Sunday, November 5, 2000
Another downer for Duval
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
ATLANTA (AP) — David Duval first had
a chance to play with Tiger Woods in the third round of the World
Series of Golf two years ago. He outplayed him that day, and went
on to win at Firestone.
It's been downhill ever since.
Playing together for only the sixth time
in their careers, Woods went from a one-stroke deficit to a three-stroke
lead after just four holes. He finished with a 66, eight strokes
better than Duval. It was the fifth straight round where Woods
had the upper hand.
“David had one of those days where
shots that were borderline ended up terrible,” Woods said.
It was a tough day for him.”
Duval was only two shots out of the lead
when his round unraveled. His 25-foot birdie putt on No. 10 ran
about 10 feet past the hole. As he was hitting his par putt, a
woman came up to the ropes and flashed a camera.
Duval backed off, then lipped out the putt.
“It's a shame when people don't give
you the courtesy you deserve when you're trying to compete,”
he said. “It was disturbing, but that wasn't the only time
something like that has ever happened.”
He failed to get up-and-down from a bunker
on No. 12 for another bogey, and took a double bogey on No. 14
when his drive came to rest next to a tree. Woods' tee shot also
went into the trees, but ricocheted out into the first cut.
Woods and Duval have a good relationship
off the course. Woods chose him as his partner for the World Cup
next month in Argentina. But they didn't spend much time in conversation
Saturday, and for good reason.
“We just never really were able to
hit the same fairway,” Woods said.
———
A PAIN IN SPAIN:
Phil Mickelson entered the World Golf Championships next week
at Valderrama, but said at the beginning of the week that he probably
wouldn't go if he won this week at East Lake.
One stroke out of the lead, he hasn't changed
his mind.
“It's a really important day for me
because if I win, I don't have to go to Spain,” Mickelson
said. “And I don't want to go. Nothing to knock the country,
I just don't want to travel. I'd like to go home, hang up the
clubs for a few weeks and get into the holiday season.
“And if I don't, then I feel like I
need to go play Spain to hold my position on the money list.”
Exactly why Mickelson feels he has to go
to Valderrama is a mystery. He is more than $4.6 million behind
Woods on the money list — nearly the size of the entire purse
in Spain — and still over $600,000 ahead of Ernie Els.
The tour does not give awards for finishing
second on the money list.
———
BANK ON IT:
Vijay Singh heard his name called out and turned around just in
time to see a baseball tossed in his direction.
He bobbled it, looked at it and then handed
the ball to his 10-year-old son, Qass. Only after his press conference
did Singh realize who threw him the ball — Ernie Banks.
Qass had Banks sign it for him, and Singh
shook his hand.
———
ALL ALONE:
When Jim Furyk withdrew because of a wrist injury, that left only
29 players in the field and forced one player to go alone. Players
have the option of asking a non-competing marker to play, but
Chris Perry couldn't find one.
Not that he didn't try.
“I asked Tim Finchem to play, but he
turned me down,” Perry said of the PGA Tour commissioner.
“I told him he's a seven or eight (handicap), that I'd give
him shots, and I'd give three or four throws, as well.”
Finchem told him he had to leave for the
Senior Tour Championship in South Carolina. He was expected to
return Sunday. Maybe he'll get another offer from Notah Begay,
who had a 68 but will still be the first one off.
———
HOLD ALL CALLS:
Cell phones increasingly have become a problem on the PGA Tour,
and the Tour Championship is no exception. Just ask Carlos Franco
of Paraguay.
“No more telephones,” Franco said
when he finished his second round. “I go to hit on first
hole and 'Ring. Ring. Ring.' I go to hit again, same thing. 'Ring.
Ring. Ring.' I finally hit. Way right.”
It got so bad at one point that marshals
reminded one woman that cell phones are not allowed on the course.
She denied having one — and then a ringing sound came from
her purse.
Tour officials confiscated 350 cell phones
over the first two days.
———
DIVOTS:
Carlos Franco had the only birdie on No. 12 in the third round.
... Only 14 players in the 29-man field remain under par for the
tournament. ... Mickelson has played in more consecutive Tour
Championships — eight — than any active player. He has
never finished higher than 12th. “This is the first time
I said that for two or three weeks before this tournament, I'm
going to really work to play well here,” he said. ... Woods,
Singh and Mickelson are the only players who have broken par all
three rounds.
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