THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY AND MERCEDES-BENZ

November 1, 1998

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, well, obviously I'm very pleased right now. You know, I was in an enviable yet awkward position starting this week for the Money Title, where it's mine to lose, in essence. Jim had to win the golf tournament. You know, I didn't play very good, obviously, the first day. I didn't get any breaks; nothing happened. I shot five over par. I played beautiful after that. I'm very pleased with what happened today. I 3-putted the first green, bogeyed the fifth, made the tournament 2-over par, then made four birdies and five pars on the Back 9 to shoot 2-under for the day, making sure I get to take that Arnold Palmer Award home.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes, absolutely. When the year starts, we all have the same and equal opportunity to enter as many tournaments as we want or as few as we'd like, with the exception that we have to play in 15 to maintain member status. This year, I played the fewest number of events I've played in my four years. Obviously I made the most money I've made since I've been on Tour. You know, I can control that with the Money Title. Then with the scoring, it's solely based on how you play. There is some type of formula. It's adjusted to the field as opposed to par, but you control it by playing well or playing poorly. So those are the two you can control as a player, and I'm going to get them.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I felt like this was a good golf course for me. I'm certain I was like the other 29 players in the field, that I had every intention of winning the golf tournament when the week started. I still felt like I could after the first round. I certainly played well enough the last couple days to make up more ground than I did. I'm not going to tell you I could have gotten to 7- or 8-under-par, but I certainly played well the last three days. You know, when the tournament starts, you're certainly not starting defensively. But I put myself in a position that I certainly could have after the first day. I'm pleased and proud of myself for not doing that.

DAVID DUVAL: Man, that was -- yeah, that was big. I don't know how long you were out there again today, Gary, but I just couldn't get putts to go this week. I had a lot of good looks. I'm not going to sit here and complain about it, because I've made an awful lot of putts this year. That was really, really important. It just kind of gave me a little more of a cushion and kind of jump-started me. I just needed that right at that point.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know about that. I looked at the players more as a whole, you know, the TOUR, that's what I wanted to do, that's where I wanted to play. I think that's more how I looked at it.

DAVID DUVAL: I probably would be a bit surprised, yeah, to be honest. You know, I certainly -- I do believe I played good enough golf to win that. But, you know, maybe not this year. Mark, obviously he's won the two Majors. What happens if Vijay ends up winning the golf tournament today? You know, you could make arguments every which way. I'm not -- it's bonus stuff right now. I'm tickled pink to get those other two.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it really is. I mean, I don't know exactly what to tell you or how to express it. I can't tell you how happy I am to have buckled down on that Back 9 on a golf course like this and to have played just so beautifully for nine holes, basically with it all on the line, you know, not the tournament, but the other stuff. Then, you know, to top it out and birdie the last hole, it's a great, great feeling.

DAVID DUVAL: Right. Well, winning, you get a great feeling from that, obviously. But after the first round, I put myself in a position that I had -- I would have had to shoot, you know, 4-, 5-under par each day to really have a chance. I don't know if that's feasible on a golf course like this, the way it's set up, the way it's playing. The feeling I have now, there's a lot of pleasure in the fact that after that first day, I didn't get caught up in watching the score board, didn't get caught up seeing "tied for 29th" next to my name. At some point in the second round, I was last, I was 30th in the field. To kind of forget about all that and just buckle down and play like I know I can play, it makes me feel really good.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I don't know what the plan is this evening. I'm sure I'll be buying (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: Rate his?

DAVID DUVAL: You could make arguments, if you want, that you could say that their Tour might not be as deep as ours. You could say from 20 back, the players aren't as strong. I would not put any weight in that myself because you still have to perform; you still have to play the best; you still have to win the most money. To do that for six times, you know, that's unbelievable, it really is. My hat's off to him. It was funny, I remember watching him getting interviewed over at -- I don't remember which tournament it was. It was recently where he won. Maybe the German Masters, I don't know. They were talking about that. He said, "I really don't care if I win the title, as long as no one else does." I got a big kick out of that. It was obviously important to him. It was important for me this week, because the big prizes of the Majors are gone. That's the one left up there that you can grab as a player, that you can control. He's got to be having a really good time right now, I'm sure, six times more than I will.

DAVID DUVAL: No, it's not. I had invitations to travel abroad the last three years as well. I turned them down. I played in the Shark Shootout for the last three years. I really felt bad about that actually, not going back this year. It works out such that, you know, we're having to go to Australia in December. It really breaks out that downtime that I like to take, helps me be that much fresher when the year starts. Since I was going there, I figured I'm going to play, I need to play the week before somewhere, as much as anything for a tune-up and to get ready. I look to my teammates and I look to Jack Nicklaus to be ready to play when we get there. If I didn't play the week before - I'm honest with myself - I know I wouldn't have been ready. I wouldn't have been playing golf and practicing for the next five weeks up until the Presidents Cup. That's my downtime. Because of the Presidents Cup, I then decided I need to play somewhere else also. When I got the invitation there, you hear so many good things about the Sun City event, it's a short field. I'm looking forward to it. I went there in '94 when I missed the qualifying tournament, was back on the Nike Tour. I wanted to go back, but I'd made up my wasn't mind I wasn't going to go back until I got invited to go there. I got real, real sick when I was over there. It's not fun to be 15 hours away from home in an airplane and in a doctor's office with an IV in you. I'm looking forward to getting over there and having a healthy week, then coming to Australia.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I got -- I think I caught some virus. Then to top it off, I became dehydrated and had heat exhaustion. I was in real bad shape. I found the doctor. I think I had the tournament help me with it. I went to his office. Jeff, my former caddie, he drove me there. I could actually feel him put the IV in me, I could feel it traveling me around my body, cooling. It was a weird, weird feeling. You could feel the fluids moving around, cooling you down. I guess I went to asleep for about an hour after it all went in there. Felt a lot better after that. I was certainly ready to go home.

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, yeah. I was a lot better after that. I was pretty much fine after that. It's not like I got real sick from catching a bug or something, but I think having been just a little bit sick and then to get the heat exhaustion and become dehydrated is what the real problem was.

DAVID DUVAL: '94.

DAVID DUVAL: Thanks.