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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT


June 2, 1999


David Duval


AKRON, OHIO

LEE PATTERSON: First of all, David, thank you for spending some time with us. We're just going to open it up for questions today for Mr. Duval.

Q. David, you've seen it going right now. What are your swing thoughts? How are you feeling? What's going good for you right now? What are your thoughts?

DAVID DUVAL: I probably don't have any swing thoughts right now. I haven't played in a while now, so... I'm playing well. I'm usually not thinking about my swing. I'm just playing. So...

Q. Did you plan to take that time off before the schedule ever started at that particular time?

DAVID DUVAL: Yes and no. I had planned on taking some of it, not necessarily all of it. Some of it was still up in the air, but that's just how it worked out.

Q. Did you do anything exciting during your break?

DAVID DUVAL: Nothing exciting.

Q. No snow boarding?

DAVID DUVAL: No, the mountain was closed. (Laughing) .

Q. Did you stay at home?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, yeah, basically. I stayed in New Orleans after the tournament until the following Friday, I believe it was, and went fishing. And then I've been at home since until I came up here on Monday.

Q. Did you catch any?

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, we did. We were out fly fishing and the weather wasn't the most cooperative, but we did catch fish. A couple days we didn't even get to go out because of the weather.

Q. Four wins, six top tens already. That's probably a season for a lot of guys. How do you feel about it so far and did you expect to have four wins by this point?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, I don't put -- I don't have an expectation on a number of wins necessarily. It's just more focusing on preparation to play well and be ready. Obviously, I'm very pleased and excited about what has happened this year already. And, you know, having taken some time off, I'm really kind of looking forward to getting through the summer and heading into the Ryder Cup.

Q. The match you're going to play with Tiger in August, can you comment on that? What motivated you to get involved with that?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it seems like it would be a lot of fun. It gives us an opportunity to kind of expose the game in a little different light, in a different time frame, on a different day and probably to a different crowd than would usually see the game. I just kind of felt that it would be beneficial for, you know, the kind of popularity and exposure in the game right now to see if you can get even a little broader audience. I don't think that could really hurt. All I think it could do is help.

Q. David, you've been close on Sunday here three out of the last four years. I'm not sure if you were off the week before coming in here during those years. How well do you expect to play this week coming off the time you've had off?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it's a good question, because I am coming off the time. But in the same sense, I expect to play well or I wouldn't have come. You know, I try to make sure I'm ready to play and play well when I go to an event. I think I'm playing pretty good, and it's just a matter of getting out there and playing. As we all know, you make a couple of putts and don't hit it in the water and stuff like that. That's what you have to do. (Laughing)

Q. How much time had you had off in the previous years? Can you remember?

DAVID DUVAL: I really don't know. You know, if you told me the event before the tournament, I could tell you whether I played or not. But I don't even remember last year if I played the event preceding this one.

Q. I think it was Colonial.

DAVID DUVAL: I played that last year. This year was the first time I missed Colonial.

Q. Is it solely proximity to the Open that brings you here this year? As you well know, this tournament has not been blessed with good weather. It gets a little tedious, I'm sure, for you guys. What brings you back year after year first, and specifically this year?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I think a very easy way to answer that is what brings me back and everybody else is the fact that yesterday I was playing, I was on the back 9 before the Skins game, and it had drizzled and rained some. On the 16th tee, somebody came up and asked me if we needed some more towels. You know, that kind of stuff. The attention to detail, the way they look after us and make us feel. That's just something that, you know, if they're going to do that, you know everything else is just perfect.

Q. Is the course perfect for you?

DAVID DUVAL: It is. It really is. You know, we are treated every year here to -- the course is prepared as well as you could do. It seems, I guess we did a few greens and the courses seem even a little bit better this year.

Q. How does it feel to be the No. 1 player in the world now that you've been there for approximately, what, two months or something like that?

DAVID DUVAL: No different. You know, the only reason I know I am is because I'm told that and asked about it. It's not something that I -- I guess it comes out on Monday or Tuesday each week, and I don't even know how to check. I don't know the number to call, so I don't keep up with it.

Q. Back to the course again, David, just for a minute, you like it and so forth. But what do you think about the changes on 13 and 17 particularly?

DAVID DUVAL: I think 13's the biggest change because it forces you to go out to the right now. And 17 is, you still have a lot of area to hit it now. I think it's set up so that you'll see probably a lot of balls left because of that bunker, because it's deep. And it will be difficult to get to the green from. But 13's a more drastic change.

Q. They narrowed quite a few fairways out here. I'm wondering with the rain, the little bit of rain yesterday and today, it's supposed to clear out after today. Is that going to negate what they try to do with the fairways to make it tougher for you guys off the tee?

