MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 9, 1999

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Not protect, no. Inclination tomorrow might be a little more towards that. However, as we all know, with the way the golf course can play, five shots is very little. I'll just keep trying to do what I've done, which is pretty simple, just knock it on the greens, trying to put the ball in the correct positions and give myself opportunities. I haven't had too many of the big swinging, down grain, downhill putts, things like that. I feel good about that.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I probably played close to as well, maybe not quite. But today instead of the putts falling, a few of them lipped out. I don't think I could have gotten to ten under par. I played well enough to get a few more. You know, anytime you make five or six birdies in a round of golf, you can't complain.

DAVID DUVAL: Not really. You know, at this point, the way -- we expected the conditions to be a little -- I mean, they're different today, they're tougher, but we expected probably a little tougher than they actually turned out to be. I wasn't real concerned about that, you know. I might pay a little more attention tomorrow towards the end. You know, even through most of tomorrow's round, there's really no reason to. You know, the way the golf course is, we all know it can be very difficult. We know the greens can be especially difficult. So if you get too concerned with where you stand and kind of lose focus of trying to put the ball in the correct positions, then you can really hurt yourself.

DAVID DUVAL: So I'm one down starting tomorrow?

DAVID DUVAL: He gets two tomorrow, though, right (laughter)? Actually one down. Never, huh-uh. I'll take a few, but I don't give.

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, absolutely. I'm sorry if I implied anything other than that. That's certainly not what I meant. I'm obviously playing quite well. So poor shots or miss-hits never really enter your mind. You just try to get up there and you try to pick out a correct target and make your calculations with the wind and hit it there. I've done a pretty good job of that. It gets easier when you're playing well, and the confidence just kind of feeds on itself, and it helps.

DAVID DUVAL: I think I might have gotten a little more fired up and upset kind of through college and stuff. But for one reason or another, I figured out that getting so worked up, it can carry you into the next shot. You might kind of forget about it, but your heart might be pumping a little more than you might want it to, your adrenaline might be flowing. I put in a lot of time. Like I said, I've put in a lot of time. Even the off-season, all I ever do really is it hit 50 or 100 balls in a day, then I chip, hit wedges. It just can just save you. I mean, it really can. I don't know, you know, everybody talks about how important it is, but I don't think can you emphasize it enough. I think I'm pretty handy with a wedge. So I don't really feel like I need to get worked up. I feel like I'm a good wedge player and I can putt well, so what if I have to pitch out 80 yards? I have a pretty darn good chance of getting up-and-down, I think. That really keeps me from really getting fired up.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes. I get bored hitting balls. I used to hit a lot of them when I was a junior player in college. I don't hit a ton of them anymore. You know, I prefer to play, if I can. I'll hit some. Obviously there's days I hit a couple hundred. That's a lot, isn't it (laughter), compared to Vijay or something, right? Let's say you get out there and start hitting balls, hit like ten or 15 6-irons perfect, what do you need to hit anymore for? You know, go chip. Go chip and get ready for that one you miss-hit and miss the green with.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes. Not even close.

DAVID DUVAL: That's just how I hit it, yeah. I feel like I can turn it if I have to. I would never try to turn it over with a driver. I carry a 3-wood, I can turnover. I just felt like I -- I've done a good job of eliminating half of the trouble on the golf course, and that's the left half. Every now and then I've double crossed and hooked one. Doesn't happen very often. It just really makes it a lot easier to play when you know you can kind of set up down the left side of the fairway, get on it, it's going to move a little right.

DAVID DUVAL: No. I know how to handle it a little bit more from that. I would have liked to have gotten a few more ahead, obviously. I think that kind of helped. Even today's round, even being so far ahead, just kind of staying there, keeping up with everybody, it kind of gives you the confidence that you know the way you're approaching it is a good way to do it.

DAVID DUVAL: Not really. I used to turn the ball over. I don't really remember when I started cutting it. You know, I certainly thought about you could say a Trevino, a Hogan, a Nicklaus, you know, some of the greatest players, seems like a lot of them move the ball from the left to the right, not the other way. They have the ability to move it from the right to the left. I think that's like why Jack was so successful at Augusta. It's a perfect golf course for a fade. You have to turn it over off of a few tees, that's it. Everything else is a nice, high soft fade is beautiful into those greens.

DAVID DUVAL: Over some of them you need to roll it. But like I said, you turnover on, what, 2. Don't turn on 5, 7, 8, 9, you don't, 10, 13. That's about it. 14 maybe a little bit, three or four tee shots. Anything else is perfect for a fade. I don't know. I guess probably as much as anything, I got tired of hitting a duck hook every now and then. I don't know, maybe it's a combination of how I grip the ball, set up.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. Ever since I've been a pro, I've cut. Even my last couple years in college, I think.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I usually won't even try it. I can do it, but the clubs, especially when you get to say a 4-, 5-, 6-iron, that's not something I need to try, so I don't.

DAVID DUVAL: That's what I was watching. Saw some guy get tubed real nice. It looked pretty big, too. I don't know how big it was, but it looked real big. I was just enjoying them, watching it. There's a lot of them out there.

DAVID DUVAL: No. I saw some earlier on 1. I think mainly on 1. I didn't see any after that. Really didn't look after that.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I do. I guess last time I was here was '95, and I played well. It's a long ways for me. I mean, it really is long. From Florida, it's a 15-hour trip. I could fly to Paris, have a nice meal, I'd only be halfway across the Pacific coming here. It's just kind of awkward. It's weird to think about. It's just a real long trip.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. I mean, yeah, if we need to, that's fine, I'll do it (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: 5, I knocked it on with a 5-iron, 2-putted.

DAVID DUVAL: From about 50 feet maybe, 40. The 8th hole, hit a 6-iron to about four feet. 9th hole I hit a pitching wedge about six feet behind of the hole. 12, I hit a sand wedge probably 12 feet. 14, I hit a sand wedge about eight feet. 15, I hit it down short, chipped up to about two feet, three feet. Then I hit it in the fairway bunker and hit it heavy out of the bunker, missed it, probably had 12 feet.

DAVID DUVAL: No. It was almost. I wasn't, though. I was just off.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. Hit a bad shot. I probably hit the right trajectory, wrong club. I miss-hit it a little bit. I don't know. Just didn't pull it off.