THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 30, 1996

David Duval

WES SEELEY: Here with David Duval. We have Jay Haas in the lobby. 70, 66, 68; 204, 12-under par, and alone in second place, David Duval, at this point. How did you hold up and when did you start getting wet and things like that?

DAVID DUVAL: I held up fine. I didn't get distracted really at all. The weather will do that, obviously. I did good. I kept my focused concentration. As far as getting wet, I put the umbrella up coming down 7. I said there is no use in even trying. You are going to be soaked, so don't even worry about it.

Q. Have you seen other tournaments where it rained as bad and they went ahead and maybe stopped or suspended; were you surprised it went on or had -- have you played in rain like this before?

DAVID DUVAL: We have played in rain like this, and kind of like it is about right now, coming down 17, 18, that heavy, the golf course has held up; there is no reason to halt play. The greens weren't collecting water. There wasn't any lightening, obviously, because they didn't call us in. So the only point where you'd have to halt play is once the greens got -- or the golf course was unplayable.

WES SEELEY: Let us go birdies and bogeys.

DAVID DUVAL: I birdied 1. I think I hit 9-iron to about 35 feet; started off with a good one. And then hit sand wedge on 2, to about ten feet. I bogeyed 9, hit sand wedge, pulled it into the left green-side bunker, left of the hole, short sided myself with only a few feet there, and just kind of pitched it out to about 20 feet 2-putt. Then I birdied 12, hit my sand wedge to about 2 feet. I birdied 13, hit 6-iron to about three feet in. And I birdied 16, I hit a 2-iron on the green and 2-putted from about 20, 22 feet.

Q. Any momentary scare on 17 when you saw the ball trickling; did you feel like the rough had stopped it?

DAVID DUVAL: I thought the rough had stopped it, but apparently it was spinning harder than I thought it was. I backed off that first time because I felt the breeze mixing up a little bit more, and I was trying to look at the water to see if it was getting roughed up from the wind, but I didn't think it was hard enough to warrant changing golf clubs because it would have been -- I felt like I could hit the club, the 9-iron onto the green, and that is the whole purpose of that hole.

Q. Good point.

WES SEELEY: Did you think it was getting close to -- the course was getting close to being unplayable out there? Were you seeing a lot of problems?

DAVID DUVAL: I didn't see any problems. I could hear -- on 18 you could hear the ball running through the water. You couldn't see any water collecting, there wasn't any standing where -- you can hear it and you can feel it with how hard I hit my putt. And then I watched how hard Fuzzy hit his putt and they both came up short. I didn't see any standing water anywhere.

Q. Do you think, I guess, Tommy, especially, then you stood up to an awful lot of experienced players chasing you, had some bad conditions, and you and Tommy are up there, any particular explanation for that right now?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, no. You know, it is a game, and today was a tough day to play it in. But, you know, Tommy is a great player. He has played -- I played NIKE TOUR with him for two years. He played quite well last year. I think he has played very well this year. I know he had a great week last week. I don't see -- it is kind of like the guys winning these last weeks -- I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be playing well.

Q. Is that an example of -- there might be some guys out there trying win -- is it you and Tommy or is it anybody that can win this tournament--

DAVID DUVAL: Today is the kind of day where you really, if anything -- if there is any merit to, you know, kind of staring at who may be crumbling a bit, today is the day that you don't have the time to do it. You are so into trying to stay dry, trying to keep your grips dry, trying to make sure that your ball is dry when you putt. You can't get caught up in what is going on somewhere else on the golf course.

Q. Do you generally feel like you are a pretty good mudder?

DAVID DUVAL: I have always felt like that I am a good mudder. I don't mind it. I don't even -- I don't carry rain pants with me because they are distracting to me, and I sometimes wear the jacket if it is cooler out, but like today, I was getting too warm and I don't like messing with umbrellas especially if it is windy because they are just too cumbersome and I just bear it. Just go after it and I know I am going to get wet. I am going to get wet. It would have to be a pretty big umbrella for me not to.

Q. How do you play without your sunglasses?

DAVID DUVAL: I don't always play with them. Today you are not going to play with them in the rain. They would be distracting.

Q. Walking down the fairway, you don't use an umbrella?

DAVID DUVAL: I had one for a while; put it up. I think I got it out maybe on 17 when it started to really come down hard again. But that was as much as anything to keep my towel under there so it would stay dry and hang a few gloves, so they would stay dry.

Q. Did you tell yourself anything walking from 9 to 10 after the bogey, to get yourself -- did you just forget about it immediately and go on?

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, I did. I did forget about it. It was something I tried to -- the shot I hit, I tried to play forward, but I just -- I tried to hit it out right of the hole; figuring that it might turn or I might pull it a little bit off that lie and it just started -- it just started along the hole and it turned over into the bunker. So it is just one of those shots where, you know, it happens. And it can really happen on days like these - some funny things can happen out there.

Q. Do you think it is a good thing that you and Tommy are in the last group tomorrow?

DAVID DUVAL: I think it is a good thing any time I am in the last group on Sunday. I think it will be a lot of fun. I think it will be might be nerve wracking for a while at the beginning and at the end, but that is the whole purpose. I have always looked at if I am not nervous on Sunday, then I must be teeing off about 9 or I must not be playing, so I have always looked at it that I want to be in a position where I feel nervous when I am playing Sunday.

Q. Does playing with Fuzzy relax you? Is he a good guy to play with when there is a lot at stake or do you really notice who you are playing with?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, you always notice Fuzzy, you know, you can't not notice him. He is a lot of fun just to be out with. But you know, like I was saying, kind of on days like this, it is not like you can walk down the fairways talking because he is under an umbrella or I might have been under an umbrella or whatever the case may be, you just kind of are really into what you are doing, but he is a very relaxing person to be around.

Q. What have your galleries been like? Any of your local, old drinking buddies?

DAVID DUVAL: I don't drink. (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.)

Q. Any old buddies, do you hear them out there?

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, you know, and there is a lot. The galleries have been very good. The people have come out and supported me a lot this week and I have appreciated it very much. But you hear -- recognize voices, but I am trying to play and I am kind of into what I am doing and if I got into saying hello or talking to everyone that has been out there, it will be, well, first of all, that would be a tough thing to do because there are so many people out there. So I just kind of go on; try to talk when I can and just go about my business.

WES SEELEY: Anything else? Okay.

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