before, I don't think you walk off the golf course of having thought you got everything out of your round.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know if I completely agree with that. (Laughter.) I did feel like I certainly had my share of support, and it was great. It was an amazing pairing. I didn't think about it until, you know, a few days after the Open at Lytham when I got thinking about the PGA. That's when I remembered how they paired up the major winners; and since then, I've really been looking forward to it. I'm pretty good friends with Tiger, and Retief is a real good man. I was looking forward to today. We had just a mass of people out there. The fans were wonderful. You know, the golf was pretty good. So I felt -- like I said, I felt I had my share of support, and you are right, maybe in the past it might have been more for some of the other players in the group, but it was great today.

DAVID DUVAL: Number 12, you mean, my third. I had 3-iron into the green and pulled it and it rattled -- I don't know, I didn't get to see all, exactly what happened. It clipped the trees and came out to the right and, you know, that's just -- I got some breaks like that over at Lytham, and like that one today. Like I've said, those were the breaks that in the year and a half before Lytham, it would have kicked left. Those things make a huge difference in a round of golf. It's not much ever thought about or written about, but the breaks are huge, and I got a good one there.

DAVID DUVAL: Easier now because of Lytham or because I've been playing for eight years?

DAVID DUVAL: I feel like I've always been a patient player, fairly patient. But I think I certainly have gotten better at that, becoming more patient. I think my approach is that I look at it as, you know, through a round of golf, I have 18 scores and through an event, I have 72, and there's going to be some 2s and 3s in there and might be a 6 here and there. You just keep thinking about -- for me, I just keep thinking that I have a lot of different scores that you have to add up when we are done, and that's why I think 2s can be so important. They don't add up very quickly. They can offset some other things.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I did. I think that would be fair to say. I was -- but it just goes along the same lines in what you asked me. It's just more confidence, as much as anything. You know, I sat there and told -- told everyone for four straight years at Augusta and for some other events that I knew I had it in me. I proved that over there, and I think that it makes it easier going out there and playing now, I think, a little bit, having done it, certainly. But I just feel good about my golf and I feel like I know how to win these golf tournaments, and I know what it takes. So I go and play and don't get ahead of myself. And I started out good today, but I might have started out poorly; but if I would have changed my approach, I would have just kept plodding.

DAVID DUVAL: No, it's not. It's not, no.

DAVID DUVAL: Prior to my fourth shot?

DAVID DUVAL: I hit the shot over there left of the green. Hit a nice shot, really, out of the right rough over this tree. I had a difficult first chip shot. Didn't hit a bad shot, but I just didn't hit it hard enough. It came up short. Had a shot then that was one of the shots you look at chipping in that I feel like I can make. After I hit it -- I certainly expected from there to make 5, at worst, and after I hit it, it looked like it was going to stay up high and it caught the lip, and it did a full 360, and then it kind of like -- I had never seen a golf ball do it. It came all the way around the hole, came out fully and then came back in. That was pretty cool. (Laughter.)

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I don't know if that's a completely accurate thing to say or ask, but I feel like it's helped me now. Like I said, I have a little more confidence. But certainly, when I am in that position, I will be there, and, hey, you know, I've done this, I know how to do this. I certainly can feed off of that, absolutely.

DAVID DUVAL: I'll try to stop. (Laughter.)

DAVID DUVAL: Well, like I said, what happens, you know, I guess some people might have expected somersaults and cartwheels on the last green and some people might have expected even less reaction, but you've got to sit back and look at it and realize that at that moment was the realization of 20-plus years of work. Everybody is going to react differently in that situation. It was just kind of was overwhelming to me, and the accomplishment I felt. I'm still very, very pleased with how I played over there, and that is probably some of the reason I seem so happy. You know, coming of an injury last year that sidelined me for so long, starting out the year not playing great and then injuring my hand, my wrist, having to fight through another one of those, you know, I can walk away from this year feeling like it was a great year, and all because of what happened that week.

DAVID DUVAL: (Laughs) I don't know. I don't know. I'm not his teacher. It looks -- it looks pretty good to me. You know, a couple -- maybe the ball is getting into the rough a couple more times than it did a year ago and we all know you can't play out of the rough in these events. You know, a couple of the putts might not be going in that have. It's just golf. You know, the guy is in a tough spot because he's not winning every week; he's getting crucified, and what's wrong. You know, it's just a game. It's just a game of golf. It's a very tough game to stay on top of for years and years at a time. I think most everybody goes through spurts and we certainly expect a lot of him. We expect his spurts of greatness to last longer than maybe other people's. But he's going to have down times, too. He'll fight back.

DAVID DUVAL: I feel like my ball-striking is getting back to that point. It is better now than it has been for the last couple years. We can speculate as to why, if it might have been my back hurting and fighting through my wrist. But I can probably say that I've gotten back to that point and it might be starting to get better than it was then, and some of that is probably just confidence and experience.

DAVID DUVAL: There was a guy with a bright red shirt and his cameraman was moving and dancing all around trying to get the camera setup exactly where I was aiming, about 20 feet right of the hole. And it just really stood out. He's fumbling with his stand -- that's what it was. If I was aiming at the flag, I wouldn't have even seen him, but I was aiming out right. That was right where I was going.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I don't know if we -- if the people undervalued what he accomplished, because a lot of great things were said and written. You know, a little bit of my feeling is that the biggest goal Tiger -- if it -- let's put it this way. If it was me, my biggest goal this year would have been to win the Masters and to get that fourth in a row and then you could argue whether it is a Grand Slam or not. I think that it takes a lot out of you, and I can now tell you from experience -- (laughter) -- it just beats you up; it really wears you out, and you've got to get away at times. I think that, you know, with such a spotlight that he's had, and then pulling off the win at Augusta, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I think he was not concerned with playing well the rest of the year, but I think that was really his biggest focus and it took a lot out of him. That's my guess.

DAVID DUVAL: He called me this morning. (Laughter.) It's 90 degrees out, 95 degrees. Just circumstance.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't exactly understand what you're asking me. Affect me how? When I see him at dinner or we're playing?

DAVID DUVAL: It doesn't make me play any differently, no. It doesn't motivate me in any way. I just continue to play my golf, and I think I'm like everybody. I expect him to play well.

DAVID DUVAL: I was in Ketchum, Idaho last year lying on the floor of my living room watching it. That's where I was, I guess, about the first week -- that was about the first week of about six weeks of that. Five weeks of lying on the floor. The only time I didn't do that was when I was sleeping or when I was doing rehab. So I watched all of the coverage. It's a lot more fun being here and playing. I just really was disappointed with what happened and getting hurt. Now I do feel like I'm pretty close to healthy. I'm a lot healthier than I've been in two years.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know, it's not something I think about. I just try to hit the ball.

DAVID DUVAL: I try to watch the club into the back of the ball, yeah.

DAVID DUVAL: Not completely. I think I do look up a little bit, just to clear out, just to get my head out of the way of my body.