DAVID DUVAL: No. I think that will be accomplished because they haven't had as much rain. The way it's been in the past, it's been very wet, the ball pitched in the fairways, it would stay there. And then it would be very generous with width. Being narrower and firmer, especially if it clears out and drys up some, it will probably work out just how they wanted to, intended the changes, the ball's pitching, if it's not where it needs to be, it will run on off into the first gutter or higher rough.

Q. If it plays like you think it will play, like you just said, what would you envision a winning score being compared to previous years?

DAVID DUVAL: That's hard to say. You know, other factors are wind. If you get some good, firm wind out here, it's really difficult, this golf course. So, you know, I don't know what it's been in the past, but you look at it 8, 10, 12-under maybe.

Q. It's been 15 recently.

DAVID DUVAL: But it's been weather, too. And 13 was -- I think that's going to really -- you know, like for me, if I pulled a ball a little bit off that tee, I would go over the bunkers and I would be in the fairway some, too. Now if you do that, you're really probably going to make a 5. So, you know, it will bring it down some.

Q. David, you had such a great grasp of the moment, especially in final rounds, the 59 obviously comes to mind. But were you gaining and garnering your composure being able to finish as well as you have?

DAVID DUVAL: Where?

Q. Yeah. Where is it coming from, how are you feeling about it?

DAVID DUVAL: You know, you get there and you do it and you learn a little bit more. You encounter different situations every time. It just gives you more confidence the next time. It just kind of feeds on itself.

Q. How has David Duval, if any, changed over, say, the last five, six, seven years?

DAVID DUVAL: As a player, person, what?

Q. Both. Both, player and person.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I've improved as a player. (Laughter) I don't think I've changed as a person. You can't ask, you know, I think -- I think if you ask anybody, they can probably tell you the same thing. It's more for people I interact with to judge. I don't think so. I think that I found through winning and through having success, it makes it easier to be more humble. Because you don't have to go out and maybe be defensive and tell people you think you could win or will win. You just do it and don't worry about it.

Q. David, a couple times earlier this year you referred to Mr. Nicklaus in terms of strategy, how he went about preparing for big tournaments. Can you talk a little bit about that and the impact of playing for him last year at the Presidents Cup, what that meant.

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it was a wonderful experience last year in Melbourne. It wasn't the most enjoyable outcome, but, you know, there's always going to be a team that wins and a team that doesn't. And as far as the strategy, I think you just look at the way he approached things when he was playing and winning and everything. You know, I think you rarely saw him make big mistakes. He was content making bogeys at times. Those are the things you can learn the most from.

Q. Do you think you and Tiger will have a showdown somewhere before the planned showdown in August? Do you think it will ever work that way?

DAVID DUVAL: I can't tell you if it will. I would hope so. But I don't know if it will. You can't predict that kind of thing. I don't know.

Q. Do you look forward to something like that?

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, absolutely. You know, I look forward to it being with anybody, as long as I'm a part of it. So...

Q. What's your view of the talk about, you know, this quote unquote rivalry between you and him? Jack was in yesterday and made the point that the talk about the rivalry between he and Arnold was based on the fact that they were playing each other for major championships. That has not happened yet with you and Tiger. Hopefully it will. Just discuss, in your own view, what is this rivalry talk a product of, and did you give any thought to if you're uncomfortable with that, not playing in the match because it was going to just feed that?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it's a product of it being written that there is one. I would agree with what Jack Nicklaus said yesterday, that there is not one. It's hard to make a rivalry when you haven't faced off in an event much less a major. I don't really see how our match in August could be considered a fuel for the rivalry when you're talking about a one-day thing and it's not a tournament or a major. So, again, I don't know what to tell you.

Q. You worked into the success out here, more gradually in terms of the attention you get now you didn't have right away. Then Tiger and Sergio Garcia, what's your views of guys -- can you imagine the difficulty in playing that thrust on you right away? Are you glad you didn't have to deal with that kind of stuff, that you could just play and earn it?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, I think if you're in a situation like they are, where it's an immediate attention, their success is that much more commendable. You know, but you're going to face it at one point or another if you excel to the point you want to. So you can make an argument of whether you should learn to do it right when you start or whether you should work yourself into it.

Q. In your time off, did you practice much, play much golf, hit many balls?

DAVID DUVAL: I intended to, but I didn't do a whole lot. (Laughter.)

Q. Couple days maybe, three days, four days? Just an estimate.

DAVID DUVAL: Actual hitting? Or you mean chipping and stuff? Actual hitting?

Q. Yeah, yeah.

DAVID DUVAL: Six days.

Q. David, based on what you know about Pinehurst, how have you been preparing for that or how will you prepare for that golf course?

DAVID DUVAL: Based on what I know, you can't prepare. So... (Laughter.) I've never been there. So all I know is it's going to be shaved around the greens. You know, I think it's pretty well-known that when you go to the U.S. Open, you can't hit it on the fairway, you need to hit it on the green. So that's what I'm going to try to do, figure out a way to do it whether it's with drivers, 3-woods, irons, whatever it might be. That's what I'll do.

