THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 21, 2000

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it just seems too well. I don't know if it gets stronger each year. I don't know if it can. Always seems to be the best field we have, at least the deepest, certainly. I don't know. I guess you get asked every year about whether it is a major or not. You get the different answers, so we won't go there. It is just nice to play here at home and having gotten that bit of a monkey if you will, for to win at home removed, so, I am looking forward to some good things happening. I think my golf game is very good right now.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't think it becomes -- it doesn't come into play for a guy who wins the golf tournament. Sounds kind of crazy, but that is about the truth, because you don't hit it in there a whole lot if you win. It comes into play for everybody else. It is the thing I think this year that is different than in the past is that, I don't know why the reasons, but it is a lot more consistent. And just the height and the thickness of it everywhere throughout the golf course is a lot better than it has been in the past on a consistency basis. And so I think that is what is going to make it difficult. Even the places where it is only a few inches it really seems kind of nasty because it kind of sits at the bottom.

DAVID DUVAL: What do you mean, people I know? People I know, writers? Or people I know, friends?

DAVID DUVAL: No, I didn't get much -- I got -- not from friends. Certainly I had a couple of people say it is nice to -- more so, it was nice to have the David Duval back in the media room that we know, have grown to know. That is more the general kind of comment I got, but nothing from my friends. I hadn't even -- I hadn't even thought about that. That is a good point. Hadn't thought about it since.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know.

DAVID DUVAL: I know what the crystal is, I just don't know if I have used it or not.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, that helps. It certainly helps. I don't think it necessarily eliminates other players. I think it just makes the people who don't do that have to play that much better. The good thing here is that most of the greens are accessible running the ball up. I say most, not all. You know, a lot of the shots you can run the ball up to the greens and at least get it near it. But at the same time, I think you heard last year a lot of players who hit it long, straight, high, and stuff complained too. So -- we are all going to complain about something, so that is just our nature. I wouldn't worry about it. I think that week, I think it's a nice bonus if you can hit it high. But I don't believe Scott Gump hits the ball real long, and I seen him. Skip Kendall seems to play well each year here, and he is not a long hitter. I don't think it is a necessary thing to play well here.

DAVID DUVAL: No. I don't believe it has.

DAVID DUVAL: You mean, do I think it should be played in March? Or do --

DAVID DUVAL: No, it is -- it is a very important event. I find it -- I find it interesting that some of the players who have won here who have also won a major or multiple majors, have remarked that it is fun to -- obviously great to win the British Open, whatever, events. But it was also to win THE PLAYERS because that is the biggest event of the year. To hear that from people who have won the majors say that, I think gives a lot more credence saying something like that than I could, because I haven't won the majors. I can't -- I can't compare the two.

DAVID DUVAL: I am putting very well, thank you. Your follow-up?

DAVID DUVAL: Right.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I don't believe it is any different than the other events I try to play. Am I thinking ahead? Certainly, I am to an extent, but that will all change come Thursday, I won't be any longer. Same thing in Atlanta, I will probably be thinking ahead the following week, but once Thursday starts, it is down to business. So I just try to get focused each week and be ready to play as well as I can.

DAVID DUVAL: Frightening, isn't it?

DAVID DUVAL: I have enjoyed those days a lot. It is neat to see how those things are done and how many -- it never ceases to amaze me how many people are at these shoots, you know. I guess, in essence with AT&T, Paul Reiser and myself were there and a couple of the extras, like the caddies, and the lady who came up at the end. But, you know, there must have been a crew of 50 working on it. I mean, just -- it is amazing how many people work at those things and how long the days are. You just have to keep repeating things. It is a lot like practicing your golf game: Do it over and over again; keep hitting balls and keep doing takes, and -- but I have enjoyed them very much. It is kind of funny, you do -- seems like they run back-to-back a lot, even back-to-back-to-back. So it is pretty neat.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, I can't really say if I am or not recognized by people who don't know golf, because obviously most of times it's at events. Then when it is not, it is on out and about, and I obviously don't know if they are golf fans. But I think that the level has certainly increased. The level of recognition has increased some through those TV things. And combined with that, I think, that that might have kind of put my name over the top of a lot of people. Kind of it might have been on the tip of their tongues in the past, now they might know it because of those.

