BUICK CLASSIC

June 7, 2000

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: I like playing here and that's why I'm back. I've always enjoyed the golf course. The people have always been great to me. I think they put on great tournaments, and I think it works out well heading to the U.S. Open.

DAVID DUVAL: I think so, because what happens is you've got fairly narrow fairways here, with high rough, and to succeed here, as in the U.S. Open, you obviously need to play in the fairway, and, you know, maybe a week of seeing that type of fairways; and knowing that it's high rough, very penal if you miss, might get you a little freer, if you understand that. You get kind of comfortable seeing it, to kind of free it up a little bit.

DAVID DUVAL: It will be completely different. We all know that.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know what to expect, either. I expect it to be hard and fast, you know, and dry. Anything else would be a surprise, really. I think we all have been around the U.S. Open enough. I don't see why everybody keeps asking each year, "What it's going to be like?" We all know what it's going to be like. Let's talk about something else. The U.S. Open tries for high rough and fast greens and fairways that are very hard. I've yet to play in one that didn't have that.

DAVID DUVAL: At this event?

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I don't exactly recall. I think I had a good day on the last day to finish up in the Top-10 somewhere, maybe, but I don't recall exactly what happened the first couple rounds. You know, I don't know why that happened. Obviously, I would have liked to have started out better. But, you know any time you perform well enough to get somewhere around that Top-10, I think what it signals is you're pretty close to playing very well, and I think I've been hovering around that spot here for a couple years now, somewhere around 6th to 12th, it seems. I played the course pretty well. I just need to get a few better things going my way.

DAVID DUVAL: The rough was pretty bad. I hit in it on a couple holes, and it's pretty high. It might be -- it's very high, actually. The course isn't too wet. There's some spots obviously that are extremely wet. The greens were a lot dryer than I expected. So I think everything will be fine come tomorrow.

DAVID DUVAL: Sometimes. I'm playing before most of them, I don't know. I played before Augusta this year. I don't recall if I played before the U.S. Open last year or not.

DAVID DUVAL: Not necessarily. I think it just depends on maybe how you feel like you should head into the event that year.

DAVID DUVAL: That's old news. Heard that a year and a half ago.

DAVID DUVAL: I feel great. I'm looking forward to it very much. I think I have an excellent chance.

DAVID DUVAL: I had not thought about that. I couldn't answer it. I'd have to think about it. I don't foresee that becoming the case. Why do you ask that?

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, but Phoenix is pretty notorious -- I was going to say, name a couple more, just for me. What, Hartford? I don't think that's anything like Phoenix has been. Is there others that come to mind?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, that's unfortunate. I don't foresee that being the case, because it's not -- you know, the illustration that you're kind of drawing is not, I don't think, prevalent on TOUR. There's a couple of events where people are very into the party and the social scene of the golf tournament. You know, that's -- that's not a bad thing, necessarily. But that could be -- yeah, certainly could hurt their fields in the future, but I don't think that's something that's going to -- that doesn't happen here. It doesn't happen at PLAYERS or Augusta. It doesn't happen at -- I don't know how many tournaments we play, but the 46 or the 48 tournaments -- and I don't have recall Hartford being particularly bad. I think they enjoy when you hit at the green at 15 and go at you if you don't a little bit. It's just that whole little setup through the horseshoe there; and 18, everybody is having a great time up on the hill. But as I've said, if you're really paying attention to what you're doing and into -- your concentration is where it should be, you don't hear that stuff.

DAVID DUVAL: I like playing there like most everybody does. I don't think you encounter too many people that don't like it there. It's a spectacular setting. You know, obviously there's a lot of history involved and I feel like I've performed well on that golf course in the past. At one point I -- I don't know if I still do, but at one point I had part of the course record. Like I said, I'm looking forward to it very, very much.

DAVID DUVAL: I shot 62 there a couple years ago. I dare say that it hasn't been broken, but I don't know. It may have been. I think Tom Kite shot 62 there also.

DAVID DUVAL: Mm-hmm.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I believe my failings this year have been just that I haven't made as many putts as I have in the past few years. I kind of think that's behind me, if you will. You know, beyond that, of all the other aspects of my game have been pretty good this year, really. Very good. So with that said, obviously, I just want to make some more putts. I think I need to get better control of the speed, my speed, and I think that will all happen.

DAVID DUVAL: Just not going in. It doesn't matter why.

DAVID DUVAL: No, it's not a mechanical problem. It's a speed issue, I think. I think I'm paying a little bit more attention to that now.

