MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS

January 6, 1999

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I don't know. I guess the best answer I can give you on that, for one reason or another, we're provided an opportunity to make a living at a game. That's just what I do. I just play golf. I don't think of it in terms beyond that. I know what it feels like to win golf tournaments; I certainly know what it feels like to lose them. I certainly know what it feels like to kind of (inaudible) a couple. I guess that's why I don't get too high, too low, because I know you're not far from getting beat, any of that stuff. I don't think there's any differences. I think I'm content with where I am and what I'm doing, content with who I am, content with my hobbies. I think just generally it all kind of plays a part.

DAVID DUVAL: Tucson was important, obviously. Made a big deal at La Costa last year. I had a chance. I just didn't make the putts on Sunday. Then I got to Tucson and obviously played beautiful for three days, was in an enviable yet awkward position. It's kind of weird being that far ahead. I played quite well for a few, then things were going okay, then I hit that shot out-of-bounds. I get a kick out of it. A lot of people, "What's he doing hitting a driver again?" I just tried again, you know. I knew there one place it wasn't going to go the second time, and that was left. To actually fall back to being tied, to pull it through, was just great. More than anything, to win another event after that streak was really more important to me than the manner in which it was won.

DAVID DUVAL: What I expect of myself, I can't really answer you as far as more or less. But what I expect of myself is to be professional in what I do, conduct myself in a professional manner, be prepared when I play, and then just do my best, give it all I have. Beyond that, I don't have expectations necessarily of winning four golf tournaments this year, three or five, whatever it may be. I expect of myself to prepare and be ready to play when I tee it up, then just do what I can. You can't control what other people are doing. Those are kind of my expectations.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I have a few. I have an idea of a few things I'd like to try to do this year. Obviously one of them, I'm sure I'll be asked a lot, I think everybody sets goals of winning majors. I just want to play well, have a chance to win. You just don't know if you're going to win or not. It's kind of like last year. You have a chance to win one and you don't. A little too much emphasis has been put on them. Don't take me wrong, I agree they're the most important events. This next tournament in Hawaii, then at the Bob Hope and Phoenix, those are big-time tournaments. They contribute millions of dollars each year to the community. So to kind of fluff them off compared to the majors I think is very unfair to those tournaments and the efforts of those people, what they give back. The majors don't do that. What are they contributing to the community? They're not helping anybody out around the areas. I think that's what is so great about our TOUR. I get a little uneasy on that, talking about the majors only count, the only ones that matter. I just disagree. The regular tournaments make more of an impact on other people.

DAVID DUVAL: Were they?

DAVID DUVAL: No. I think you just play a little bit, you get a wiser, figure it out a little more, maybe even get a little more conservative. I just don't try to play spectacular golf. If I have 5-irons or 4-irons in my hands, I don't hit them at flags. I'm just trying to hit it on the green. I just try to eliminate all the mistakes. I've driven the ball pretty well for a couple years. When you do that, it makes it easier to eliminate a lot of the mistakes. I just don't know. I just hate making double bogeys, those things. I try not to give myself the chance to make them. It is funny sounding, because we all hate it, but it just really is a kick in the teeth. If you make a bogey, you make them. I'll bet you I didn't play half a dozen rounds last year bogey-free. I know I played a couple. It always seems like you make one or two. Even at Houston where I shot 64 and won, I made a bogey. But when you start doing some funny things, hitting some irons, 2- and 3-irons at some tough pins, that's where you really start to make trouble for yourself. I try not to do that.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, a little bit of both. Say you hit a 3-iron at some tucked pin or something, you shortsighted yourself, for me the way I do it, I just try to chip it 10, 12 feet by the hole. You start getting cute, all of a sudden you're chipping for par again. Now you have to hit a spectacular shot to get up-and-down for a bogey. I mean, doubles are easy; they're quick. That's part of the reason I don't carry a 60-degree wedge. I have them staggered to like a 58. If I got a shot, I carry a 60 or 61 degree wedge, I have to open this thing up, do some big swing. That's not a shot I should be trying to hit. You're just not going to pull it off very often. I don't do that. I don't carry clubs that allow me to do it. When you make a stupid mistake like that, a mental error, I think you take your medicine. I just try to rely on my putter. I feel like I'm a good putter. I'm going to make some 10-, 12-footers. I'd rather lip one out for par than having a 4-footer for dub.

