WGC ANDERSEN CONSULTING MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 23, 2000

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: We didn't have to play a whole lot of holes in this rain, I'm glad. Surprisingly, the weather was pretty nice for most of the day. And around 12:00 it started raining. I felt like I played reasonably well. I gave away a couple of little putts I missed, and I'm not so sure -- I think that's really just because of the softness of the greens. It just bounced off. I'm sure a lot of peoples' putts have. Other than that, a pretty good day. And I don't think my opponent played his best. I wish he could have played a little better. I think he would have liked to. And certainly I would liked to have played better. But I won, and that's what I was trying to do.

DAVID DUVAL: That's the whole deal. You're not going to -- on a day like that, when your opponent -- you're not going to play down to their level and make it a tight match. You want to go and get out of the rain or whatever it is. It's too bad that you travel so far and come and don't play your best. But --.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, yeah, in a selfish way, certainly. I'm glad I played okay and I played well enough to win. And that's really the aim in this game, this ballgame, is to play well enough to win.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, like I said, I feel like a putted pretty well. I missed a couple of little ones. Seriously, they bounced. They did. I don't think you believe me. But I putted well, then I made a nice putt on the last hole. And I made a good birdie putt on round 7. A couple of nice little ones in between, 8, 9, 10, somewhere through that stretch. So I'm not complaining. I feel like I'm setting up well, I feel like I'm rolling it well, and I feel like I've turned around. The first several weeks of the year I don't feel like I putted well. I feel like I'm putting it well, which is kind of what I want to do.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I'm looking forward to Florida, yeah. I love playing out here, but this is -- looking back, this has got to be the worst the weather has been since I've played on Tour. It's too bad, because every place we play is so pretty, and golf courses are good. But then all of a sudden we're playing and it's slop fields. There's just nothing you can do. Surprisingly this golf course is pretty dry, considering everything it's gotten and the beating it's taken. And we have to play it up, but you're not playing it out of standing water. It might be soon, I guess, if this keeps up. But it's a shame that it's happened. But hopefully next year it's real nice everywhere.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I don't believe I needed to talk myself into it. I think what happened is I came in here last year kind of thinking of the negatives as opposed to the positive aspects of it. Where like today I didn't play my best and I won. Hey, that's a great deal about this game. When I was out there today playing, it's blowing hard and it's threatening to rain, and I kind of thought one of the neat deals about this format is I don't have to worry about how anybody is playing except my opponent. And if somebody is going 6- or 7-under, hey, good for them. But I'm not going to be 6 or 7 behind. So that was pretty cool. But I think that I was so far removed from match play, I think in '92 was the last time I'd really played as an amateur a lot of it. Certainly I played a couple in The Presidents Cup. But that was more of a team-format type thing. And like I said earlier in the week, I think the Ryder Cup just kind of made me remember how much fun it can be and how exciting the format can be.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I think there is a bit of that relief after the first round. The big story last year, and everybody was curious this year, is if everybody in the top seeds were going to leave early, like they seemed to last year. And so it's nice to play and get by. And I get to play tomorrow. I just hope that it doesn't rain.

DAVID DUVAL: At this point, I want to make more putts. Sound familiar? That's about all. I believe a couple of things have happened this year that have prevented me from scoring the best I can each day, and that's at the end of this past year. And then getting ready for this year, I wasn't swinging well. I wasn't playing particularly well. I had to practice in the off season, and hit a lot of balls. I don't normally do that. I usually practice a lot of short game stuff. I didn't do that as much, even half as much as I normally like. I believe my wedge game has been pretty poor for me and let me down. I believe my putting has been pretty poor. I believe that's the big difference between -- as far as results go, from last year to this year. I think that I had to spend a lot of time hitting full shots, 6 irons and 5-irons and stuff just to get swinging better, headed into this year. And I had to neglect some other aspects that I don't normally. And I think that now it's improving. It's not as consistently great as it usually is, but it's improving. And I look after heading into TPC, I'll have a lot of time to really spend some quality work in those areas, and I think I'll be back to a hundred percent full speed then.

DAVID DUVAL: I was up after the second hole and then I missed a little putt on the third. And then actually he was 1-up after 6. And then I turned 1-up, I won the 7th and 9th and then I won 10 and 11 and 12 to go 4-up. And then actually I lost a hole, the 13th, I think.

DAVID DUVAL: 7 I hit -- I made a birdie, a two.

DAVID DUVAL: I hit a 6-iron on the green about 18 feet, maybe.

DAVID DUVAL: No. 9 I made a par.

DAVID DUVAL: He was well right out and two and chipped short and then chipped short again about ten feet. The 10th hole he hit over the green and I 2-putted from 20 feet. 11 he 3-putted the hole, actually, and I chipped up on there close. 12th hole I birdied. That put me 4-up. The 13th hole he made a par and I conceded the hole. I was making a number, 5 or 6. And then 14 I made par and won the hole. 15 I made par and he missed his birdie putt.

DAVID DUVAL: Four feet, maybe.

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