THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY MERCEDES-BENZ AND MICHELOB

November 2, 1997

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Don't ask me, no comments about it.

DAVID DUVAL: Everybody saw. It was a fun-packed day.

DAVID DUVAL: No. But someone just said that they're pretty sure he's either 30 or 31. Mathematically don't see how he can fall out of the Top 31.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I was thinking about it. You know, him staying in there was more important than me winning this tournament. So, I thought about it a lot, yeah.

DAVID DUVAL: Actually, I didn't talk to him last night. I talked to him yesterday morning before I played. Some of the people he needed to play well on Friday, played well, all the big dogs, all the big guns. But a couple players that could beat him like Hubert and Jimmy Howell also were playing well. I don't know how exactly it turned out. But apparently not enough passed him.

DAVID DUVAL: We didn't really talk about it. You know, he said -- we were just kind of shooting the breeze. He said that the few shots he saw, though, that the club is the best he's seen it in my hands in a long time where I'm setting it at the top. But other than that, we didn't really talk about it too much. That's it (laughter)?

DAVID DUVAL: The tour's over (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I'm looking forward -- I've got a couple more weeks. I'm looking forward to golf season. I do enjoy my time off. So, you know, three victories in the year, no matter how they're spaced out, is something I think that you look back on as a great year. So it just works out that the year's over. But, you know, it starts again awful soon. I guess I'll probably be leaving home in about two months. So we got to get a few weeks off and then get ready for the next year.

DAVID DUVAL: For what?

DAVID DUVAL: Apparently I don't (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, I hit a pretty poor drive on 17. I really hit a nice couple of shots on 15. And then on 16 I hit a nice iron shot up there. I actually thought I made my putt for birdie. Then on 17, I just hit a high plains drifter out to the right. I don't know if I was lucky that it stayed inbound or unlucky that it got so close to being out of bounds. I don't know how it kicked. You know, I was faced with a shot that was not something you're looking forward to when you're trying to win. But it certainly could have been a lot worse. Said something about getting it up in the bunker. I said, "I don't want to hit it in the bunker, because then I would have too long of a bunker shot." As I've said in the past, I'm not as good at the bunkers as I should be. I certainly didn't want to have a long bunker shot. I was hoping I could keep it short, left or right of the bunkers and have it pitched out of the rough. Then all I have to do is get it out of the green, it would be rolling. Hit a pretty good shot, had a nice little putt up the hill and made it. Then on 18, maybe a little overcorrection from what happened on 17, but it wasn't going right (laughter). It went a little left. I thought I actually hit it right in the bunker. I don't know if it landed in or short and bounced over, but I had a shot that looks harder than it was because where it was and the branch I had in front of me, all the options that you could think about for hitting that shot are taken away. So there's only one shot, and that's to hit it under that one and over that other tree. All I had to worry about was getting the proper club, get the trajectory I'm looking for, then just hit.

DAVID DUVAL: 6-iron.

DAVID DUVAL: 8-iron.

DAVID DUVAL: 8-iron on 18, 6-iron on 17.

DAVID DUVAL: If it was the fence, I was no more than six feet.

DAVID DUVAL: I hit a nice drive off the tee. We had 212 yards to the front of the green, 257 to the hole, maybe. I think it was pretty deep. Hit 3-iron right into the middle of the green. Had about 40 feet, probably. It was a putt that actually I was more concerned with the speed. Obviously you want to get the proper line, but speed was most important because I absolutely could not afford to not pick up a shot there. Had to make a shot, down in two. I was more worried about getting the proper speed. As it happened, we picked up the proper line, too, and it went in.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. Got me right back in the ball game. You know, the hole was sitting in the shade. I was putting from the sun into it. I hit it really good. As I was watching it, I had to kind of look up a little bit more than usual to see the hole because of it being in the shade. I saw, you know, six or eight feet short of the hole and I knew it was going in. Just had an exact line that it needed to have. So that was nice (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: 9 was -- yeah. I hit a pretty poor second shot. You know, I'm having to keep it down. I'm trying to hit a low 2-iron and cut it up there. In my efforts to keep the ball down, you know, I got too far ahead of it. I pushed it out, and it hit a tree. I was very fortunate that it stayed where it did, went up and just was in the rough as opposed to could have kicked right or back at me. I don't know. It could have gone anywhere. So that was a good break. Then on my third shot, you know, you certainly feel like you need to make a birdie there. But at the same time, I had to make sure I didn't do something stupid and make a bogey. It worked out such that I had a pretty good number. Had to hit it about 93 yards to carry that bunker onto the green. There was a little bit of wind helping me. So I could hit a -- I have a 58-degree wedge, L-wedge, and so I could hit it hard and try to hit it a little bit higher, you know, with the wind so that it would stop. It just was fortunate to get the break and fortunate to get a good number like that, not be in between.

