MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 8, 1999

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: What am I going to say? I played well. I avoided all the doubles.

DAVID DUVAL: Thank you. I sure did. Four birdies on the front and I guess six on the back.

DAVID DUVAL: You can't say the key was anything. I guess I hit it close and I made putts. You don't just putt well to shoot ten under par, you have to hit it well also. I did all that today.

DAVID DUVAL: I played '93, when I first turned pro.

DAVID DUVAL: Uh-huh.

DAVID DUVAL: I wouldn't have thought so after that four-day venture. You know, I really don't know what to say about that. I feel like we as players are well equipped to play most any type golf courses. We obviously have preferences. I think this year I knew what to expect with the greens a little bit more, so I had maybe a respect I couldn't have had the first time I was here. I've been very careful where I've hit the ball and tried to avoid this down grain, downhill, downwind-type putts. Fortunately, for the field here, we haven't had a taste of what this golf course usually plays like with the Trade Winds. My understanding is we will them this weekend. I think you'll see a lot different scores, a lot different shots.

DAVID DUVAL: It would certainly be great, you know. It could almost be really good. It might set your expectations too high. I don't know. Like I said, I came and I worked and kind of continued last year, and didn't really take a break. I just planned on taking one a little bit in March. I put in some time at the gym, I put in time at the golf course, just trying to get ready and focus on the west coast swing. I've always liked playing the west coast. Everybody knows I've played a good deal of it. I usually miss maybe one or two events. I just have always felt, a real big key for me my first year, I think I left the west coast third on the Money List, and as a rookie, you're stoked. I got my status for the next year. I can set my sights on the Top 30 at that time. I think I tried to really be ready to play, and hopefully leave the west coast having had a real good swing. But at the same time, you can't put too much emphasis on it in case things don't quite work but for you on the west coast. You don't want to really get into a funk because of that. I've been lucky because in '96 I did so well, then '95, I -- '95 I did so well. '96, I think I left the west coast with $13,000. I was playing hurt. I had to stop playing for a while, my shoulder. I turned that around and had a good year, too. I've tasted both ends of it.

DAVID DUVAL: I'm not going to play next week, nor am I going to play San Diego. Play one, take a week off; play three, take a week off; play two.

DAVID DUVAL: I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do yet. That's a distinct possibility.

DAVID DUVAL: No, no.

DAVID DUVAL: No. There's some greens out there, you really can see it, the grass is like laying sideways, like 14. I could go on. I've never seen it like that. It's just really amazing. You can't expect anything else, though. You're talking about being on the side of a mountain. That's what's going to happen.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, it certainly is up there. I was saying outside that I've shot ten under par I think two other times on THE TOUR. It's kind of funny. Both times I did it, the first time was at Pebble Beach. I shot 28 and 34. Then the second time I did it at Tucson, I shot 28 and 34. So I think as far as just kind of a consistent starting at 1, playing through 18, this was probably the best one.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, on Tuesday morning. I don't know what I shot on the front. I think maybe par, one over, a little 29.

DAVID DUVAL: Phil Mickelson and ^ Larry Barber and Jim Strickland.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes.

DAVID DUVAL: When Mark won, yeah.

DAVID DUVAL: I think so. I think I've kind of learned it a bit. I think at this point it doesn't really matter. I think you can't talk about front running too much until you start on Sunday. I think it's something. I don't know if I was really comfortable with it in the past. It's something you have to learn because you're going to be in that position. I think I've gotten to the point where I've led a few golf tournaments going in on Sunday, continued playing well and won them. I've tried not to worry about how it is if I'm in front or ahead, but realize I need to know how to do it both ways, really kind of all different ways.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, you're right. Success is so fleeting. I just don't -- I just don't think of myself, never have, probably never will, as a superstar. Everybody wants to compare me with Tiger, Mark O'Meara. I just don't think in those terms. I do know how to play this game, though. I'm pretty good at it. I really feel I'm pretty good at it. Whether I'm the best or not is not really a concern of mine. I just go out there and do my job. Obviously, it is a job, but it's not a job to me. I just enjoy it, I really do. I just go out there and try to execute and play smart and hit shots, really take the stress out of it. I'm getting better at doing that. Right now I'm striking the golf ball quite well, and I've putted very well so far. When you do that, and really anybody in this field when they do that, can shoot 10-under par.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it was '91, BellSouth.