DAVID DUVAL: No, actually -- very similar. I added an event this year simply because I felt like I was playing good and wanted to continue to play. Played another event. So I went to Doral, which I didn't do last year. And I had a nice week there. And then these past couple weeks I have done basically the same thing as last year, just kind of getting ready. And then this week has come around and I have been scarce out here. So just kind of the same approach. I think that I will try to play a little bit tomorrow just to, you know, see what the course looks like as far as the moisture on it, because Wednesday is obviously the closest day to Thursday, so that is closest I can see. But I have played five or six rounds last week, so I don't need to be out here playing Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all day. So very similar approach.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, seems to me that the majority of people have enjoyed the Charles Schwab spot is the best - see a lot of heads shaking - I personally think that the one little part of the commercial -- don't know what it would be called. The first little bit of one of the AT&T's is kind of funny because I, as most of you all know, I don't understand the celebrity and the hoopla with it all. And I think I make fun of myself in it. I am like: I might get hounded out here by fans because I am David Duval. He is like: Oh, yeah. Like, I just think that is really funny, because that is what -- how I think of me. I am like: Whoa, big deal, David Duval. So I get a kick out of that the best, and -- but as I see them more often, I understand the Charles Schwab, the guy gets -- the businessman is, you know sitting up there all pompous. And I just got on him, too, basically the same way. They are all very funny, which it is nice to be a part of those.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I think that I was asked to do them. They wanted me to be part of them because they kind of knew me. I have had a relationship with AT&T in the past. With Charles Schwab, they know that similar kind of dry -- that way. And I can pull them off maybe, I guess. So, but I certainly listen to the instruction if they feel like they need to give it to me, because that is not my area of expertise by any means. But, hey, I am getting better. I am a card-carrying member of the SAG, right?

DAVID DUVAL: Man, that is a tough question. Consciously, have I made an effort? I don't know if I have or not. Subconsciously, probably. I just -- I just try to do my thing and try to be as cooperative as I can and as helpful. And I think I just -- I try to enjoy my time out here as best I can. And I think that I try to make it enjoyable for the people who are out here. I'm making more of an effort to try to be conscious of that? Yeah, I don't think as more so making -- trying to -- I don't think I am making a bigger conscious effort to present myself in a different way to anybody necessarily, but just -- man, I have talked for a couple of minutes, and I don't even know what I have said. (laughter). It is such a hard question. I don't feel like I have -- I guess I have and I haven't. I know it is a silly answer, but --

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I don't know if it was why a few things have happened in the past, and I don't know why -- I got a lot of coverage which was wonderful, if -- always good stuff. And then all of a sudden, some bad things were happening and then everything blew up at the Ryder Cup. Why those things -- why the cycles run like that, I don't know. I have I had a year -- I don't know, two years probably straight it seemed that, I mean, you couldn't pick up something and read something bad about me. And then that changed last half of last year it seemed for a while. And I don't know when exactly or where or why, but it just seemed to. That is okay too. I just -- do I feel like I have been -- I feel like I have been misrepresented at times. I don't necessarily think it is intentionally. I believe that I am not a good person to get soundbytes from and one-offs. So that has maybe hurt me. But that is okay. I don't hold grudges like that. I know that -- I am out here to do the best golf I can play -- play the best I can. And I know everybody else is out here, you are all out here to relay what has transpired to your readers as best you can, and try to get a feel of what is going on. You know, it is no -- it is all -- it is all the working relationship that is going to continue to change and grow and evolve. I think -- I don't have any -- I don't believe I have any bad blood anywhere. And I don't believe that there are necessarily people out to get me or anything like that. So, I think it is good. I don't believe that everybody in this room probably likes me, but that is -- you are not going to ever get in a room where everybody likes you, unless you have at your own birthday party. I mean --

DAVID DUVAL: But I think it is just an evolving relationship. I think that as everybody has gotten to know me and I have gotten to know everybody, it's gotten better.

DAVID DUVAL: I think we are presented a few holes, namely, the last three that are the ultimate test. I don't think necessarily for a golf course, 1 through 18, that I don't think that necessarily holds true here. I think that is probably a pretty accurate statement. Like I said earlier, the rough doesn't come into play for the guys who win, or finishing second, those guys are playing well and they are not in it much so the rough is not going to scare them. So that is -- but I always I knew what was going on last year on 17th tee and there wasn't a whole lot of wind and the shot I had into 16, my third shot and same thing off 18th tee, so that is probably pretty fair. I am trying to think of another golf course that might present a greater challenge with water. Off the top of my head, I can't, but I haven't gone through all of them.

DAVID DUVAL: No, it is not 100% accurate. I have met with a consultant simply to try -- I guess the first thing I should say is that I kind of went to the TOUR and said: I am -- I don't want something where, you know, you are not going to change my nature and I don't ever want to change my nature. I want to sit here and if I am asked a question, I want to answer the question, so I am not going to sit here -- sometimes also maybe to --

