SPRINT INTERNATIONAL

August 21, 1999

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: I am very pleased with how I played today. A bit of a slow start. I hit some good shots, but didn't make the putts. And then I -- although I made a lot of birdies in the last 11 holes, I made -- missed some that I thought I could have made too. So it was a good day.

DAVID DUVAL: Sure. I hit it in the front bunker on 3, I hit it out to about six feet, missed it. No. 8 I knocked a 3-iron on the green and 2-putted. I was about maybe 30 feet. The 10th hole, hit sand wedge to about 20 feet, maybe --

DAVID DUVAL: Where?

DAVID DUVAL: Hit 3-wood off the tee, and had about 112 yards left. Then 13, I hit a sand wedge again to about two feet. 15, hit sand wedge again to about six feet. 17, I hit a 6-iron left of the green; chipped up to about two feet. 18, I hit a sand wedge to about three feet.

DAVID DUVAL: Thank you.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: No. No.

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, I think it is good stuff. I do. I think it is great that everybody is looking for a rival for Tiger. If I am not included in that, that is fine. I won't lose any sleep.

DAVID DUVAL: August doldrums.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. What happens is, I prefer playing early and late. The hot weather puts me in a bad mood, so I don't play well. I don't practice in the summer. It is too hot. That is why, some of the reasons I was baffled why I never had played well here last three or four years. Although it is hot, it is not humid and you are not sweating. As the year goes on, I like the fall and I enjoy the crisp nights. Probably just really get in a better mood and get more excited about playing. I just don't particularly enjoy going out there and coming off a golf course and being soaked. It is easy to get kind of through the U.S. Open. And then it is really gets pretty hot everywhere. It starts to cool down here, so I have thought about it. I think last year I won at the World Series. That is in August. But it wasn't real, real hot that week. Other than that, I was trying to think of Top-10s I have even had in the summer. I think I finished 6th at Hartford last year or something. At the same time, I don't play as much either, so I am probably not in as good of a rhythm as I would be at the early season and late season.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I don't think so. We just went through the card and as you can hear, you know, the birdies I have made have been off my sand wedges. I mean, again, I birdied No. 8 and 17. Didn't birdie 1 and 14 again. So I guess maybe I am just -- I just hit my sand wedges better this year than I have in the past. I don't feel like I am approaching it any differently than I have. Certainly would like to birdie 1 though again.

DAVID DUVAL: How do you mean?

DAVID DUVAL: I don't really understand what you are asking me. I don't -- it is just how it is.

DAVID DUVAL: Right, I don't care, is --

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I would --

DAVID DUVAL: I am in Florida a little bit, but I will be more up in Idaho in the future summers.

DAVID DUVAL: I think -- what is the elevation here? About 5600.

DAVID DUVAL: It is pretty similar then. It is about the same. It is 6000, maybe a little more.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I do.

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, yeah. I love playing golf.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it is 80, 85 degrees, and there is no humidity, and it is beautiful out. It is fun being out there again. So I do, I tend to get up early. We usually leave the house, go fishing about 6:30 or so, and maybe come back and play golf in the afternoon. Stuff like that.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't really know if I talk a whole lot to them. I think so. You could ask David when he comes in here. I don't -- you know, you need to ask the people I play with. I think I talk a fair amount to them.

DAVID DUVAL: It is no different. It would be no different.

DAVID DUVAL: How, here?

DAVID DUVAL: I don't think so. I think, if anything, it probably hurts you, because you get out there and it is not a tournament, so you are messing around. You are just trying to see how far you can hit it.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, trying to hit it on 430-yard holes. So it probably doesn't do you any good.

DAVID DUVAL: Like the regular Tour events we play?

DAVID DUVAL: It would probably be somewhere from, for me, No. 8 to 12, 13. Somewhere in there. Maybe 7 to 12.

DAVID DUVAL: I think the course I most enjoy is Augusta under the tournament conditions. It is a lot different than if you went like in February or something. Then I enjoy Pebble Beach very much. I like playing in Phoenix. It is hard for me to tell you exactly the course, because I go to places where it is kind of an all-encompassing, where it is a good course. The people are good, the fans are great. You know, it is kind of the whole package. As far as that goes, this would be probably No. 1. (laughs). Tommy, inside the locker room -- they are really something else. I am trying to think. Maybe actually it is No. 4 to 7. I can't really name a whole lot of --

DAVID DUVAL: Let me have another drink of this Coke and it will be one.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. The eagle I don't make. It is pretty high.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I would personally prefer to do 5 and 5. It is less stressful. You just have to kind of talk to yourself a little bit like I did. I mean, through seven holes, I am minus a point for the day. And realize that, you know, you can make up a little bit of ground if you just make a few birdies. And it didn't seem like people were running away today, so I wasn't -- I didn't ever really panic. But I had the chances, a few good chances on the front. Missed a short putt on 1 and 2. That -- I would have been on the positives then, so... But I didn't really worry about it. I just was hoping to keep David Toms by the end of the day within shouting distance at least.

DAVID DUVAL: As far as just background and --

DAVID DUVAL: Seems like we have played a fair amount in the last few months. I enjoy it very much. He and his caddie are great guys. Ask him to tell you about the story with his driver. He was going to change drivers at Hartford. I think I expedited that process accidentally. He can finish the story, though.

DAVID DUVAL: Did you say major?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I don't -- I think you recognize it for what it is. And it is a good thing, because you should be nervous a little bit. And if you are not, you are not as close to the lead as you'd like. But I think, for me, I just consciously realize that whether I am ahead or behind, it is still the same game. It doesn't matter. I still have to hit the same shots, and you still have to hole putts. I think, like, the Players Championship, I was pretty nervous, because, I mean, that is a big event and I grew up there. I kind of told myself starting on the first hole, every hole is going to seem like 10 or 12, 3-, 4-, 5-footers. If you want to win you are going to have to make them all. I think that is a key part of winning is making those 4-, 5-foot putts.

DAVID DUVAL: What gives you that impression? (Laughter). I would -- my guess would be that his involvement and his participation in the Ryder Cup would maybe make it seem a bit less hostile, because there is kind of a big star that everybody involved with the game likes, whether you are a European or you are an American or something else. Maybe get rid of real mentality of us against them. I think we all appreciate Sergio for the talent that he is and what he is doing and what is going on and the excitement he brings. He certainly stands alone in that, I think. And that is a good thing for this game.