DAVID DUVAL: I would imagine very, but I can't speculate to what degree because I'm not there yet.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I'm not playing here this week because it will hurt my chances next week. I think it will help me. And a guy who has chosen not to come here thinks he's better off not playing the week before; so, it's a very personal thing. I don't know what it does to the tournaments in between the majors, all that. But, you know, I think every week, unfortunately, you're not going to have all the players you want playing. You're not going to have every big name playing. But I think the way the TOUR has gone and the caliber of the competition, you need to embrace the fields that you get. They are usually pretty excellent. But I just feel for me that -- this year I played before Augusta, I think because it can be very easy to get to Augusta early and play a lot of practice days and such, and really just kind of tire yourself out. And I think the same thing can happen at Pebble Beach this year. Besides, I've played at Pebble a lot of times. I know the golf course. I know what it's going to be like. And then I don't know if I'm going to be playing the week before the British Open or not. If I do, it will be -- it won't be here; it will be across the ocean. And the week before the PGA, I'm not sure yet either. I may very well be playing. To be honest, I haven't looked at the schedule to see where it goes beyond next week.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, in a sense. I have tried to make sure that my -- obviously, my golf is very good, and peaking. I try to make sure that -- I feel like my health and strength and endurance is, you know, kind of starting to peak there. You know, basically just the same type of approach. I haven't played as much headed to the U.S. Open. Unfortunately, both of the weeks I was planning on playing I was sick; so, I had to go home. I think that the way I set up my schedule this year so far has been very good and gave me a very good chance to win at Augusta, and I think the same thing will occur next week. But, you know, I really am looking forward to some great things happening this week, too. You can talk a lot about next week, but I think I can win this golf tournament this week. I think I'm ready to start doing those things again. I think my game is there again. So, I'm really looking forward to playing tomorrow.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I wouldn't trade what I did at the beginning of the year. I wouldn't want to do it over, because I think I did the right thing. However, it's kind of -- you talk about players figuring their schedules, what they think is most beneficial to them, playing the great weeks during the majors and such, it's the same thing where I feel like I'm figuring that stuff out, but you -- I should say I, personally, need to get better. If I'm going to do those type of things, get better at -- don't take it the wrong way, please. I wasn't in there not playing well, not even wanting to be there, those type of things, but maybe the intensity wasn't -- I don't even know how to explain the problem. I probably wasn't quite as focused as I needed to be is the best way to put it. You know, I think that I played some very good golf, actually, though, at some of those events. Unfortunately for me, I didn't win any of them. But, that's part of -- part of our duties I think out here in playing. That's kind of the responsibility I have. If I'm going to come up to Westchester and play, I need to be ready to play well here. The people here are going to come out and watch us play golf. They are not here to watch me prepare for next week; they are here to watch me play great golf this week. That's what I'm focusing on better now.

DAVID DUVAL: Not really. Because I do know how difficult it can be to win out here. You know, I would probably be sitting here and trying to help y'all have me figure things out I, you know, had not had the year I've had. It's not like I've, you know, failed by any stretch this year. I haven't won, certainly. I think we all know that. But, you know, I think I finished -- I played 12 events including a preseason event, the Williams, and I finished in the Top-5 six out of 12 times. You know, that's okay. So that means -- what that means is I'm getting right there often, but I just haven't been able to finish it off yet. I feel like a couple of the events that -- had I played a couple more putts I think I could have won. But that's all behind me now and I'm focussing on playing great again this week.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I don't know. I don't think so. I believe everybody's swings, they evolve and change a little bit and they tweak on you and do this and that. I felt like in the long run what I was doing was beneficial. I think if you look statistically at whatever categories are, those stats we have, the ball-striking type stats, they reflect that I've played well. But I haven't particularly scored well, as well as I would expect to do, and I think that it comes down to making putts. As much as you people want to say, you know, like this week you have to -- it's a ball-striker's golf course or next week, I mean, every week somebody wins a golf tournament; they have hit the ball pretty well. But you don't ever win a golf tournament if you don't play great. There's no two ways about it. You have to make a lot of putts to win. I haven't done that yet this year.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you put a lot of effort into it obviously. It's not just -- I mean, certainly a lot of it is during the actual week of the event, and you expect a lot -- I'm expecting a lot again of myself next week. I'm ready to do some great things for next week, and I think that, you know, when it's over, I'll certainly be spent a little bit from it and need to take a step back for a week or two and then go from there.

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