BUICK CLASSIC

June 10, 2000

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: I 3-putted the third green from about 40 feet behind the hole. Made about a 30-foot putt for birdie on 16. Just a short one down 18.

DAVID DUVAL: I hit 3-iron just over the green. Chip down to nothing.

DAVID DUVAL: I feel like I've played pretty well. We covered the golf course earlier in the week, and, you know, today it was a lot more difficult than the last couple days. But I feel like I did okay. I hung in there. I wasn't real, real, real sharp, but at the same time, I wasn't way off. Hit a few good shots coming down the stretch and very, very pleased.

DAVID DUVAL: I feel like I'm playing very well; so I'm looking forward to next week. I don't think you get yourself in position to win by playing poorly. I think everything is about where I would like for it to be, and just be a little more sharp tomorrow, and then next week, and some good things can happen.

DAVID DUVAL: I like it when it plays difficult, with precision and more patience, and I feel like I can be good at both those things.

DAVID DUVAL: I really don't know how it could have gone. It could have done a lot of different things, but what happened were conditions were a little difficult and golf course was firming up. And there's not a whole lot of sense about talking about what if it was soft because it was not.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it's a difficult day, and you probably saw a few scores of 2-, 3-, 4-under, and might not even seen one at 5(-under), I don't know. But, you know, very few really low scores, and even the few scores at 3- or 4-under. So it just shows that it's playing very hard. And I hung in there on a tough day and made two birdies and a bogey and made up three shots on the lead, you know, and I like that.

DAVID DUVAL: I would hope so, but, you know, I think that you should ask the people coming to the gate tomorrow whether they like that, not me.

DAVID DUVAL: Uh-huh.

DAVID DUVAL: I enjoy the game, you know.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know if I will or not. I think the weather is supposed to be similar tomorrow; so the golf course is going to be playing very difficult again, and so you kind of know that if you can piece together just a few birdies and a good day, you can win. I think you certainly need be aware at some point of what's going on around you. This course is such on the back nine where it's not like you can start firing at the flag on 11 or 12 or any of these holes. They are very, very difficult holes, and so, you know, 17th hole is a shorter hole you can birdie. 18th hole you can reach. But other than that, you have the 10th hole that you can birdie, but other than that, it seems like you have to hit some really, really good shots on all the others. And so I think you really need to pay attention to just playing well.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, they were getting there. I think the greens weren't as hard and probably not quite as fast, but they -- it's getting there. I imagine tomorrow will be a lot more like they had envisioned the course playing all week than the way it did the first couple of days.

DAVID DUVAL: Absolutely. I came here feeling like this is a golf course that fairways tend to be to be narrower, the rough is high, and the greens are probably like we'll see out there; they tend to be hard and fast. I think that's good preparation. A lot better preparation than I would have done in Florida because, you know, you don't have anything that can get close to that. And so I -- you know, I think that -- that's kind of why I came here and I also just like playing this golf course. It's a nice place.

DAVID DUVAL: I think that's a lot of reason. I think you can jump the gun a little bit and the temptation probably would have been very great to, you know, have been there already; having probably played a round of golf today out there. And that can -- really, you can kind of overdo it at some point. And, you know, certainly the fairways, everything can be harder and faster than what we might see it usually in February. But we know the golf course. And, you know, I think that the lines you take are still going to be kind of the lines you need to take, and so it just might not be -- where you hit the golf ball in AT&T is kind of where you're going to want to hit the golf ball in this event coming up. But the ball is going to do a lot of rolling to get there; it's not going to be fly and drive 270 yards and just plugs. You might be hitting a 2-iron to accomplish that and it's going to be running out.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it's always exciting when you enter an event and you have a chance to win, and to win you have to beat the name players in the field -- I shouldn't say the names, but the highest-ranked players in the field. You know that's kind of what you strive for, those kind of shootouts and those kind of battles. It seems like all of the guys are playing well, and that, you know, I'm sure the people here are happy about that, but at the same time, you know, it's kind of an exciting preview to the next week, as well, because you know there's going to be a lot of people going in there playing well.

DAVID DUVAL: I am excited about it. Those are my plans and intentions, playing great and to win the golf tournament. I think that come Thursday, I'll be ready to play, and, you know, I think that my golf is -- like I said, about where I'd like for it to be. And, you know, maybe sharpen up a few things, but I think it's all pretty good.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I think overall, I'd have to say it's better. Simply because I feel like I'm in a better -- I feel like I'm swinging the golf club better and I feel like I am -- I feel like I'm putting like I put again. You know, I feel like me again putting, kind of been the biggest thing.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. Like I said, I can -- you know I've put in the preparation, and I will do more so next week, and then if I go play -- beyond that, I'm not concerned. I feel like I have a great chance to win next week. Those are my intentions. That's what I intend to do, and beyond that, I'm not really -- the other stuff I could -- I don't care about.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I don't know. Winning tomorrow will have nothing to do with winning next week. If I don't win tomorrow, it doesn't mean I can't win next week.

DAVID DUVAL: I'll probably play two days. I'm probably going to play Tuesday and Wednesday is what I will do.

End of FastScripts….