THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY MERCEDES-BENZ AND MICHELOB

November 1, 1997

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: It was a hard day, you know. Wind was blowing pretty good. Made for a difficult club selection. Made it difficult to putt, drive the ball, all the way through the round.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it was certainly a couple of clubs; enough to hit some shots obscenely far with some irons and some drives. Enough to make the scores go up (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: I didn't know when I finished how I stood, to be honest with you. I thought the lead was somewhere at 9 or 10. You know, like you said, the 4 on 12 wasn't a bad score. After my bogey on 14, certainly didn't enjoy it. You know, there's so many -- there was four more hard holes to be played with all that wind. Serves you no good to think about it. You know, you've just got to keep on.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I have not.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, you're probably right. You know, I'm certainly going to do my best to win this golf tournament tomorrow. It just so happens that that would have been three starts in a row. That's just crazy circumstances, that's all.

DAVID DUVAL: I'm not thinking about it (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: I don't -- I don't know what to tell you. I haven't been thinking about it. I'm not concerned about winning three golf tournaments. I'm trying to win this one, you know. I thoroughly enjoyed winning at Williamsburg and then down at Disney, but those are in the past. You know, I now have an opportunity to win another golf tournament. That's what I've got to worry about.

DAVID DUVAL: Right. No, it was just the hole is set up that way. You know, 14 doesn't set up well. I mean, it gets real tight driving. Yesterday I hit a 3-wood and just went too far left. Had I been on the fairway, I would have had like 130 yards to the hole today. You know, there's no reason to try to get fancy and squeeze it down into a tighter area when you're still going to be hitting a pitching wedge or middle wedge.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't -- I don't think you will. I don't think anybody who has a chance to win will. It's not as important as the victory. I mean, don't get me wrong, I doubt whoever wins is going to give it back. But I certainly think, at least for me, I shouldn't speak for anyone else, I'd rather take the trophy.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. It just works out such that I've caught -- I've been playing well. I certainly feel confident about what I'm doing. Breaking par today proved to me that I'm pretty close to where I want to be with my game on a real hard day like this. So I look forward to the chance tomorrow to get out there and see what happens.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. It was a lot more difficult to shoot that score than it was to shoot the two previous scores I had. You know, I was just figuring, you know, some of the drives you hit up in the mid 300s, I just don't do that. There's so much wind that it makes it hard. Like on 18, I hit a good drive. It ended up being too close to the green. I would have preferred to have been 20 or 30 yards further away. But, you know, I hit a 210 yard 8-iron at one point, just stuff that happens on a day like this.

DAVID DUVAL: Absolutely.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. You don't -- I mean, I changed my approach a little bit in that I wasn't as aggressive on my first putts because, you know, with that wind, you don't want to stand over three and four footers all day coming back to make pars. Last couple case days, the wind wasn't blowing, not as big a deal, you know, you're not going to get blowing around. Actually, I feel I missed a few putts that probably would have gone in the last couple of days because I just wasn't hitting them quite as firm.

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. It's certainly not an enviable position he's in. You know, he's done all he can do. Just got to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

DAVID DUVAL: If they'd let me (laughter).

DAVID DUVAL: Kind of trying to hit a low shot under it. I don't know. Just had a brain cramp or something. Just chipped it (laughter). Really wasn't even close to being what I was looking for.

DAVID DUVAL: I could see that, yeah. That certainly is possible. Maybe that was one of them. I don't know. But I wasn't even -- I mean, I hit the shot, I don't know, 30 yards short of where I was looking to hit it. That's not even close.

DAVID DUVAL: 3-putted No. 2 for bogey. I birdied No. 3, about 10 feet. Birdied 5, you know, two feet. Just chipped up close. Then I parred all the way through. Birdied 11 from about 15, 18 feet. Hit it in the bunker on 12. Didn't get up-and-down, so I made bogey. 13, I chipped to about three feet. Then 14 I had about 10 feet for par and I missed.

DAVID DUVAL: Actually, I thought No. 4 was probably a little bit more difficult of a shot.

DAVID DUVAL: 3-iron.

DAVID DUVAL: Where?

DAVID DUVAL: Just a bump-n-run. Maybe 35 feet away from the hole.

DAVID DUVAL: Right there (laughter). I hit it. I was in the rough there. I had 209 yards to the hole. I hit it on the back fringe of the hole, right about 35 feet (laughter). A little flyer, howling down the wind. That's where it's hard. How do you pull out an 8-iron (laughter)?

DAVID DUVAL: Yes and no. I've played more events this year than I have in the past. I'm certainly looking forward to a little bit of a break. But at the same time, I could see where I might prefer a little earlier in the year. You know, through some good breaks and good playing the last couple of weeks, I turned what was a mediocre year into a very good one. So I have to be pleased with that, you know, look forward to next year.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah. I don't know what to do (laughter). Used to having that extra week off.