THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 24, 1998

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Couldn't tell you. Won't know until Thursday when I am playing. But, I feel it is good. My practice and playing, it has been about what I would expect after a few weeks off. During that time I was practicing obviously, but it is okay. I don't know if you are ever fully happy with how you are striking the ball or putting. But, I certainly feel it is probably about the same place as it was in Tucson. So that is good.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you have to -- out here, obviously, you couldn't conceivably play every week and you have to take breaks at different times of the year. During those breaks, you are obviously going to miss tournaments that you would like to play in. But, I think the biggest benefit from taking the time off and practicing is being fresh and the biggest draw back would be that you haven't competed so you might-there might be a little bit of rust, but seeing the year is well underway now, that little bit of rust is very minimal now at this point. It is something that has kicked off on the west coast and now you are just trying to pace yourself through the end of the year.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I am hearing various stories. It started at Doral, actually. I got sick over the weekend and ran a fever for -- all week at Doral and even into Tuesday, maybe even Wednesday when I was home, when I got back home up here, and then just moved into like a chest cold-type deal through the end of that week and was coughing and it just kind of lingered into Bay Hill. And, I felt it would be best if I made sure I was healthy when this week came around as well as two weeks down the road. I didn't want to have any lingering illness in me. So, that is why I didn't go to Bay Hill.

DAVID DUVAL: I am fine. Yeah, I have heard I had a sinus infection, all these various bad flus, but it was never really that bad.

DAVID DUVAL: Someone -- I don't know, a couple of players asked me and couple other people called and said: I heard you had a sinus infection. I said no, that is not me.

DAVID DUVAL: I guess so. I think would it almost be a combination of those two the events you mentioned because there is -- you have to deal with a bit of slope and the greens and it looks like with the weather, the way it is set up for the week, they are going to have the golf course just how they want, real hard and fast. We are going to have difficult greens to putt on; that will be very fast. And, to top it off, Fred has done a fine job once again of making the rough tall and thick. So, it is obviously a very difficult challenge this week.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it favors a guy who hits it in the fairway; doesn't matter if you fade it or draw it.

DAVID DUVAL: Right. Well, I think because of that, the expectations are increased and everybody from around here as much as myself would like to see me win. And I think that through what has happened through the course of the end of last year and this year, that I am certainly better equipped to finish it off. If I do have that chance, you know, to really throw my name in the hat, if I am playing well, and I might be looked at in a different light now that I had closed out some tournaments if it is coming down the stretch as opposed to, you know, a year ago might not have been taken quite as seriously because of that, because you hadn't finished off a tournament.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I think it is. There is a lot of time demands and you get a lot of calls at home. I don't mean to bug you, but I am going to, you know, (laughs) but that is all part of it. You are happy, at least I am, when people are calling you and bugging you because it means you are doing well. When they are asking for time -- I have said all along that as soon as they stop asking you for time and interviews, that, you know, you are doing something bad and you are not playing well.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I said yesterday and I will still own-up to the same thing today that, you know, a few years down the road this -- I would be surprised if this event isn't looked at as major, but right now seeing as it is not, it is the fifth most important to me. And, you know, I think the only victories you look at it before would be one of the four Majors, but as far as strength of field goes, this is head and shoulder above any of those. It is certainly the strongest field of the year. But it just hasn't earned that status of a major and I think that everything is in place for it to be that way in the near future. I certainly think it will be viewed as the first major of the year not too far down the road.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I mean, I guess someone asked me about that. I told Mark, I said, well, I was fortunate enough to win the largest prize money event a few months ago and I liked to keep it that way, you know, be the one who has only won that one, the big one. THE TOUR Championship was a $4 million purse as well and up until this year, this event, it was the largest purse. I think that that is how it should be. I think the bigger tournaments, more goes into it and more should come out of it for the victor. I think if you ask a lot of the players they know it is a big purse here, but they are not quite sure what it is. They know it is 3 and a half, it might be four. They are not really sure what the purse is, and I think that goes to reflect upon the reputation of the tournament that they know it is a big event and they know it is a big prize money event, but that is not the most important thing.

DAVID DUVAL: No, you are right. Not at all. You answered your own question, Gary, so what do you want?