DAVID DUVAL: It really did help, you know. I've been asked in the past what the most enjoyable round of golf I ever played was. I said probably Sunday when I shot 79 and blew it, and Tom Kite won. They're like, "What do you mean?" You know, I was 20 years old, a junior in college. I was in the final group of a TOUR event with an opportunity when I started to win. Didn't have that opportunity when the back nine rolled around. It really did help. I got that chance. Dave let me play. Man, I tell you, I played beautiful. I was up front, you know. It really kind of answered some questions that every player probably has in the back of their mind, whether they can play on the PGA TOUR.

DAVID DUVAL: No, not really. Maybe it's the wonders of advertising. I don't know (laughter). We see those guys all over the place. I don't know. I just do what I do. Like I said before, I try to conduct myself in a respectable manner and be professional about it, just go with that. It's not the end of the world if I miss cuts or blow golf tournaments. I think sometimes it kind of is made out that way. What's so bad about that for us? It's not like we have it tough. We're getting to do something we love. I really try to enjoy it.

DAVID DUVAL: Certainly all that has happened. I know that if I go out there, maybe that's an answer, maybe that's why I approach it the way I do. I know if I go out there and play well that I can win. It doesn't mean I'm going to, doesn't mean I'm going to every week, but I know I can do it. I don't have to think about it and wonder whether I can. I don't have to tell y'all I can. If I'm playing good, execute some things, I can win.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, it really is. There's nothing you can do. You can sit there and gripe and about that one you rolled off of the 12th tee. Man, you better go hit it again because you can't do it over. It still doesn't mean you can't make a par. All these guys on TOUR have holed out shots before. You can make a birdie. There's so many different ways to make a score on a hole. Certainly I think that there are times when you need to get some of your frustrations out. You better do it before you have to hit again.

DAVID DUVAL: It's flattering. I don't know who said it or if it's been said this week, but when your peers would even breathe something in those terms, it's flattering. You're talking about guys who have really, really worked hard and long for many years to be exceptional at what they do. For them, at any given point to say that about another player, I think you have to take that in the highest regard. Really appreciate it.

DAVID DUVAL: I just don't think it's real important. In the game that we play, like y'all say, I've won seven golf tournaments in I don't know how many starts it is, probably less than 30, probably more than 25, somewhere in that neighborhood, that's a really high success rate. It's not something you can keep up. Winning a golf tournament through the course of a year, you've had a really good year. If you win two, you've had a great year. To really get beyond that against these players in this competition, I don't think it's something you should expect. We all realize that you can do it, but it's not something you would expect to happen.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: Not at all, no. I feel like I work hard and am prepared to play. Beyond that, it's really -- it really doesn't concern me whether I feel that.

DAVID DUVAL: We didn't get to do much of that. We left Jacksonville kind of early. It was real cold. Left Monday morning, got out there.

DAVID DUVAL: We went and messed around at Phil's house for a while, went to the ballgame. We went and played golf that morning, the next morning, then came out here.

DAVID DUVAL: No. They were going to. He was talking about it. I got the tickets from a big booster, but he didn't make the trip either. It was funny, he told my dad, because I asked my dad to call him, "I guess I'll give them to him. The last time went to a ballgame, they lost." I went with him to the Florida-Florida state game at Florida Field two years ago. I don't think I'll ever be allowed.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. It's high style. It was nice. It was really neat. He's got a lot of toys, a lot of fun things to do, basketball court, little pool table, air hockey, sport putting greens, whatever they're called.