DAVID DUVAL: I hope so (laughter). I mean, I really do. I just -- I'm a bit of a pessimist, you know. I just don't know how long I'm going to play. I don't know as far as ability and playing, but all through the earnings I've had, I save it. You just don't know in this game when you're going to get hurt, something is going to happen. So I don't look too far, you know. I just try to keep it going. I don't know, as they say, obviously everybody says your real late 20s, 29 up to 35, 36, is when everybody kind of hits their prime. Boy, I sure hope so. That would be a lot of fun (laughter). You get going, winning two or three events a year for a spin, that would be spectacular. I think in today's game, with the players who are playing, the competition, if you start kind of when I did, or everybody a few years before, a couple years after, you play a career of 15 years, whatever it may be, you leave the game with 20 wins, something like that, you've had a hell of a run. As it goes back to goals, I would certainly like to get back somewhere in there. I'm not trying to say I can't do more. You don't know. I just think with the competition, it's just great stuff.

DAVID DUVAL: I hope I struggle forever then (laughter). I finished 11th and 10th when I finished on the Money List. I didn't mean to cut you off.

DAVID DUVAL: It's silly.

DAVID DUVAL: The next one was why. Then after a couple of those, it was, "When are you going to win a major?" I think that's partially some of the athletes' problems, and I think it's some of the video and written media's problems. I really believe it sends a very bad message. We're supposed to be held up as role models. I was being a bit criticized for not having won, questioned about it. You know what, I feel like I conducted myself pretty well through all that. Now it's kind of like if you don't win, you're a bum it almost seems. What about the kids who are coming up who don't have as much talent as some other people? They really give their heart, bust their tail, finish third, just have had a great golf tournament or a basketball event, whatever. That's not failing.

DAVID DUVAL: It's our responsibility to try to convey when you work hard, you give your best, give your best shot, it doesn't matter where you finish. You've won. That's how I think about it. That's how I feel. Nobody wants to hear it, but I think that's kind of what we should be preaching and writing about, talking. Not everybody's blessed. Not everybody is Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson.

DAVID DUVAL: What's wrong with it?

DAVID DUVAL: You're right.

DAVID DUVAL: I disagree a bit. You get some players who get criticized if they have a chance to win, they don't win, it's, "They blew it." They finished third, had a heck of a week. They show some stats. It will have like first, second, third. Say you had two wins, finished second once and third one. The next stat they show is Top 10s. Why is that? Top 10 is a good week out here. It's good playing. I'm sorry. That's just how I think about it. That's how I feel. I wish it would be a little different than it is right now. Maybe it will change, but it will take a long time. Like Augusta for me, obviously it hurt I didn't win, but I did everything I could, and I had a wonderful week this past year. I didn't have anything to be down about. The guy who won it went through all those years of people asking him why he didn't win a major. Sometimes good comes out of that.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, there's not -- I don't think this is what people want to hear necessarily. While you're out there playing and doing it, I've said it -- at least for me, when I was out there playing it, doing it, trying, it wasn't that much different as opposed to when I'm trying to win another golf tournament. However, when we were done and I didn't win, then I found out the difference, you know. That's when I felt the difference. It was a real big letdown, really kind of a slap in the face. It was something. It was a lot different. When you're out there doing it, you do your best trying not to get caught up in what it is.

DAVID DUVAL: I did what I could. I'm talking about when I was done. I'm not saying when you -- it's when you have a chance to reflect on it. I still don't view what I did there as a failure. I had a great week. But when Mark won and I had the opportunity to play off and I didn't, that's when I could tell the difference. It's a lot different then.

DAVID DUVAL: I hit an 8-iron.

DAVID DUVAL: 20 feet. Very similar. Jim Furyk, myself and Mark all had very similar putts.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I'm not going to remark on that (laughter). I can't say anything more on that. I had somebody who asked me about that. I told them about it. I repeated the story. I was approached by the other saying, "You're killing me. That's my opening." I'm not going to repeat it again. I'm not saying it wasn't true (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: I think that's the true mark. Obviously through the course of an event, even on Sunday there's probably going to be a spectacular chip or a putt, an iron shot played, but I think Jack was pretty infamous about letting everybody beat themselves, then he'd be done ahead of everybody. That's a lot of the approach I try to take because I realize and know that as we're playing, people are going to make mistakes. Going to like a US Open, I mean, people are going to hit it in the rough; they're going to make bogeys and make mistakes. I don't get bothered by it. I just keep plugging along, try to deal with it as well as I can.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes, right. That was a beautiful chip. I was happy.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. I was probably more aggressive five years ago than I am now. However, I think -- I am still aggressive in certain situations, but I think I'm viewed as more of an aggressive player than I am, solely because I hit it further than the average out here. That might be wrong. I might be sitting here telling you how conservative I am, then I get out there and I'm rifling 4-irons at everything because I forget about it then. I don't like to make the big mistakes. They're just so hard to recover from. I try to eliminate them. If you think about it, when you're out there playing, you hit a 6-iron 15 feet, I mean, if I could hit a 6-iron 15 feet, even back it up 18 feet from the hole, every time I hit one, the rest of my life I'd never hit another one. You're talking about hitting an 18-footer. That's a great golf shot. If you back up further away from a pin, get it 20, 22, that's a really good shot still. Kind of understand how I think? It's kind of a little crossed up, twisted, goofy.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, basically. That's what I do.

