MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP AT KINGSMILL

October 6, 2000

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it is exciting obviously to play like that. Although I don't feel like I played my best today, I did a very, very good job of capitalizing when I did hit some good shots, so all and all very successful.

DAVID DUVAL: It is a little bit slower, I think. I guess seems like it is mushier on the ground. Other than that, it is very -- the greens seem to be about the same. Might be a touch slower. But they are starting to get the firmest that they tend to have. Everything is pretty close. Seems like there has been some moisture on the ground.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I was not surprised to come back or be thinking so well to kind of handle myself well out there. I wasn't so sure that I expected to be as sharp with the golf success as last week. I thought that certainly this week I could come in off of a week and be pretty good. But I didn't expect to be quite that sharp, but I think that just goes to show how being really fresh upstairs can really lead to good things.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I can't answer yes, I can't answer no to that really. Certainly I expected probably to play better the second week than the first week. But I really try to make a point of not going to any golf tournament as a warm-up. I don't think it does -- I think it does a disservice to the people that put on a tournament and the people who come out to watch. If you are not all there into it, I really don't think you should be there. So I really feel like I was ready to play physically last week but I can't say that I expected to be so sharp.

DAVID DUVAL: I think I played noticeably better today. Yesterday I think what happened yesterday I was started on the 10th hole, hit a real nice drive and I got in between clubs, tried to hit less club and swing hard. Hit a bad shot next hole, same thing, in between, hit it hard, hit a bad shot. I think it just wrecked my rhythm for most of the day, those first couple of holes. Today my rhythm was a lot better. You can see I got the ball a lot closer. As much as I tried yesterday I couldn't quite get it back really just hit it 20, 30 feet all day so didn't have a whole lot of chances.

DAVID DUVAL: The thing that has been the hardest for me last week and this week is just getting comfortable and back into my routines as I play - you pre shot, and being really, really focused on those things. I have backed off a lot of golf shots in the six rounds that I have played competitively since I came back. I think that is just not from being as sharp and not having that -- not having that rhythm as well as I would normally.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, everything last week and this week is certainly different. I don't believe right now I have quite the golf endurance, if you will, that I would have normally have and so I have had to scale back on everything. Like when I am done, I am really not hitting balls; I am not really working out the days I play. I just don't quite have all that energy back yet. Also, some of it is just not wanting to overtax myself and be a little cautious.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, no, I don't think so. I think yesterday it was -- I bogeyed the first two holes and like I said, they were just bad shots just trying to hit it hard. Then I 3-putted from the fringe from about 50 feet on 13. I didn't make a bogey after that. Then the one bogey I made on the back nine today was not so much -- it wasn't a misread of the line but it was a misread of the speed. I expected the putt to be substantially faster than it was. I left it six feet short. Then I made a bogey over on 6. I think that was the only two bogeys I made. That was really just a product of kind of a bit of a bad kick. I hit a shot that was a little left off the tee, slightly left to where I wanted, if -- it kind of caught this one branch on this pine tree, dropped underneath it, so I was restricted, had to be cautious there. If it missed that, it might still have stayed in the rough but I would have had a clear swing at least. Had to kind of manufacture a bit of a shot.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it is great. I mean, he is recuperating and trying to get ready for next year and I am glad he made the trip.

DAVID DUVAL: First hole, I hit a sand wedge to about a foot. 3rd hole hit 7-iron on the green in two. 2-putted. No. 4 I hit 7-iron to about 15 feet. No. 5 I hit 6-iron about six feet. 6, bogey we kind of covered. The 10th hole I hit pitching wedge to about 20 feet. The 13 I 3-putted. 14 I hit just hit it off the fringe and chipped in with a 9-iron just -- I was only about 15 feet from the hole. And then 15 I hit it just over the green within two and chipped down to four feet. The last hole I hit a sand wedge to about ten feet, No. 18.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, the golf obviously was difficult not to play, especially you know, watching the PGA and watching the World Series. I planned on taking off a substantial chunk of time anyways after that, so after those two weeks passed, it was tough to -- it was still tough not to -- to know that I couldn't even hit balls but at the same time I couldn't do anything else outside. I was flat on my back, basically. I was working hard with rehab and such, so after those two weeks passed it was probably more difficult knowing I couldn't go fishing or running or anything like that.

DAVID DUVAL: A little bit. Couple of days a week.

DAVID DUVAL: I really don't think that is important, so...

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I guess my philosophy on that is that the more fit and stronger you can become and the more better an athlete you can become, I think it translates into being a better player and I think certainly beneficial for longevity and even though I just came off an injury, surprising for prevention of injury.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't think so. As long as you are dilligent with the stretching and really paying attention to that -- we hit golf balls so often; we are playing so much that it -- you tend to swing it out anyways that day or the next day.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, you know, we felt like we should -- well, I shouldn't say we. I felt like we should part ways for a while at the beginning of this year. We just weren't communicating particularly well, and so you know, then after I decided to make a change, I thought that he was, you know, I believe he is very, very excellent at what he does and he is probably the most well prepared caddie out here in my opinion. So I just thought it was the right thing to do, I was looking forward to kind of getting back.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, basically.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: Like the leaderboard or something?

DAVID DUVAL: For me it doesn't change anything. I will just continue to go play. Because I have had success on this golf course and I feel like if I am playing well I know how to play the golf course the best way for me to score. And you know, I just need to do those things regardless of who is ahead of me or how far they are ahead of me. Certain places you can't get aggressive and certain places you need to out here for me, so doesn't alter my approach.

DAVID DUVAL: I mean, yeah, I don't really want to -- that occurred eight months ago, nine months ago, and you know, I felt like it was time to make a change for a while as much as anything. I didn't hire Greg under the pretense that it was a part-time deal and that there wasn't -- that I was going to going to move on at some point, but that is just how it worked out, so.....

DAVID DUVAL: Thank you.

End of FastScripts….