DAVID DUVAL: I think so. I mean, they certainly -- you certainly know inside that you can do it. The last couple weeks when I won, I just really stayed patient and played my game, and from that I take it that's what I need to do, not try to force things. That's what I did today.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't think you ever can envision a streak of three starts, winning three starts in a row. But when I got to the Southern, it's kind of funny, I missed the cut at San Antonio, went to the BC, missed the cut, and then I don't believe I had ever missed three cuts in a row in my three years on the TOUR. And now I was going to the Southern where I had never made the cut, so... (laughter). Something was going to give. I actually ended up playing well and finished I think somewhere around eighth or ninth, you know, in a tie. I really played beautiful. Of actually the last four starts, that might be the best I hit the ball. Don't get me wrong, I've struck the ball beautifully the last three tournaments where I won, but I really was on that week. I just didn't hole any putts. But each day, the putter felt more comfortable in my hands. So I was looking for good things at Williamsburg. You know, I don't know if you can ever, like I said -- you never know if you're going to win. But I certainly felt good and I was looking forward to the last few weeks.

DAVID DUVAL: Uh-huh.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, I guess it goes back as far as the end of '95, and then a lot of it was last year's off-season, headed into this year.

DAVID DUVAL: I've become a lot -- I've made myself stronger. I've created -- I have better endurance because I don't have a bunch of fat blocking me like I did, I'm looser. So I had some adjustments to get used to in my swing. But I felt in the long run that that was the road I needed to follow to get better.

DAVID DUVAL:Yeah.

DAVID DUVAL: Just a lot of hard work, working out.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it is, you know. Like I said, you know, a lot of it boils down to good breaks and making -- making some putts when you need to. I've been fortunate the last few weeks to get the good breaks. I've had enough patience and resolve to make the putts when I needed to. That adds up to what it hadn't added up to in the past, and those are tournament wins.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, it boils down to knowing that you're doing the right thing. So just staying in the game and being patient.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes and no. I mean, I do set them. But the biggest goal I have right now is to improve, get better. It's hard -- you know, I don't know if you can define it, but I want to get better. You know, I want to put in the time to try to get better. So that's where I'm headed right now. That's my most important goal.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, I can only give you my opinion on that. Had the outcome been different this week and Davis won, my vote still would have been for Tiger because Tiger seemed to play better through the course of the whole year. I think you've got to remember, it is Player of the Year. But it probably would have become a lot closer. I might have thought about it a little more. I don't know. You know, I think when you win an event in January, April, May, and July, it shows that you played pretty darn good all year. I think that was the biggest factor for me.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. I think I turned pro. That was in '94, maybe.

DAVID DUVAL: '93. I turned pro that summer.

DAVID DUVAL: I can't (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. Nothing bad or dirty jokes or nothing like that. No, I can't (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: Consistent, you know, steady.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. I'm driving the ball pretty well, I'm hitting some pretty good iron shots and I'm putting awfully well. I think consistency is the biggest way to describe -- best way to describe my game right now.

DAVID DUVAL: Right.

DAVID DUVAL: I think what he has done is phenomenal. You know, that's a hard road to follow when you've been a golf pro in a shop for 28 years. To do what he's did, I think I don't think you can give him enough credit. So I think it's tremendous.

DAVID DUVAL: That's really not for me to judge. That's for y'all to judge. I certainly think that there are a lot of great young players right now. But breakthrough, I don't know if you would describe it that way. If anything, I think that might be a disservice to their talents because they are very great players. Shouldn't come as a surprise that Tiger is winning big tournaments, as is Justin or Ernie Els.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I think -- I don't know how you describe it, but I think you just know as a player if you're getting better or not.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I don't think it has to do with winning golf tournaments; it has to do with getting better. As a player, you know, that if you're doing that or if you're not doing that.

DAVID DUVAL: I think that definitely has played a big role. You know, I'm glad to hear you say it that way because that's exactly what I had intended to do, was become a better athlete.

DAVID DUVAL: Right.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, as most people are aware, Bill Glasson has had a lot of surgeries and problems, he's very into the fitness thing. I've actually talked to him a great deal about what he's done and what he is doing and such. He approached me at the Southern and commented I was looking good, asked what I was doing. I kind of asked him. He said that he had decided that he had stopped lifting during tournament weeks. So I just figured, you know, if it's good for him, you know, I kind of needed to anyways to make sure I got -- at least I wasn't sure that that would help get the feel back in my hands, but I felt it could certainly help. I figured, "Let's just stop the lifting part until the year is over, then get back into it in the off-season."

DAVID DUVAL: I don't think you can measure the effect. I don't know. I can't really answer your question. It's hard to measure.

DAVID DUVAL: I think so. But I don't want to say that I started winning because I stopped lifting, because that's a lot of the reason I started winning was because I had been lifting. It's kind of a tough, little weird situation.

