WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 22, 2001

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Looking for good weather good, golf and another win. Pretty simple. So I'm pleased with how I played at the PGA. Not very pleased with my putting on the greens, and for as well as it was at the British, it was that bad at Atlanta. That's how it goes, comes and goes. Glad to be back. I could not play last year. I was hurt. Just got in. Going to go out and practice a little bit and be ready to go.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't think so. If anything I think I might have had the ball a little forward in my stance, which adds loft hitting it and not getting a solid hit. I just really struggled.

DAVID DUVAL: I would imagine I'll hit less club than most people. I hit it further than most of them. I'm one of the longer hitters and I haven't been out there so I don't know how it's playing, but I hit shorter clubs in Atlanta last week than a lot of people, so I imagine that will carry over. Is it wet, is that why?

DAVID DUVAL: That's a long hole. Hard hole.

DAVID DUVAL: I like it. I think it has stood the test of time will and that makes you -- I would think that it makes you question that everybody says that the golf courses are too short. I mean, this one stood up fine. The winning scores don't tend to be very low here. I'd played well here. I won here a few years ago and then did well the following year and then couldn't play last year. I think those are the only times I've played. But I think it sets up good for me.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it seemed a bit -- people were excited for me. Happy for me. Had a huge following Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not so much as you got to like 10, 11, 12 on Sunday then it kind of got pretty thin, the crowd. The golf in our group was not very good that day. So, it was different, absolutely, than it has been in the past.

DAVID DUVAL: I couldn't really answer that because I don't know what's happened with him. It is certainly very busy afterwards, and I imagine he's tired. I'm still tired. I've been real busy since the British Open, and I have a little bit of time after this week, off. Yeah, it changes things. You get calls from a lot of different people. A lot of notice from a lot of different people. It's exciting.

DAVID DUVAL: I think it has some. I don't keep up with it much, myself. That's what Charlie's job is. You know, like I said, I don't plan on changing things. I'm sure there will probably be some adjustments, if there's some places that I think I'm a good fit, I might move forward with things like that, but not going to be much of a drastic change of schedule or appearances or anything like that.

DAVID DUVAL: Never.

DAVID DUVAL: Not really. I heard from a lot of people. A lot of notes, like I said, congratulatory notes. I don't know if I would say any were unexpected. I don't know -- I shouldn't say that, but no really surprises.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I imagine -- I haven't thought about it, but I'm playing five more tournaments maybe. I'm not sure exactly how many more. You know, win a World Golf Championship or the two remaining TOUR Championships, I haven't really thought about it, but I would imagine it would take something along those lines.

DAVID DUVAL: Planning on it.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know what to expect. I imagine it is going to be quite a scene, a real zoo. But it will be exciting. I hope it's not a hassle, though. I hope it doesn't get to that point.

DAVID DUVAL: I did. The things that stood out to me the most were the paparazzi. That's what I remember the most. When we got to the hotel, upon arriving in Argentina, you know, how they would follow us to restaurants -- "us," how they were following Tiger to the restaurants. (Laughter.) How they waited outside. That was just quite a scene to me. Guys riding backwards on a motorcycle, someone else is driving it, and trying to take pictures and stuff. Just crazy stuff. I don't understand it.

DAVID DUVAL: Just four. (Laughter.) It was a joke. You know, we played well. We played together well and fed off each other. You know, I like playing with him because he's kind of -- I think he takes the approach that I do and it's something that I don't like in the team competition -- when I play with a partner, there's no apologies. Don't ever apologize to me, say I'm sorry or I didn't mean to do this. If you say you're sorry or something, it means you might not have been trying, so I expect them to be trying and you don't expect to be hitting in the water off a tee and you don't expect to be missing a 3-footer. You are trying to play well. That's kind of my only rule of team play is no apologies. We played really well and it was fun to win. You know I got a real kick out of the first tee on the first day and in the first fairway. We played with Angel and Eduardo Romero. There was a lot of cameras, obviously, the gallery was with us. The guy got a nice, full swing sequence of me on the first tee, the first fairway. Don't worry about me, I'm just out here trying to play. I won't get in the way of your pictures. It was funny. But they were really good about talking with the people about trying to give us the respect to play and such.

DAVID DUVAL: I never get angry with you, Ed.

DAVID DUVAL: No. (Laughter.)

DAVID DUVAL: No.

DAVID DUVAL: Right.

DAVID DUVAL: I wonder why -- and I don't mean it from you, but why such a question would be asked. I mean, you talk about it every Ryder Cup, on paper. Well, who cares about on paper. It just has no bearing in the golf. That's why you've got to play. Yeah, sure on paper, we look pretty strong, but still got to play. A couple of those other team that is looked really, really strong on paper got dusted pretty well. So you've got to play.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it's part of it. It's stuff that was planned, as well.

DAVID DUVAL: It's a long week. You start early. You're out there all day, basically dark to dark. It's an emotional drain. And then to be a part of the play on Sunday, where, you know, we came back so much. That was just -- it's tiring, and then the celebration is tiring, too. They are long weeks, but their well worth it. It's fun.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. I sure hope so.

DAVID DUVAL: I sure hope so but I don't know. I have not spoken -- Tiger and I have talked about it, but I haven't spoken about it with Curtis or Mike Hulbert, really.

