THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

June 2, 1999

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: I probably don't have any swing thoughts right now. I haven't played in a while now, so... I'm playing well. I'm usually not thinking about my swing. I'm just playing. So...

DAVID DUVAL: Yes and no. I had planned on taking some of it, not necessarily all of it. Some of it was still up in the air, but that's just how it worked out.

DAVID DUVAL: Nothing exciting.

DAVID DUVAL: No, the mountain was closed. (Laughing) .

DAVID DUVAL: Well, yeah, basically. I stayed in New Orleans after the tournament until the following Friday, I believe it was, and went fishing. And then I've been at home since until I came up here on Monday.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, we did. We were out fly fishing and the weather wasn't the most cooperative, but we did catch fish. A couple days we didn't even get to go out because of the weather.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, I don't put -- I don't have an expectation on a number of wins necessarily. It's just more focusing on preparation to play well and be ready. Obviously, I'm very pleased and excited about what has happened this year already. And, you know, having taken some time off, I'm really kind of looking forward to getting through the summer and heading into the Ryder Cup.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it seems like it would be a lot of fun. It gives us an opportunity to kind of expose the game in a little different light, in a different time frame, on a different day and probably to a different crowd than would usually see the game. I just kind of felt that it would be beneficial for, you know, the kind of popularity and exposure in the game right now to see if you can get even a little broader audience. I don't think that could really hurt. All I think it could do is help.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it's a good question, because I am coming off the time. But in the same sense, I expect to play well or I wouldn't have come. You know, I try to make sure I'm ready to play and play well when I go to an event. I think I'm playing pretty good, and it's just a matter of getting out there and playing. As we all know, you make a couple of putts and don't hit it in the water and stuff like that. That's what you have to do. (Laughing)

DAVID DUVAL: I really don't know. You know, if you told me the event before the tournament, I could tell you whether I played or not. But I don't even remember last year if I played the event preceding this one.

DAVID DUVAL: I played that last year. This year was the first time I missed Colonial.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I think a very easy way to answer that is what brings me back and everybody else is the fact that yesterday I was playing, I was on the back 9 before the Skins game, and it had drizzled and rained some. On the 16th tee, somebody came up and asked me if we needed some more towels. You know, that kind of stuff. The attention to detail, the way they look after us and make us feel. That's just something that, you know, if they're going to do that, you know everything else is just perfect.

DAVID DUVAL: It is. It really is. You know, we are treated every year here to -- the course is prepared as well as you could do. It seems, I guess we did a few greens and the courses seem even a little bit better this year.

DAVID DUVAL: No different. You know, the only reason I know I am is because I'm told that and asked about it. It's not something that I -- I guess it comes out on Monday or Tuesday each week, and I don't even know how to check. I don't know the number to call, so I don't keep up with it.

DAVID DUVAL: I think 13's the biggest change because it forces you to go out to the right now. And 17 is, you still have a lot of area to hit it now. I think it's set up so that you'll see probably a lot of balls left because of that bunker, because it's deep. And it will be difficult to get to the green from. But 13's a more drastic change.

DAVID DUVAL: No. I think that will be accomplished because they haven't had as much rain. The way it's been in the past, it's been very wet, the ball pitched in the fairways, it would stay there. And then it would be very generous with width. Being narrower and firmer, especially if it clears out and drys up some, it will probably work out just how they wanted to, intended the changes, the ball's pitching, if it's not where it needs to be, it will run on off into the first gutter or higher rough.

DAVID DUVAL: That's hard to say. You know, other factors are wind. If you get some good, firm wind out here, it's really difficult, this golf course. So, you know, I don't know what it's been in the past, but you look at it 8, 10, 12-under maybe.

DAVID DUVAL: But it's been weather, too. And 13 was -- I think that's going to really -- you know, like for me, if I pulled a ball a little bit off that tee, I would go over the bunkers and I would be in the fairway some, too. Now if you do that, you're really probably going to make a 5. So, you know, it will bring it down some.

DAVID DUVAL: Where?

DAVID DUVAL: You know, you get there and you do it and you learn a little bit more. You encounter different situations every time. It just gives you more confidence the next time. It just kind of feeds on itself.

DAVID DUVAL: As a player, person, what?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I've improved as a player. (Laughter) I don't think I've changed as a person. You can't ask, you know, I think -- I think if you ask anybody, they can probably tell you the same thing. It's more for people I interact with to judge. I don't think so. I think that I found through winning and through having success, it makes it easier to be more humble. Because you don't have to go out and maybe be defensive and tell people you think you could win or will win. You just do it and don't worry about it.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it was a wonderful experience last year in Melbourne. It wasn't the most enjoyable outcome, but, you know, there's always going to be a team that wins and a team that doesn't. And as far as the strategy, I think you just look at the way he approached things when he was playing and winning and everything. You know, I think you rarely saw him make big mistakes. He was content making bogeys at times. Those are the things you can learn the most from.