DAVID DUVAL: Apparently it does. I haven't been out here and I never competed against him. Obviously, he is not in his prime, I would be hard-pressed to say that he is not playing as well as he ever has. I think, you know, that as a competitor if he is in the hunt and he is playing well, he is going to be right there. I think the younger players out here, I think more has been made of it by outside influences as opposed to the players because they certainly discount the Watsons and Couples and Normans and Faldos and all -- I mean, they are still looked at as some of the best players in the world, so, I don't think we look at them as being old folks and not competitive.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I think if you look at the people it has drawn into the game, you have to look at that as a positive and the exposure that it has created, you know, I think everybody that has played the game has always enjoyed it. It has been exposed to people that might not have thought of the game as a legitimate sport maybe. And I think his influence on that has certainly changed that. It is almost hip and cool now. I think that is a big plus for the game and for the Tour. And I think for myself, I mean, as well as the other players, I think there comes a time in the game where the level is kind of raised a little bit and if you want to keep up, you better step up to the plate and not get left behind. I think the various players who are doing that are trying to figure out the best way to accomplish that and are putting in the time and effort to make sure they do that.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, that was certainly a factor. That wasn't the main factor, but it was certainly one of them; one of the important ones, don't get me wrong. But, I think that -- I said all along I think that is where the game is headed, much more of an athletic power kind of just overtaking golf courses. I think, certainly five years, maybe ten years down the road you are going to see a lot of people, I mean, several players hitting it like Tiger does. I think for myself and for some other people that have been doing it, we are never going to learn to hit it that far. We won't ever have it. But fortunately, a lot of us hit it far enough still. I think you are going to see several kids come out and really just smash it. I think that is where it is kind of headed.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it is something that you are always trying to find the proper balance and the perfect mix. But, I am trying to, you know, something I will, probably end of this year, I will have a really good idea, of a good mix.

DAVID DUVAL: I think his length is maybe not all of it, but certainly a good deal of it is learnable. I think it is just how you approach it. I think a lot of it goes to his build, his -- he is tall and lean and very strong. I think obviously it would be beneficial to be kind of born into that mold, but I think a lot -- when I say that is where it is going and learnable, I think that the distance is something that you can try to pick up and learn. That is something that starts very early. I don't know if a lot of people are going to be hitting it that far. There is some God-given talent in that and obviously his skills are exceptional. I am not saying there are going to be a bunch of Tiger Woods coming out. I am just saying there are probably going to be a lot of players that will hit it in that neighborhood of length.

DAVID DUVAL: Absolutely. I think it is very important as a kid. I think one of the most important things when you are learning to play is hit it as far and as hard as you can. Because you can always kind of step back and scale it down, but it is difficult to learn as you get older to hit it further.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes and no. I think it is certainly -- I think it is certainly something that you want to be exposed to at an early age. Where you draw the line from age two to eight or nine, I think is -- I couldn't give you a number on it. I couldn't give you a good age.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I would have to disagree. What happened last year, happened again in Hawaii this year. It is a case where one player was really on and just blew away the field. It happened at Phoenix last year with Steve Jones. That just happens every now and then and with the exception of Steve at Phoenix and Tiger at Augusta and John Huston in Hawaii there was a heck of a good golf tournament going on. And, I mean, how outdated -- I don't see how you can say the course is outdated. It is not like he set the tournament record. I am not taking anything away from what happened. But it is not like he set the tournament record by five or six shots. He beat it by a shot. So, is it fair to say the course is outdated because someone bettered the tournament record by one shot? No, I don't think that is quite fair to say.

DAVID DUVAL: Maybe for him. Not for the other 80 some odd players. I mean, I don't -- I just don't like to get into that. I mean, you hear the grumbling about the golf course goes too far, the equipment is too good and all. Every player that has ever played has always sought out the most advanced equipment and the most advanced golf ball they can find. Now you have players talking about they have to scale this down that down and eliminate the ball -- well, they took advantage of it when they were players, so how can they harp on it that we shouldn't take advantage of the same things that they did. I mean, you know, they got rid of the wood shafts when aluminum came along and they certainly weren't looking for, you know, messing with graphite shafts when they came out and the metal heads and because you have some players who are maybe more fit and stronger and more mechanically sound, that they are saying they are making a mockery of some golf courses. I just don't see that happening. I mean, U.S. Open scores are still U.S. Open scores. Same with PGA and same with British Open. Here even, I mean, the scores are -- I think they have done studies and looked at scoring averages and they have been the same for like what, 40 years or 50 -- haven't changed much. I don't know. I mean --

DAVID DUVAL: But, you know, at the same time I think I tied the tournament record on that golf course. I didn't break anything there, you know. Somebody before me, long before, shot 11-under par on that golf course too. So....

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I think so.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, yeah, you know, look at Davis Love and Ernie Els and Tiger and I mean, you can go down the list. I mean, you are talking about the majority of the -- I guess you'd almost say that the three of the four major winners last year were power-game players who hit it a long ways and chip and putt real well. And, then you had Justin Leonard who won the British who is a classic shot-maker. So, I don't know what to say. I don't have all the answers.

