David Duval has made enough money already this season to live comfortably for more than a few years. Entering today’s opening round of the Buick Classic at the Westchester Country Club, Duval has played in 12 events, won $1,340,634 by finishing in the Top 10 five times, including
three Top 3s.
That’ll keep him in the best snow boarding equipment and in the finest ski lodges in the world. But it won’t get him a player of the year honor or the satisfaction of winning that first elusive major title.
In April, Duval was very candid about how he’d spent so much energy honing his game for The Masters that he’d neglected some of the other Tour events in which he’d played.
Duval didn’t at all dance around the fact that he craved a Masters victory and, when he faltered on the Sunday back nine and watched Vijay Singh slip on the Green Jacket, he was devastated.
Yesterday, with the U.S. Open at venerable Pebble Beach looming next week, Duval said he’s kept the same focus toward winning that first major.
He, too, tried to explain that, though he hasn’t won this year – or in the last 14 months for that matter – he’s not playing poorly.
“You know, I’ve played in 12 events and finished in the Top 10 five times,” Duval said. “You know, that’s OK. What that means is I’m getting right there often, but I just haven’t been able to finish it off. I feel like had I made a couple more putts I could have won.”
It’s fascinating to listen to a player as good as Duval seem somewhat stumped at why he hasn’t won when you consider just how good he’s been, finishing second on the money list last year with four wins, first the year before and second in 1997.
However, when you win four events in a year before the Masters, which Duval did in 1999, expectations become unrealistic.
After winning those four events in ’99, which capped an incredible run that included 11 wins in 17 events, Duval has gone 14 months without a win.
This has certainly perplexed him, but hasn’t derailed him completely.
“I think I have a very good chance to win the Open,” Duval said. “I have to make sure my golf is peaking. But, I really am looking forward to some great things happening this week, too.”
Duval has played Westchester four times since 1995 with a best finish a tie for 8th in ’95. He missed the cut in ’96, tied for 27th in 1997 and tied for 10th with a Sunday flurry last year.
“You can talk about next week, but I think I can win this golf tournament this week,” Duval said. “I think I’m ready to start doing those things again. I think my game is there again. So, I’m looking forward to playing.”
So, too, is one of the strongest Buick Classic fields in recent memory. The only blemish is the absence of Tiger Woods, who never plays the week before a major.
But the strong field includes two-time Buick winners Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, who has three wins already this year, Sergio Garcia, Fred Couples, Greg Norman, Jose Marie Olazabal, defending champion Duffy Waldorf, Jesper Parnevik and Tom Lehman.
Though the Open begins next week and is a five-hour plane ride away, the players have come here because they love the course.
“I think this is one of the toughest golf courses we play,” Norman said. “There’s a lot of character to it. With all the modern design we have today you lose places like this. To me, this is what golf is all about – shaping shots off the tee, hitting short irons, long irons. There’s a lot of character to this course. You feel it, you see it and I enjoy it.”