DAVID DUVAL: I think they all have their special qualities to them. I don't know -- I don't think you can make one more important than the other. I think you'd have to look at Michelob as being as big as any of the three.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, exactly, because that was the start and the breakthrough.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I didn't feel any differently after I won. I don't view myself differently. Maybe -- I don't know, maybe you do view players who have won tournaments or majors or big events differently. But I don't know how -- I don't know how it's changed the way I'm viewed. I just know I'm still me (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: Right.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. Maybe it was yesterday I said that it's -- that you don't have to beat many players here, although you have all of them here. As is proved just about every week, anybody who is playing out here can win tournaments. So I think the odds are a little better here, you're only talking about beating 29 other players. But at the same time, it is the 29 players who have played as well or better than you all year. So it's definitely a big event. It's probably not as difficult to win as the Players Championship or maybe the majors, but I don't know how to describe it. I mean, you look at the board. It's all the Studs of the year. That makes it a little more special.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, yeah -- I don't know. I guess it does, but it doesn't (laughter). You know, I'm not in it for that. Like I said yesterday, I'm certainly not going to give it back to them, but I had made a lot of money this year already. I'm just glad I get that trophy. You know, I think because of the size of the purse and because of the field and the golf course on which this tournament is held, it is certainly one of the five, six, seven biggest and most important tournaments of the year. And to win it, you know, I think if you look at the majors, the purses are bigger, more goes with it. I think, if anything, that makes you realize how big of a tournament it is. You don't think as much of the money.

DAVID DUVAL: No, not really (laughter). You know, I probably would really get hammered next week, four in a row or something. I get a few months off to prepare for everybody getting on me come La Costa.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know what I did after that. I was disappointed because I felt like I had done a lot of things right, and it just didn't work out. But it wasn't as big of a disappointment as the Atlanta previous. But, you know, I hung in there. I hit the shots, as much as anything proved to myself that I could do that, as I had proven to myself at other events. The putts just didn't go in. It boils down to making the putts when you need to.

DAVID DUVAL: My year?

DAVID DUVAL: Very enjoyable.

DAVID DUVAL: Enjoyable. I don't know. Like I said, that's --

DAVID DUVAL: Wonderful (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: No. 4 I 3-putted from about 30 feet. No. 5 I 2-putted for birdie from about 22 feet. No. 6, I hit a wedge to about two-and-a-half feet. No. 9, I hit sand wedge to about ten feet. 10, I 3-putted from about 15 feet.

DAVID DUVAL: 13, I told you about the 3-iron, made that.

DAVID DUVAL: I think.

DAVID DUVAL: Something, I don't remember exactly. I'm sorry, it was 212 and 34 are 246. How is that, that's better?

DAVID DUVAL: They're all pars in from there.

DAVID DUVAL: 113 yards in front of the green.

DAVID DUVAL: Had about the same to the front.

DAVID DUVAL: That was probably about 12 feet.

DAVID DUVAL: 18 I used an 8-iron.

DAVID DUVAL: 2-iron.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: 186 yards, 7-iron.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it was nice.

DAVID DUVAL: That was just my sand wedge, my L-wedge. I just practiced a bit last night out of the rough around the greens here, made a few minor changes in weight placement distribution. Left last night feeling a lot better pitching stuff than I had the previous days.

DAVID DUVAL: No, not really. No, I'm pretty content.

DAVID DUVAL: No. They gave her something (laughter). They did it for me.

DAVID DUVAL: What happened, it's kind of weird how it all worked out. I probably would not have played Disney had I not won at Williamsburg. Since I won, I felt an obligation to go because I would have made my money to get in there. Williamsburg was my fourth week in a row. I went from Disney, being from Florida, I was committed already, so I went. I won there. But I just was like, you know, "I can't afford to make Houston the seventh week in a row, I can't do that to myself." I try not to commit to events and then withdraw, but I had to do it. I had decided actually Saturday night before I was playing on Sunday at Disney.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it would have been difficult because, you know, you're not going to sleep a whole lot out in Las Vegas (laughter). It's five rounds. If it was a four-day, I might have gone on and just not played or practiced on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But I just didn't have enough -- wasn't able to take off enough days to make sure I was ready for here.

DAVID DUVAL: Just not forcing shots, you know. When I was faced with shots that I don't feel comfortable pulling off, I just didn't hit them. I hit them away from the hole and trusted and relied on my putter. It boils down to picking your spots well, getting some breaks. Certainly you have to hit the shots. Just got to have a few things go your way and on top of that capitalize when you do have some opportunities.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. I think as much as anything, you try to minimize your mistakes and, exactly, not beat yourself, not take yourself out of the tournament. Maybe you might get beat, but don't do it to yourself.

DAVID DUVAL: Have I lost what?

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, yeah. The best striking week I had all year was probably the PGA. You can go look at the stats on that. That was an unbelievable week how I hit the ball there. But I didn't make the putts. You got to have it all coming together to come out on top.

DAVID DUVAL: Yes and no. I have in the past a little bit, and probably will in the future a bit, you know. I have a difficult situation in that my dad's always been my teacher. But Rick communicates similar to my father. Actually, I talked to Rick about coming up in the off-season and spending a few days with my dad and myself so he can kind of learn our lingo, how we talk and convey things. You certainly need to have somebody to have access to. I don't have access to my father anymore; he's a tour player.

DAVID DUVAL: No. I don't think you can really say it that way. As much as anything, it's just a satisfaction for him.

DAVID DUVAL: Thanks.