BUICK CLASSIC

June 23, 1999

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Nice touch in a tent. Sharpens it up, the chandeliers.

DAVID DUVAL: Nothing different than I expected. It is always -- I haven't played here every year that I have been on Tour but I have played most of the time and it is always some rough. Although it doesn't seem as much as there has been in the past. And everything else about the golf course is always good. It is always in good shape and it is the same thing, razor hard and fast already. Going to get the same type scores I always do.

DAVID DUVAL: I probably could have stood to put one on my thumb, put this one late in the round. But they are all right.

DAVID DUVAL: Not at all.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know how you compare them. It was a lot closer than The Masters than it was at the end of the Open. I was close there for a while, but you know, I can't explain why I shot 75 on Sunday. Saturday it was because I had hit some bad shots, that is what cost me. Sunday I didn't really hit them as poorly as some of the shots I did on Saturday and I shot 75. That is what I don't know why. That is Pinehurst.

DAVID DUVAL: Similar feeling, but not quite as bad and as much -- left a little more bewildered by what had happened. I didn't -- there wasn't a straight explanation as to why like I said, I shot 75, I don't know. I felt like I played okay, but only way I could say it was -- I told -- I told several writers since the last couple of days that they have asked I said, if you played really well at Pinehurst you could shoot even par, 1-, 2-, maybe 3-under par. If you played good, you shoot anywhere from 2- to 6-over if you played good. If you weren't quite at your sharpest and if you didn't play good you are going to shoot high 70s into the 80s. That is the only way I could explain why I shot 75 because I did play okay. I really did.

DAVID DUVAL: That put a real dent in the efforts, yeah. That was -- I shouldn't have hit it there. At the same time you don't usually expect it to have been buried under the lip. It wasn't right under it, but it was a funny stance into it and it was down pretty good. I had no shot. I mean, I didn't really expect to get the first one out. And I still felt like I could do it after I was 4-over for the tournament getting posted, even I felt like I would be okay, but come 13 is when I knew I wasn't going to win, bogeyed 13. I think I went five or six for the event. I think I went to 6 and I was out of holes. I had five to play and best I could post was 1-over and I didn't think that would be enough.

DAVID DUVAL: What did you say?

DAVID DUVAL: Yes. I think so. But it depends on what you want to call a good shot. A good shot at Pinehurst was knocking it onto the green. It wasn't knocking it three feet. So it was -- if you hit the ball like you should at the proper spot you could knock it on the green. If you didn't do that, you'd miss. I don't have a problem with that. I think that is fair.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

Last week got nothing to do with this week. You don't typically see 15-, 16-, 18-under here anyway, so.....

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know -- I am beyond it already. It is not like that putt Payne made on the last hole kept me out of the playoff. Might take Phil a little while to get over it, kind of like what happened with me at Augusta a few years ago, but what you take out of it -- you know, I think you will learn as a player, what you have taken out of it when you have more opportunities -- I know it, is kind of a vague answer, but when you are presented with some similar situations you might have a little different thought processes. But at the same time I have played -- last year at Olympic although I wasn't quite on, I think I finished about the same spot I finished at Pinehurst. I left there thinking this is a good type of tournament for me and Pinehurst reaffirmed that for me.

DAVID DUVAL: I hope I have it every year. (laughs) I don't know what -- you know -- my expectations, as I have said in the past, don't necessarily involve winning golf tournaments. I think believe I can and if I play well enough, I think I will. But I expect of myself to be prepared and to be ready to play when I tee it up and to play well. I can't control anything beyond that. So those are kind of my expectations. The start I had was, you know, if it wasn't a perfect start, it was awfully close.

DAVID DUVAL: I was.

DAVID DUVAL: I did.

DAVID DUVAL: It went okay. We had a lot of fun.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, just a few, but I stopped counting after seven, so.... (laughter) no, I don't think -- figured if I hit one right down that left field line, I might be able to hit one out of there. But I smacked a couple pretty good, I thought, and they were more towards left center and they -- I two-hopped one into the fence but most of them they weren't flying out of the grass. You see some of the real people get up there and hit these line drives that are flying over the seats. It was real -- a lot of fun and it was neat to hit it because it is kind of like a golf shot; when you hit it and you hit it property you knew you had hit it on the sweet spot. When you didn't, you know, we were -- I was talking with Bob Tway. Everybody has a few aches and pains from it. Wasn't something we could pass up.

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, yeah, most all of them.

DAVID DUVAL: Not really. Not everybody was out yet. We did it before all the players started to come out and do it. There was maybe ten of them out and Skipper was out and he was a lot of fun. He was really into it. A lot -- everybody was into it. It just made it more fun for all of us.

DAVID DUVAL: I do very much, actually. I think what you said is right that it is a mutual admiration. They were asking a lot about the Open and I was telling them I said it is like trying to stop a 6-iron right there on the pitcher's mound, I said that is what we were doing last week. There was a lot of questions about that. We signed a lot of autographs. I mean, I wish I could have, but I would have gotten a lot, but I would have needed a duffle bag, you know, for all the baseballs to carry out of there. But I didn't have one. So I refrained.

DAVID DUVAL: Bob Tway, Mark Colbert, Doug Martin. The four of us hit.

DAVID DUVAL: Apparently Doug got a ground-rule double. I didn't see that one, but other people did. I am not questioning it. Yeah, I didn't see that hit. So I think that was the best one.