DAVID DUVAL: Sunday night I'm going.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, Sunday. We're going to fly back to Phoenix, I guess, then go up. I'm going to play, like I said, the three, then I'm going back up again. I'm going to do it two weeks this year.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. That's just the way it worked out. The people there have been nice to me. I enjoy it. You just can't make it every year. It worked out best to play three and take a week off, play two. I felt like I would be best prepared for the La Costa event by playing the week before.

DAVID DUVAL: I'm eligible as it stands right now for the first two; I will be playing those. The way it worked out for me this year is I would have played Tucson regardless, because I always do. I would have been eligible for the World Series. I'm not adding anything.

DAVID DUVAL: It's funny. I only get to defend -- I don't get to defend Tucson or the actual World Series event. I get to play there again. If I qualify, I think you have to be Top 30 to go to Valderrama on the Money List. Obviously, I'll probably make that.

DAVID DUVAL: No. I certainly had the type of year that could warrant Player of the Year. What I did was really good last year. But what Mark did was historical. I think if you take everything out of that, I didn't have a historical year compared to his. I think because of that he was probably more deserving.

DAVID DUVAL: I hit an 8-iron 15 feet on 1. No. 5, I hit a 2-iron on the green, 2-putted. No. 6, I chipped up to about ten feet, I hit it down next to the green. No. 8, I hit a 5-iron to about two feet. No. 10, hit a sand wedge to six feet. 12, I hit a 9-iron to about 15 feet maybe, 12 feet, something like that. 14, I hit a sand wedge to ten feet. 15, I hit it up near the green, chipped up to about, I think, two feet. 16, I hit a sand wedge to about 14 feet probably. No. 18, I hit a 3-wood on the green, 2-putted.

DAVID DUVAL: At 6, I don't know. I didn't really expect to hit it where I did. I hit it right down -- it ran down the hill and I was maybe 15 yards off the front of the green. I hit it right into the rough. Actually, hit a nice shot. Had to go left, swung around, stopped up on the top level about ten feet. I didn't expect to hit down there.

DAVID DUVAL: I tried to hit it just to the right of the bunker.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. I think the wind was maybe helping a bit more than I expected. It must have really gone. I think what it might have done is pitched onto the downslope and shot down there.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I didn't knock it on. I hit it pin-high just to the right, kind of about maybe 15 feet off the green.

DAVID DUVAL: Not really. Actually, today I could have chosen to lay up. Not because I couldn't get there, obviously, because I got there, but because of the lie. I shouldn't say that. The lie was fine. It was kind of a downhill, side hill stance. That could cause some problems. At that point, I was hitting it nice. I was just going to try and see what happened.

DAVID DUVAL: 18, I don't know, 50 feet maybe.

DAVID DUVAL: I didn't even get a yardage. My caddie -- I said, "Is that the 270?" He said, "Yeah." He said, "You're about --" I said, "Don't worry about it. It's just a 3-wood. You don't need a yardage."

DAVID DUVAL: Doesn't matter, 276, 271.

DAVID DUVAL: From there? I'd roll it down the fairway. No way.

DAVID DUVAL: I wouldn't even try something like that. My driver is like six and a half degrees. I think I might have hit it once somewhere, but I just -- no. I have a 3-wood I hit real nice. It goes pretty far. I don't think I could hit my driver as far as I could my 3-wood.

DAVID DUVAL: I played okay. I didn't play great.

DAVID DUVAL: I hit some decent shots. I don't know. I had flown in, got in that night. I played okay. When I got here, like I said, I had worked. I had put in some time, not so much hitting balls but just chipping, hitting bunker shots, getting ready. So my game was pretty good. I knew I was pretty close to being ready to play. Like I said, that was kind of what I wanted to aim for, to be ready to play that the west coast.

DAVID DUVAL: Seems completely like a continuation. I cannot draw a distinction between the two, last year and this year. The way The Presidents Cup, where it was placed, I got done. I played the week before because I felt like I needed to play, went to Sun City. I got home and had like 20 days at home after THE TOUR Championship. After Australia, I had 21 days or something at home. It was like perfectly played to where it broke it up. You didn't have like a five-week session where you're off. It feels like we just kind of took a few breaks like you would normally through the year.