THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

May 30, 1998

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: It was a very good day. I played a -- like I said out there -- I played a nice round yesterday to kind of get back to where I could get myself an opportunity to maybe have some say in the outcome of the tournament. And in today's round, you know, puts me up into the thick of it. You know, and I won't be five behind like I was starting today, I don't think. You know, you never know. But I would think I won't be more than a few behind now.

DAVID DUVAL: No. 3, hit a sand wedge, to about 2 1/2 feet. No. 4, I hit a 6-iron to about 14 feet. No. 9, I hit an 8-iron to about, you know, 8 inches, something like that. 10, I hit a 9-iron about 14 feet. 11, I hit a 3-iron about 6 feet; I made eagle. And 14, I hit sand wedge to about 6 or 7 feet. 17, I hit a pitching wedge to about 5 feet. 15, when I bogeyed, I had a 4-iron into the green and hit it into the hazard right of the green. And then everybody saw 18.

DAVID DUVAL: On the tee shot?

DAVID DUVAL: I just kind of hit it fat and cut it. I mean, just really hit two bad golf shots. One was on 15 and one was there. You know, I was in a position where it was really stupid of me to even try to hit it up near the green. You know, you pitch it down the fairway and have a putt for par. And the way things were going, it might have been par, the way they were going.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I would have said -- I might have said yes had I not hit a good drive. But, you know, it didn't -- you know, that's where -- I think that's where you would lose it if you do, and I hit a real nice drive out there. I just hit it really poor, a poor shot. You know, it's kind of funny, I hit, you know, so many -- hit all of them good today except for two that were really bad. You know, they weren't even really close to just kind of borderline. So...

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it just -- it looked like it wasn't sitting that bad, you know. I was thinking it was going to come out of there real hot, so I've only got a 7-iron. You know, I don't know what -- I mean, it's just stupid of me. I mean, I don't know what else to say. It's just -- it's probably the worst decision I've made this year.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, yeah, more so when I made contact, you know. I mean, I -- I didn't lose my balance or anything. I just -- the situation where my foot was -- my left foot was low, and having to choke up on the club, you know, I actually had -- I made a good pass. It got through the grass pretty well. But probably just the way the ball was sitting and my stance. You know, especially maybe a little blow to the ball, it gave -- I gave myself that much more opportunity to let the grass catch the hosel like it did and it just flipped the club over.

DAVID DUVAL: Not a whole lot really. I think as the players -- the first -- you know, the first green is where I was really kind of didn't know what to expect, and I shot it and it stopped fairly quick because that green had been very hard. Then after that, I think when you see that, you know that they're going to stop pretty quickly.

DAVID DUVAL: Huh-uh. I just went and played again. I actually played all right on Friday. I mean, on Thursday, I just didn't really make any putts, you know, and didn't really get it close to the hole a lot. Just didn't give myself many opportunities. And when I did, I didn't capitalize on them. You know, it's just one of those days where nothing really kind of happened.

DAVID DUVAL: Right. Well, you know, the only time I want to lead is Sunday when we're done. I mean, it really is obviously the most important time. You know, but I think -- I mean, I think the best way for you to look at it is, you know, if you would have told me I could have shot a 5-under par and look at -- be looking at maybe a two-shot deficit as opposed to, you know, the five when I started the day, I would take it before I start and went and played and I would sit there and drink milk shakes. You know, so I guess that's the way you have to look at it. Because it didn't cost me the golf tournament. I mean, we're still playing tomorrow. You know, if it was Sunday and I did that, yeah, I probably wouldn't be in the best frame of mind. But, like I said, I played really well and missed two shots; that's really a real good day. You know, usually you miss more than that.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I feel like that's most of the people out here. That's what they're out to try to win golf tournaments, as I am myself. And, you know, I guess that seems, with each golf tournament I've won the circumstances have been different. You know, I mean, it's, you know, I won in Tucson making a triple on the back 9. I mean, that's unheard of. Then I came from way back just a few weeks ago. So I guess I realize through it all there's a lot of different ways to do it, and I'm not going to fret over, you know, a bad hole today when I played 16 really good ones. You know, and seeing as it is just Saturday and you want to give yourself the opportunity to win, I accomplished that, and I guess, you know. Maybe through winning the tournaments or maybe from being -- I don't know exactly, but I think that's the most important thing to focus on for me.

DAVID DUVAL: No, not really. I mean, you know, I guess in a dream scenario, you know, if you're going to win a golf tournament, you want to beat them all. You want them all to be close and have the chance. You know, I -- I'm not -- you know, I wouldn't really -- I wouldn't really care who I beat if I win. I mean, that's -- you know, that's the important thing. And I guess if anything, you realize through -- with the people that are on it, you know, I think that's the great thing that's going to, you know, transpire tomorrow is that somebody is going to play and win, you know. You're not going to be able to kind of sit back and cruise around at 72 or 71 and walk away with a victory. So it should make for an exciting day. Whoever -- who's to say what will happen.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, it doesn't matter to me. Because the caliber of the players out here, you know, if they're playing -- if they have a chance to win on Sunday, that means they're playing very well. And, you know, that being competitors and peers, you know, 30 weeks a year, they're all good, too. I think it gets proven a lot out here that anybody can win the golf tournament. So I don't think you get caught up too much in who the individuals are necessarily. But I mean, I guess -- I just don't -- when I'm playing good and have a chance to win, I don't expect whoever else is playing good and has a chance to win to play poorly; I expect them to play well regardless. I keep saying that -- regardless of who -- you know, of whether it's Freddie or Jeff Maggert, whomever, it's just -- you know, I think that when they're in that position, they're playing very well, so you expect them to continue.

DAVID DUVAL: No, not really, because you just never really know what's going to happen. You know, we might get a lot of wind tomorrow or we might be playing in rain all day. So all of a sudden everything changes. And so I just go out and try to play the round. You know, you try to pick your spots, where to be aggressive, where not to be, and just do your best to let a good score come to you.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. I hit everything pretty well really. I'm just trying to think. I hit most of them pretty solid for the most part. I think those are actually the first couple -- the first couple shots where I've had kind of kick-ins, you know, on the 4 pars. You know, obviously I've had a few on the 5 pars where I've 2-putted, but those were really nice, you know. It's nice to go up and not have to worry about a 6-footer.

DAVID DUVAL: A 2-iron. An attempted 2-iron.

DAVID DUVAL: And then I hit sand wedge and then I putted.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I'll -- I mean, I sat there and said just get this one up-and-down. I mean, it's a shot where it was actually sitting good. I was thankful it was sitting nice on that first cut, so it could settle down. In a different scenario, I might be a little gutted. I mean, just roll it up next to the hole, knock it in and leave. I mean, because I was just, you know, I was staring at a 7 at that point.