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, understand sometimes where the questions are coming from, maybe, and try to relay my point better than I have in the past and I think that is the gist of it.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't believe -- I think you got to think of a couple of things of -- first of all, it is kind of like when people are fortunate enough and they get to go play Augusta National, they meet somebody, they get to go up there and play well. The golf course they play when they are up there in January is not the golf course we play in April. It is the same thing out these doors. The golf course we are going to play this week is not at all what somebody is going to see if they come here and play in May or if they are playing back in February, you know, or November, whatever it might be. It is not the same. So I don't have an advantage necessarily because I live here and play this golf course a few times a year because I don't see it a whole lot more than in tournament condition than the other players do. The other -- Then with the outside things that are going on here, I believe now it is a big advantage being at home. And the reason I say that is because I have done it and I have won here at home. I think, if anything, until you have won at home, it can be a disadvantage because you might not have figured out how to balance things the best you can with requests of friends and tickets and all the local media you know and various other things. And having done that and having won, I think now I can -- I know that that is a good thing and I have figured out how to do it and I have done it before so I think it is an advantage to play at home and stay in my own bed.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, yeah, I guess I do. The purse the last year was the same as the other ones, as high as any other purse, I believe, right, last year was a $5 million purse? But they did our payout that they normally do on PGA TOUR events which is an 18 percent first prize of the total purse and they did a different payout on the World Golf Championships, I think, simply so that the first prize was a million dollars. But I do think that it is a good thing that they keep the purse high and I guess there is going to have to be a fair amount more than any other event if they are going to pay out on a different schedule and I think that the biggest event of the year and with the strongest field and the players, the tournament should be the biggest prize, yes.

DAVID DUVAL: No. I don't -- I don't believe it does because I guess you could make an argument that it doesn't and doesn't because I didn't have a good week at the British, but I played well at PGA too, so it doesn't bother me. I think that if there is one thing -- place that we as players can go, that nothing should bother us is on that golf course once we get inside those ropes. That is kind of our own little tube and world. I think that is one place where we can forget about everything else.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I don't -- I think the majority of it was that week. Well, obviously some of it was over at Carnoustie, and kind of in hindsight looking back, it is kind of funny because, you know, you can go get a transcript of my media conference there and then compare it with articles you have read and you just would not -- you wouldn't see any -- you'd think it was somebody else they were talking about. So maybe there a little bit. Maybe I got the spoiled American label for a while, I don't know exactly, you know, it was -- it just happened and that is -- it is okay. The thing that disappointed me the most about that over there was that they made it sound like -- people made it sound like I didn't like playing there which is just completely 180 degrees from the truth because I love playing over there, always have.

DAVID DUVAL: On that week, you mean?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I am certain there probably is. I don't -- I don't know exactly, though. I think that I -- that is a hard question to answer. I don't know. Based off of that week, I am absolutely positive there is something I can do different. What it was, I would like to have known that week. But can I -- maybe like with what happened at the week of the PGA, no, there is not a whole lot I can change about that week because I am not going to tell you something that I don't think. That is going to -- something like that if it came up again, the same type thing would probably happen.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know if "Strange" is the word. I don't understand necessarily why -- I think that is what might baffle me at times if that is not what people are looking for, then I really don't know what to give them. So I find that strange -- I don't know if I find that strange, or just to me it seems, you know, I guess, I thought when I am asked questions that the people want my opinions and my answers in an honest fashion so I try to do that and I guess that is not all the time what people want.

DAVID DUVAL: Right. Yeah, well, when you ask my opinion of things, I give it to you. I don't have a problem with people who differ with my opinion. That is what it is all about. But to be lambasted like a few of us have been for having a different opinion than the majority is kind of an - I find strange.

DAVID DUVAL: Not much of a rivalry right now, is there? (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, most certainly. I think maybe some of the things that happened through the British Open and the PGA, Ryder Cup, some other things when I was ranked ahead of Tiger and maybe, you know, me getting a better appreciation of what was going on with him at times and then him realizing that I kind of knew now what he went through a lot of times also. And I think our trip overseas last year was certainly a time that we enjoyed spending together and you know, I think that -- I think at the same time Tiger knows that I think he is a heck of a player and I appreciate his talents. I think he respects me for that, so, you know, other than that, I couldn't give you -- that is a few good ones, I guess, but I couldn't give you a whole lot more -- just like any other friendship that just evolves just like any of you all have friendships with other folks that just evolve.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, he certainly is, I would say one of my better friends I have. It is just getting stronger, really, the relationship.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I don't -- I guess I would say yes in the sense that if it wasn't me, someone else who would have won early on last year and taken over 1, that he would have responded to them in the same fashion, but I think that he wanted to be 1 again and he wanted -- he didn't like not being called the best player. So he did a lot of different things and I guess last summer sometime is when it all kind of fell together, he thought, and we all have seen what has happened since then.

DAVID DUVAL: I believe I am, you know, really -- I don't know how you quantify it but I think I am right there. I think it is a matter of -- there again seems crazy but it is a matter of my ball, you know, just a little bit of a kick here and a little there, maybe and that one last putt falling for me, that really kind of turns it around for the week and so everything else I think is right where I want it to be.

DAVID DUVAL: Thank you.

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