DAVID DUVAL: I enjoy the alternate-shot format a lot. I don't know why. You would think that it's a harder format, but to get a rhythm and to pair up, but I just enjoy that format.

DAVID DUVAL: It could be. It could be. You're out there trying -- that is the most -- that format is the one that you become more of a team, during that format the most, because it's two men who it's playing one ball, one game.

DAVID DUVAL: Not from me. My policy, no apologies.

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, you do. (Laughs) I think the difference over there is that the fans are -- have been fans longer, I guess. You know, it's not as -- the fan base here is growing and its new fans are coming into the game. Over there, they have been fans longer and they understand the game better as a whole, you know, I think is the difference. I think that's the difference.

DAVID DUVAL: I was very happy. I thought that was a great choice. I think that what he will add to the team some fire, you know, a lot of heart. I think, really, some rah-rah leadership kind of stuff. I think that will be part of what Paul brings.

DAVID DUVAL: I deal with it by not playing on Monday Tuesday or today, is how I'm going to. Just try to rest, you know. I know the golf course. Certainly might play a little hand; it has in the past, I don't know. But basically I know the lines to play and to take. You know, just for me, it's kind of what I've said about going into other things. It's very important to get rested and right now, I've been very busy since the British, just -- I was going to be, regardless, had I won or not, stretch through this week was going to be very busy. More so than I'm used to. I find it very important for me as an individual to find a couple days here and there to really forget about golf, and that's really what I've tried to do the last few days.

DAVID DUVAL: No, I don't know it's reasonable. We all know how difficult this game is, and you can look at historical winning percentages, and certainly his is great right now. Probably higher right now than most players. But I would imagine that that percentage will go down as his career goes longer. You just can't win every week. Again, you're talking about how poorly he's playing and the slump he's in and he's won four times, including the Masters, and the other Major, THE PLAYERS Championship. It's just been a disastrous year, again, I guess. (Laughter.) I know you're not saying that, but it's just funny when people talk of how bad he's playing and the slump he's in and such. I guess he hasn't missed a cut in five years or something, so it's just expectations are different for him.

DAVID DUVAL: I can't answer that. I don't know.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you would think so. But I guess you answered your own question when you stop asking it, really. How long does it take for you to think of it that way and realize that; he's a human. I guess you realize that when you stop asking why he's not winning every week. I think that's the answer.

DAVID DUVAL: No. He hasn't.

DAVID DUVAL: No. I don't discount him, but he's not always in the back of my mind, either. I wasn't playing Saturday and Sunday at the PGA -- I won't worry about Tiger. I was worrying about me again. I don't get caught up in it that way. Certainly it's easier to do that when hes not on top of the board, because then he's one of the guys you are chasing. But not in the back of my mind.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I just play the game. It's different in match play. You're playing your opponent a fair amount, too. But I play the game and the medal-play events, and that's what we play the majority of the time.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know if I can differentiate between the different pressures. It's great in all of those circumstances. I think the one thing that has added into the Ryder Cup is that might not be in the -- when you're playing on your own is that there's 11 other guys who are part of that outcome.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I think that has nothing to do with it when you are hitting golf shots and out there trying. That doesn't apply -- I don't think you can apply that the same way.

DAVID DUVAL: No, actually it's not. I'm just making up something for you to write. (Laughter.)

DAVID DUVAL: I don't think so. I think a lot is made of it because such great emphasis is put on the outcome of the Ryder Cup Matches, by the fans and by the writers and by the players, by the PGA of America, by their counterparts in Europe. I would imagine it is the same thing. The PGA folks want you to win. They want to hold on to the Ryder Cup. You are out there doing the best you can. When we played in Melbourne and just got killed; it's not because we weren't trying. It's just because we got killed. You know, we're going to go to The Belfry and try to win again. You know, I'll do the best I can when I'm there.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I'm not this year. I was in '99, I think. But not this year. Simply because I probably haven't read much about it. I haven't read what's been written in the periodicals and things like that. I think that people are wondering exactly how -- what the atmosphere is going to be like, the behavior I don't remember of players and fans. It's kind of like my -- in my view, it's almost like maybe not as much has been written and said about it because no one knows exactly what's going to happen or what to anticipate. Is that okay?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, he's a great player. A great competitor. I think he's kind of like one of those little bulldogs that won't let go of your leg. And he's played tremendously well this year, as much as most people out here, really. So I would expect a lot from him over there in his performance.

DAVID DUVAL: I do when it's done, yes, because that will mean the outcome was how we wanted.

DAVID DUVAL: At the end, absolutely. I was excited and it built and as it got further and further ahead, I got more jacked up. But I certainly wouldn't want to play from the end result, I couldn't manage.

DAVID DUVAL: How much of an advantage?

DAVID DUVAL: I think it will be a good -- it's a great thing for us, taking over there mentally. But I think it's also a great motivator for the European team. I think it might almost counterbalance itself, really. I feel that had I been on the other end, it would be a great motivation for me to not lose again. So, I imagine it will be very tough golf, tough matches.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, that's a good question. I think that's where being a professional takes over. You really -- you know, I have a duty to myself and to Nike and to the fans here and to the tournament director and to the people who are volunteering, to really -- you know, I'm here to play and do my best and work hard and not just to go through the motions. I think at times, you have to be conscious of that and this could very well be one of the times where you've got to be conscious, hey I'm not here to go through the motion. I'm out here to play and do my best and work hard.