VERIZON BYRON NELSON CLASSIC

May 11, 2001

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: No great thoughts here. Just I played good. Continued like I did last week where I played really well, didn't get much out of my tournament last week, didn't score very well, but hit it as good as I have for four days in a long time and kind of continue to hit it solid here.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, sure. I mean it's nice not to play with a problem, but it's not like I was playing with a wrist problem before that. You know, there was just a lot of other hoopla going on, and just wasn't making any putts, and then I hit it really good at Augusta, played pretty well at Houston. I probably wasn't quite ready to play, though. And played beautiful last week. Really pleased with how I played last week. Actually probably hit the ball better last week than I have so far this week in general, but not like I haven't hit it really well this week either.

DAVID DUVAL: It doesn't seem like ya'll are writing about it right now and I don't think there is a story really, and to be perfectly honest with you, I don't know why it's happening myself. So it's just I think that's just how the process works. It's just slow and arduous and I don't know where it stands.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, it's something I kind of personally I've put behind me. I don't know if the other parties involved have. I don't think they have, obviously, but it's just, I guess it takes a while because it's the first time I've been involved in something like that. Takes a while to realize that there's really nothing you can do about it and you can't hope for some certain time frame or hoping it ends here. I mean it just has to play itself out and that's just what has taken me a little while to learn, and now that I have, it's not even something that -- I haven't even given it a thought for six, eight weeks. I haven't even thought about it.

DAVID DUVAL: Hitting it solid. Hitting the ball solid just about every time, and therefore, I can move the golf ball different ways, and that's really it. I mean just hitting it solid and being able to control the ball.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it's something I probably learned my first few years on Tour as much as anything. I've had several chances to win golf tournaments, not the Majors, but several chances to win other events, and it didn't work out, and some of them I walked away thinking I really blew it and some of them I walked away feeling I got robbed. And so I think as an individual you just learn that, you learn that it's part of the game and sometimes you're going to play very, very well and you're going to get beat and sometimes you're not going to play all that great and you can win golf tournaments. I think I've just kind of come to grips with that, you do the best you can.

DAVID DUVAL: I think I clearly got beat. There's certainly a couple of -- you know, there's not even so much things that I'd like to do over. I mean I didn't miss-hit a shot that day. I knew that I felt like I needed to play a perfect round of golf on Sunday, and the only thing I didn't do perfectly was pull out the right club every time, I guess, or a couple times maybe I hit it too solid on a couple shots. Sounds kind of stupid, but you know, it happens. Certainly you can reflect back and say, oh, you should have made those putts on 18 and 16, but you know, you don't talk about all the other eight birdie putts I made and bogey putts made on four, and I made a lot of putts that day, so I can't really gripe about missing a couple.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it does, whether you are conscious of it or not. You start trying to force the ball in closer to the hole, and maybe I would hit at flags I wouldn't normally hit at, I might play a little right of or left of. I think that's just a thing that happens because you have to shoot low scores and good scores.

DAVID DUVAL: Not really. I certainly want to start winning golf tournaments again, and I feel like I'm back in that position where I can. And so I'm not worried about trying to force it, if that makes any sense. I feel like I'm at the point where I can just go play again and start winning golf tournaments again.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, sure. I mean there's rarely been a day I've walked off a golf course feeling like I didn't leave some shots out there, and today I certainly feel like I left a couple out there, but who knows. I might not need to shoot two low scores this weekend. I might need to shoot par this weekend. It's depending on the wind and other factors. You just go play and do the best you can on the conditions.

DAVID DUVAL: Second. It wasn't that hard. It was over on the right it was matted down a little bit in the grass and just had to kind of get a low cut and hit a pretty good shot, after the people let me.

DAVID DUVAL: I had a couple of girls who were up there, you know how they line up, all the people, and they just kind of started backing and cowering and I was just like, you know, asked them if they were scared. They thought I was going to rattle it off the tree right in front of them. And then I had a guy start taking my picture as I was standing over it about to hit, just making jokes, I guess. And it just had to hit low cut and hit a pretty good shot. It just didn't quite cut, and I think, man, if it did, it had gone right up there next to the hole and I made a nice putt.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, not -- no, not really. I was talking to Joe while he was about to putt. I said, man, I hope he makes it. But I wasn't talking with Fred. I hadn't really paid attention to it, that much thing. I know he was doing well. He had missed a putt or two he probably could have made, but he'd made eight or nine birdies already.

DAVID DUVAL: I didn't. I didn't hear anything. I don't know if people were aware or not.

DAVID DUVAL: No. It's a separate beast. That's done and over with, man. That's a year, two years ago. I don't know. When did we play? Did we play together last year?

DAVID DUVAL: You make it sound like I played really bad that day. I think I shot 70.

DAVID DUVAL: I feel like -- I mean Sunday and Friday at Augusta I hit the ball really, really good and the other two days I hit it pretty good. For four days last week was kind of what I meant. I hit it better for four days last week than I did at Augusta. And you know, I've kind of got it to where I think I'm -- I'm kind of hitting it -- I'm striking the ball a lot like I was those two days at Augusta every day now. I feel like I'm starting to swing real well consistently.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I don't know. Those were -- I missed a couple of those like that today, just pulled out of it a little quick probably. Sort of what I did on 18. 18 a lot worse than I did on three actually. You know, I just -- that's one club I didn't hit great. I didn't today. I hit it pretty good, though.

DAVID DUVAL: I've had times when I didn't know where I was going to go. I don't know if it was so much this year. I remember standing on the range at Bay Hill back in '96 or something not knowing where I was going to hit with a 9-iron, but you know, I don't know if that's the case this year, and yeah, I'm more excited about the way I am playing now than I have been for quite some time, and I'm not like in a hurry to go play, if that's what you -- I don't know. I mean sure I look forward to it.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, probably. Probably a little bit, but I'm trying to kind of temper it a little bit and just kind of take it easy because I was playing last week, I'm playing this week and I'm playing next week. I don't want to get too much, don't want to go hit balls all afternoon and get going too much.

DAVID DUVAL: Why didn't I what?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I like the folks in Houston and I've played there in the past, and I've won that golf tournament in the past. New Orleans, you know, Rick George and Jay Little and those guys just do such a tremendous job, you know, I think they probably do as good a job as anybody all year at a tournament. You know, this week's a great week and next week's a lot of fun, too, and I normally play up in Ohio, but I'm not going to be able to this year because of a friend's wedding, so that's kind of how I got to my schedule.

DAVID DUVAL: I had 156 to the front and I think the pin's on 28, so...

DAVID DUVAL: Four.

DAVID DUVAL: Out of the trees?

DAVID DUVAL: Four.

DAVID DUVAL: No. They were about -- you know, it was like -- it was a lot of people lined up and they were about 15 steps up, and --.

DAVID DUVAL: No, it was not even close. I'm going left or well left. I have to shank it to have hit it where they were. I've shanked it before, but I felt pretty good I wasn't going to in that instance.