Q. David, now that you're back off your hiatus, do you plan to play the next three weeks through the Open and how much are you going to play throughout the rest of the summer through the major championship season?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, that's kind of -- I'm not exactly sure what my schedule is going to be. I'm not playing next week. I'll play the U.S. Open. So beyond that, I don't really know exactly what's going to happen. I'll be at the British, at the PGA.

Q. Are you going into Pinehurst early because you don't know anything about it?

DAVID DUVAL: I'll probably get there a few days early, probably get there on the weekend.

Q. Which of the major championships do you think you're most likely to win? Is there one?

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. You know, I feel like I've won some tournaments that -- just a few of them. But I think with the time of the year it is, I'm most likely to win the U.S. Open. (Laughing) Late June, I think I'll probably be most likely to win the British. In all seriousness, if I had to say, I would say either -- it would probably be the U.S. Open or if not that one Augusta.

Q. Any reason?

DAVID DUVAL: Maybe because they're the most desirable to me. I don't know. No reason.

LEE PATTERSON: Anything else?

Q. Now that you brought that up, Muirfield has always had this reputation that Jack kind of patterned it after Augusta. But he's also, since it's two weeks before the U.S. Open, he tried to give you guys a test that would prepare you for the U.S. Open. What does this course remind you of more, Augusta or a U.S. Open course?

DAVID DUVAL: Probably Augusta. Because the generous -- the width of the fairways, if you're driving well, you know, you might not miss, if any.

Q. Even with the changes this year?

DAVID DUVAL: They are more narrow, but they're still wide. But I think that goes with -- that matches up with the greens because they're so big and there's so many slopes and different places you need to hit the ball that it gets tough to make real narrow fairways, to have a player play into some of the greens.

Q. When you think of Mr. Hogan, what comes to your mind?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you know, I only know him from magazines. I've seen very little old footage of him playing. So, you know, I think I'm probably like a lot of people, you think about a player who sought perfection in a game that you couldn't perfect. And you hear the stories about his abilities to hit golf shots and you actually have heard players and writers talk about him, he wasn't really a whole lot of fun to watch because it was done so perfectly, there wasn't any excitement in it. Just hit it in the fairway, hit it on the green, do it again. Didn't hit it over here in the trees, then punch out, have to make a heroic save. So it's boring, which is what I try to do, take out the stress. So it sounded like I would have really enjoyed watching it, but I haven't been able to see too much.

Q. Do you think any one or two players inspire you, or you wanted to model your game after or even your personality?

DAVID DUVAL: Currently?

Q. At any time in your early career.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, I was probably like any kid. I was a big fan of the guy who was winning a lot of the time. (Laughter.) You know, I didn't even get to see Jack Nicklaus play. I did some when I was young, but I don't remember it well. But I like to watch -- I liked watching Seve always because it was kind of interesting to see what would happen. You never knew. I don't know about patterning myself, though. I liked how Langer stayed pretty cool. I was a Greg Norman fan, just like anybody else. The way Nick Faldo played was inspiring. So, you know, just a combination of a lot of different people.

Q. David, you like so many other sports. I was wondering if you see yourself as an athlete first and a golfer second or a golfer first and an athlete second?

DAVID DUVAL: Golfer first. I would like to think of myself as an athlete first, but I don't want to do that disservice to the real ones. (Laughter.)

Q. Do you think the other sports help you in your game?

DAVID DUVAL: I think so. A lot of the stuff that I do is hand-eye, a lot of it is balance. But at the same time, what it does as much as anything, is gets you away from the golf. I don't think about it when I'm doing those other things.

Q. If you were to advise a junior player who was taking up the game, would you say become more well-rounded in other sports or would you say go right after golf?

DAVID DUVAL: As 10, 11, I think he should be involved in little league, baseball, basketball, all that. I think it all helps. I don't think as a 10 or 11-year-old child, you can make a really wise decision about exactly what it is you want to pursue. I think once you're exposed to it all, you will get a better idea. But if you're not exposed to some of it, you might be missing out on something else.

Q. David, Sergio Garcia says he plays nine holes every month left-handed to try to balance the muscles in his body. Do you do anything like that?

DAVID DUVAL: Weight lifting, yeah. Training, the stuff I do, you're going to get balanced a lot quicker that way then trying to play golf. How long has he played golf right-handed? I do it through the weight training stuff.

Q. Have you seen him play?

DAVID DUVAL: Just a few shots on the television when he played in Dallas.

Q. Can you make any impressions based on that?

DAVID DUVAL: No. Obviously he's very good. I think he finished fourth or fifth. You know, that's pretty good.

LEE PATTERSON: Anything else? Thank you.

DAVID DUVAL: Thank you.

End of FastScripts....

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