DAVID DUVAL: None really. You can probably look back. I'll bet you I'm the first player who's ever gone into a following year after having won some events and not going to have the opportunity to defend two of them. Tucson and the World Series, we're playing there, but it's no longer the World Series. I'm going to play the same number because those events are basically the ones opposite Tucson. The other takes the place of the World Series, then I guess you have Valderrama.

DAVID DUVAL: I hope 25 or 26. I don't think I'll get to 27. I was looking through the schedule, but I think it's right around 25 or 26. Last year I played, like I said, a few less than I would have liked to. That's just how the schedule worked out. I think I ended up with 22. I would have liked to play about 25.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it's terrible. I think it's a great, great finish to THE TOUR season. I really enjoyed it. Everybody who played real well all year got invited and came here and did it. They gave you a nice car to drive; you stayed at a nice hotel. It was just a special week. You kind of finish it off, "Hey, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. We'll see you in January." I thought it was great. I personally think a little bit of the luster has been lost, could conceivably be lost from it.

DAVID DUVAL: I've suggested that actually.

DAVID DUVAL: Just to people I should. Obviously, that's a personal opinion. Everybody else probably thinks it's great. I guess it came from my first year out here. My goal for the year, my rookie year, was to get into THE TOUR Championship. Then we actually, because of the way it worked out, we had those two years in a row at Southern Hills. It was awesome. We stayed a mile and a half, two miles from the golf course. The baseball playoffs were going on. Great golf course. The weather was the weather, Tulsa in November. It was actually okay. I think it snowed one day there in the ProAm or something. You got done, you were treated so well, headed home. I might have played like the Shark Shootout after that. That was it. I always viewed it as a great cap. I think it's going to be kind of awkward because like this year, even though I was still way ahead, there was still the chance I could have gotten beat on the Money Title. I think I had to finish very poorly. But now you do that, there's still another week. It's just change, I guess. I am certainly a creature of habit. It's a little funny to me. I guess you get used to it.

DAVID DUVAL: I can answer obviously just for myself. I could speculate for others. I'd prefer not to. For me, I've said it all along, I worked very hard growing up with a goal of playing on the PGA TOUR. I've maintained that. That's kind of the reason I never traveled overseas much. I got where I wanted to be, I was doing well, that's what I wanted to do. For me, I'm going to continue in a very similar schedule. The money isn't something you think about when you're playing. It's awful nice when you're done, don't get me wrong. I think what you'll find is you might see players overall adding one, maybe two. The players, the top players, they have it figured out fairly well. They know how to prepare and know when they're best ready to play, schedule themselves so they give themselves that best opportunity to perform well. I don't think you're going to be seeing players throw in three or four events because it could really disrupt that schedule.

DAVID DUVAL: Take some out? I don't think so. You know what? You could, but I think the problem with that lies -- well, it's conceivable that come the US Open, there might be a player at three and a half million dollars, if you win the right events. That's all great. "Hey, I'll take off and see y'all at THE TOUR Championship." The problem with that is that, yeah, it's great, but you're going to lose some competitive sharpness, and you might lose it for a long time. You have to realize that this is your career. It's not like a one-shot deal. You've got to kind of build on it, perpetuate it, try to stay sharp, improve, keep it going. You've got to look ahead a little bit to schedule yourself so you're fresh at the end of the year when you have to start again. I don't think you'll see players doing drastic things like that.

DAVID DUVAL: Certainly a possibility. I don't think that would happen. I think what they'll do is incentivize players who are outside looking in at those events, to compete and play more and move up in the eligibility rankings of it. I think once you get a taste of it, it's kind of like THE TOUR Championship, a small, elite field. It's really incentive in itself to make sure you get back there. You'll have the players who are in them playing to make sure that they maintain their status so they can continue to play. That would be my guess.

DAVID DUVAL: Obviously, I didn't have what I usually do. Everybody I think kind of knows I don't do much play in November, December. It's a little awkward. I certainly don't feel like we should be starting the season. It more seems like a continuation right now. I think that's going to be a bit of the challenge for myself this year, to really stay fresh and take some time off. The way it's worked out, I'm going to have an off-season at the end of this year, but that would be kind of like the only one for two years. I think you need to space it well. I've got an idea of what I'm going to do. I'm going to take a good bit of time off in March again, probably a little bit in the summer.

DAVID DUVAL: I'm not playing next week or San Diego.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes. Actually, I only played Doral and Players Championship. I'll play in Jacksonville. The others are up in the air still.