DAVID DUVAL: Hub was, you know, he was pulling them down that right field. He comes in southpaw and, you know, Mickey (phonetic) was out there and he was having a good time.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I quit after like the little league senior league. They had a little league to 12 and senior league like 13, 14. I played little bit as 13-year-old but I didn't play as a 14-year-old.

DAVID DUVAL: Third base.

DAVID DUVAL: You are asking me a tough question. It was not one of my foremost goals. I say that maybe because seemingly even after last year I was going to be -- I had enough points, you know, so it wasn't as an afterthought this year. I don't know if I actually, if you look back, I don't know how many I had, if I actually would have had enough but I haven't even thought about it this year. Yes, I am looking forward to it and experiencing it, but. You talk with the people involved, the players, and it is a tough week. It is like the U.S. Open. I mean, there is a lot of pressure. There is little sleep because all the functions and different things and so there is some stuff that I am not particularly looking forward to as well with it. We can talk for a long time obviously about the Ryder Cup and what we all think about it, so...

DAVID DUVAL: I don't really anticipate it being a big problem. I just don't -- I don't think I am going to be really nerve-wracked. I don't think I will be like that. I think because I view it a little differently is why.

DAVID DUVAL: They very probably will have helped, yes, just being involved with the teams and being a part of the one-on-one type competition. I am sure it will be beneficial.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it can be very hard and I actually -- I wanted to come and play here because I do like it. But I didn't really expect to be as eager to play as I am. I thought I would be a little more worn out. I seemed to have gotten past that pretty quick. You almost -- after a week like that, you almost face a bit of burnout from it because it is such a grind but I don't have any of that. I am a lot more ready than I thought I would have been.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I mean, the obvious, but other than that what are you -- I mean -- I don't know. I think I made one 35-footer last week, you just never make them anyway, so I like when they shoot them from half court at basketball game, oh, we are really going out on a limb. (laughs)

DAVID DUVAL: I am not going to go fully into it, no. We don't have time for that.

DAVID DUVAL: I view it more as an exhibition. I think that was the intended nature when it was started and I think it has gotten a little bigger and a little more influenced by other things than golf.

DAVID DUVAL: None. I don't think there is any.

DAVID DUVAL: You hear a lot of stuff obviously. The best one I remember this year was some lady in Houston asked me while we were playing -- this was the tournament -- I am walking by, so I am in the ropes coming off the tee, was yelling at me to sign her autograph and I didn't and she yells it loud enough to make sure I can hear it, "Doesn't matter, he has put on a lot of weight anyways." I say, damn, I didn't know I had. Wearing the same clothes I was a while ago. So....

DAVID DUVAL: Hey, you know. (laughs)

DAVID DUVAL: No more hungrier than I was at Augusta or at the U.S. Open. I am looking forward to it. I think Carnousti is a type of course that can have an effect on Pinehurst did where it seems like a lot of the top players are going to be at the top late in the event because it is going to demand obviously very, very good play. I think I said last week, earlier last week or earlier this week, that if the weather conditions are like they can be, you know, it might make Pinehurst look easy, you know, because those fairways are going to be -- they tend to be narrower than Pinehurst's were. You got this grass that is seven feet tall everywhere and wind and rain and, you know, it could really be very, very difficult. If it is blowing 30 everyday, you can see an 8, 10-over type score, I think.

DAVID DUVAL: I played the 95 Scottish there and I seem to remember it was pretty tranquil and Wayne really won I think at 6-under or something.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: Better not put his hands around my throat. (laughs). Don't get what I am saying -- don't take it the wrong way. I am not saying I am not going to have fun and I am not going to be out there ready to play and win. I am like any competitor, but I don't see it as the end-all, be-all thing in golf, that a lot of other people seem to view it as. I am not going to be out there playing, you know, half-assed -- excuse me -- but, you know, not trying. But I am going -- I will be ready to go, don't get me wrong. But I am not going to be sleeping -- I am not going to be bedridden for a month if we get beat. It is not going to destroy me or something. I have every intention of giving my best. I think that is part of the responsibilities of being on the team, is to be ready to play; be prepared and then try your hardest. So please don't take what I say the wrong way. But I just don't think it is this, you know, I have heard some European players remark state that it is the biggest event in golf to them. I just don't -- I just don't see that it way. If I had to choose between a US Open and a Ryder Cup, I mean there is not much of a choice for me.

DAVID DUVAL: I think you will have that maybe mentality for a couple of days, you know, through today, maybe even tomorrow, it might creep into tomorrow. As it starts getting closer to the end, it is going to -- everybody there will be ready. It is going to. There is a lot on the line again. They are not just going to be happy-go-lucky out there and just messing around.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, more so -- obviously not -- I was ready to play. I had my schedule, I knew I was playing -- it wasn't like I committed on Sunday night after I won. I knew I was going there so; that is a place I like to play, so, I was ready.

DAVID DUVAL: It might. I don't know. Being ranked No. 1 is not a set goal of mine. It is very nice, don't get me wrong, but -- it is through a system that everybody knows isn't perfect, however nobody really knows how to make it better. I just -- It is comparing people who play at different places all the time, so maybe that is why I don't feel burdened by it. The only reason I am ranked one is because of play. It is not like I was appointed to be one now I have to live up to it.

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