Monday, June 11, 2001
Duval anxious for another crack
at Tiger
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The longest hole
in U.S. Open history didn't faze David Duval.
A booming drive on the 642-yard fifth hole
at Southern Hills disappeared against a hot, hazy sky and landed
behind a fairway bunker, coming to a stop some 360 yards away.
Isn't this supposed to be a three-shot hole?
“We'll see about that,” Duval
said with a cocky grin as he removed the cover to his 3-wood.
The first shot faded right of the green, pin-high. He dropped
another ball and hit this one right at the flag, 20 feet behind
the hole.
“There,” he said. “Now you
have something to write about.”
That's better than the usual fodder when
it comes to Duval — a bad back, an injured wrist, another
disappointment at the Masters, the only player ever ranked No.
1 who hasn't won a major, another victim in Tiger Woods' incredible
run.
The sting from Augusta, where he missed
putts of 8, 12 and 5 feet on the final three holes and finished
two strokes behind Woods, has not lingered.
Duval arrived at Southern Hills with a nasty
cold and a frisky attitude, anxious for another chance at his
first major and another opportunity to stop Woods.
What would happen if he and Woods were to
play their best this week at the U.S. Open?
“Man, it would be a runaway,”
Duval said, easing into a smile to drive home his point that,
while he concedes Woods is a great player, he isn't willing to
concede the trophy.
The mission is not his alone.
Of the other 155 players in the field, only
two can claim any of the last eight majors played. Woods made
it a clean sweep at the Masters, has won five of the last six
and needs a victory at Southern Hills to get halfway home to a
real Grand Slam.
There was a time when a great career was
defined by two or three majors, and anything more was a sure ticket
to the Hall of Fame. With Woods grabbing every major in sight,
the grading curve has been significantly altered.
That might make even one major for anyone
else extra significant.
“It probably does, although the magnitude
of it probably won't be judged for 20 years,” Duval said.
“If I win this golf tournament and Tiger wins the next two,
then I'm the only one who has won a major in the last eight. If
he ends up getting 20 or 22 majors, over the course of time you've
competed against the guy who won the most ever, and is clearly
the best ever. That makes it more special.”
That doesn't make it easier to win. The
odds of Woods holding the trophy at the end of the week are ludicrous
for golf — even money, essentially Tiger against the field.
Then again, no one else has won lately.
“I think I'm 25-1,” Duval said
with a self-deprecating laugh.
Duval remains the top challenger to Woods,
at least in the majors. Phil Mickelson is No. 2 in the world and
has won more PGA Tour events than anyone besides Woods the past
two years, but he has challenged only once in a major during Woods'
great run.
Ernie Els became the first player to be
runner-up in three straight majors last year, but he was 15 strokes
back at Pebble Beach in the U.S. Open and eight strokes behind
Woods in the British Open.
Despite an injured back, Duval gave Woods
a brief scare at St. Andrews last year by cutting in half a six-stroke
deficit over the first eight holes before throwing away shots
that didn't matter on the back nine.
And despite tendinitis in his right wrist,
causing him to miss four weeks before the Masters, Duval was tied
for the lead at certain points on the back nine and in position
until a 7-iron flew over the 16th green and led to bogey, and
short birdie putts on the final two holes burned the lip of the
cup.
Still, he has been there in his last two
majors (he missed the PGA Championship with a bad back) and believes
there is no reason he can't show up again on Sunday at Southern
Hills.
“If I play really good, he'll have
a hard time beating me,” Duval said. “Why should there
be any intimidation? It sounds silly, but we've got a par of 70.
We've got 280 strokes to par. If I should get 275, I've got a
damn good chance of winning, regardless of who's playing.”
That's not to say Duval doesn't appreciate
— or admire — what Woods has accomplished, which is
unlike anything ever seen in tournament golf. He has won 20 of
his last 40 tournaments worldwide, and has not finished worse
than a tie for seventh in his last eight major championships.
“Four in a row is unbelievable,”
Duval said. “We're at a point now where if he gets to five,
six, then you're getting beyond the point of comprehension. I
think we're right at the ceiling where you go, 'Wait a second
— what's going on here?'”
What's happening is Woods is dominating
the majors in a way Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus never did. The
challenge for Duval and everyone else is give him a game.
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