DAVID DUVAL: I can't tell you if it will. I would hope so. But I don't know if it will. You can't predict that kind of thing. I don't know.

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, absolutely. You know, I look forward to it being with anybody, as long as I'm a part of it. So...

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it's a product of it being written that there is one. I would agree with what Jack Nicklaus said yesterday, that there is not one. It's hard to make a rivalry when you haven't faced off in an event much less a major. I don't really see how our match in August could be considered a fuel for the rivalry when you're talking about a one-day thing and it's not a tournament or a major. So, again, I don't know what to tell you.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I think if you're in a situation like they are, where it's an immediate attention, their success is that much more commendable. You know, but you're going to face it at one point or another if you excel to the point you want to. So you can make an argument of whether you should learn to do it right when you start or whether you should work yourself into it.

DAVID DUVAL: I intended to, but I didn't do a whole lot. (Laughter.)

DAVID DUVAL: Actual hitting? Or you mean chipping and stuff? Actual hitting?

DAVID DUVAL: Six days.

DAVID DUVAL: Based on what I know, you can't prepare. So... (Laughter.) I've never been there. So all I know is it's going to be shaved around the greens. You know, I think it's pretty well-known that when you go to the U.S. Open, you can't hit it on the fairway, you need to hit it on the green. So that's what I'm going to try to do, figure out a way to do it whether it's with drivers, 3-woods, irons, whatever it might be. That's what I'll do.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, that's kind of -- I'm not exactly sure what my schedule is going to be. I'm not playing next week. I'll play the U.S. Open. So beyond that, I don't really know exactly what's going to happen. I'll be at the British, at the PGA.

DAVID DUVAL: I'll probably get there a few days early, probably get there on the weekend.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. You know, I feel like I've won some tournaments that -- just a few of them. But I think with the time of the year it is, I'm most likely to win the U.S. Open. (Laughing) Late June, I think I'll probably be most likely to win the British. In all seriousness, if I had to say, I would say either -- it would probably be the U.S. Open or if not that one Augusta.

DAVID DUVAL: Maybe because they're the most desirable to me. I don't know. No reason.

DAVID DUVAL: Probably Augusta. Because the generous -- the width of the fairways, if you're driving well, you know, you might not miss, if any.

DAVID DUVAL: They are more narrow, but they're still wide. But I think that goes with -- that matches up with the greens because they're so big and there's so many slopes and different places you need to hit the ball that it gets tough to make real narrow fairways, to have a player play into some of the greens.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, I only know him from magazines. I've seen very little old footage of him playing. So, you know, I think I'm probably like a lot of people, you think about a player who sought perfection in a game that you couldn't perfect. And you hear the stories about his abilities to hit golf shots and you actually have heard players and writers talk about him, he wasn't really a whole lot of fun to watch because it was done so perfectly, there wasn't any excitement in it. Just hit it in the fairway, hit it on the green, do it again. Didn't hit it over here in the trees, then punch out, have to make a heroic save. So it's boring, which is what I try to do, take out the stress. So it sounded like I would have really enjoyed watching it, but I haven't been able to see too much.

DAVID DUVAL: Currently?

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I was probably like any kid. I was a big fan of the guy who was winning a lot of the time. (Laughter.) You know, I didn't even get to see Jack Nicklaus play. I did some when I was young, but I don't remember it well. But I like to watch -- I liked watching Seve always because it was kind of interesting to see what would happen. You never knew. I don't know about patterning myself, though. I liked how Langer stayed pretty cool. I was a Greg Norman fan, just like anybody else. The way Nick Faldo played was inspiring. So, you know, just a combination of a lot of different people.

DAVID DUVAL: Golfer first. I would like to think of myself as an athlete first, but I don't want to do that disservice to the real ones. (Laughter.)

DAVID DUVAL: I think so. A lot of the stuff that I do is hand-eye, a lot of it is balance. But at the same time, what it does as much as anything, is gets you away from the golf. I don't think about it when I'm doing those other things.

DAVID DUVAL: As 10, 11, I think he should be involved in little league, baseball, basketball, all that. I think it all helps. I don't think as a 10 or 11-year-old child, you can make a really wise decision about exactly what it is you want to pursue. I think once you're exposed to it all, you will get a better idea. But if you're not exposed to some of it, you might be missing out on something else.

DAVID DUVAL: Weight lifting, yeah. Training, the stuff I do, you're going to get balanced a lot quicker that way then trying to play golf. How long has he played golf right-handed? I do it through the weight training stuff.

DAVID DUVAL: Just a few shots on the television when he played in Dallas.

DAVID DUVAL: No. Obviously he's very good. I think he finished fourth or fifth. You know, that's pretty good.

DAVID DUVAL: Thank you.