DAVID DUVAL: I think that is exactly what is happening. You can't look at some of the players out here and not say that they are world class athletes. And the same type camaraderie happened 30 years ago, doesn't go on. They don't meet at the bar and drink cold beer and smoke cigarettes. That doesn't happen. They go to the weight room and lift weights and go practice and do these various things. And, I think that for one reason or another, they realize that that is what they need to do. Do you think that Augusta is outdated?

DAVID DUVAL: Exactly. Or about the equipment and the ball and all that. I mean, I was watching something an interview with this past weekend over with Sam Snead on the Legends and he was talking about -- he said the only thing today that he thinks is far superior to what they used then is the golf ball, he said, but he had hit -- he hit like 5-irons. He was hitting some with graphite shafts and some with steel and he pulled out a Hickory and he hit it 4 yards shorter than the others; not much difference, you know. And, I mean, wouldn't you agree that -- I mean, at Augusta how can you say it is outdated when a tournament record was set by a shot? Just doesn't make sense to me. Augusta is always going to have its difficulty because of the greens. And, people don't make light of the fact that how many times did Tiger 3-putt at Augusta that past year? None. Exactly. If he -- say he has two which would be an exceptional week still, he doesn't break the tournament record, you know, so they are harping on how he hit it everywhere, over everything, and hit wedges into all the 5 pars and they are taking away from him what he did on the greens which is far superior how he struck the ball. To get around there and not have a 3-putt, it is unheard of.

DAVID DUVAL: I think that the most important thing is to have trust in him so that when they speak their mind and give you their opinion of what is going on out there, that you listen to it and take it to heart. Ultimately the player makes the decision, pulls out the club and hits the putt, and various things. But, I think I think it is important to have, you know, as a second set of eyes so that they can watch and make sure, you know, you are not starting to aim left of your target or getting your shoulders closed or doing this and that. I mean, almost I think they take a role of a minor teacher in a sense. I think that through the course of working with you that that -- at least for me I find, that is mandatory. I think that is their responsibility. I am not saying that they will ever be a full-fledged teacher, but I think for the little things, to make sure the ball position is not moving, hasn't changed; make sure your lines are staying the same; make sure you are not coming across it or getting it closed at the top or various things, small things. And, then I think it boils down to having trust in what they are saying and especially if you are indecisive and maybe in between a couple of clubs that you listen to what they are saying and why. I think that is important.

DAVID DUVAL: I think more calming than cheerleader. I think that they need to recognize that you are going to get up and you are going to get down through the course of an afternoon when you have a chance to win and they need to kind of stay right on even kilter so that one of the two of you are. And, that is where I think it is important to have that trust when you come late in the day, you might be a little jumpy or your adrenaline might be flowing and you can really listen to them and take to heart what they are saying.

DAVID DUVAL: I took an 11 on No. 3 there a couple of years ago. I drove it into the water and took a drop and hit a 6-iron into the water. So I backed up with a 5-iron and hit that into the rocks. That bounced into the water. So, I hit a 5-iron again and -- hit the 5-iron into the water, took a drop, hit 5-iron again into the rocks, it came back into the water. Then I pulled out a 4-iron, hit it over the green and chipped on and made a par, a putt for 11. I made like a 6-footer. But, no, I mean, that is awfully high. I think that, you know, some funny things happen when you make 9s and 10s and 11s, but I don't know. He is a friend of mine, I don't know what happened. I will talk to him ask him what was going on.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, not at all. I actually thought well, you know, looks like he is having fun again, you know and enjoying it and apparently his reaction after the round was pretty positive and good and I think that is great to see.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. Ego, maybe sometimes you get upset and you are just -- you hit it in the water. You are playing well earlier in the week; things aren't going so good. You know you can get it over. You hit it. Doesn't go in. And, then you are like: I know I can do it. You try it again. That goes in. I guess at that point you are looking at a 10 or something anyway, so, I don't know.

DAVID DUVAL: We are not supposed to, but I snapped it out-of-bounds at Tucson. I mean, it is not something I do either. It happens. You blade out of the bunker into the water. You miss it from this far (indicating a foot) like Michael did. It just happens. I think that what attracts you all as well as us to this game. We can all be susceptible to the same things.

DAVID DUVAL: What did John say about it?

DAVID DUVAL: He got it back quick and followed it up with a 2, so, got to give him credit, you know. He averaged a 9 and a half for the two holes.