THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 29, 1996

David Duval

DAVID DUVAL: Well, it has gone good. You know, like I said, out there I didn't know what to expect. I was just happy to be able to play; especially after having the problem with my shoulder and arm, and with Augusta coming up, I mean, Atlanta, I just wanted to play some competitive rounds, and I am a little -- I am a little further along as far as crispness in my game than I thought I might be at this point, having basically an entire off-season again.

WES SEELEY: Why don't you take us around this round. Start with the 10th.

DAVID DUVAL: Did you want --

WES SEELEY: Birdies and bogeys.

DAVID DUVAL: I made birdie on 10. I hit a 7-iron about -- to about four feet out of the left fairway bunker, and I birdied 12 with a pitching wedge to about eight or ten feet. 3-putted 13.

WES SEELEY: From how far?

DAVID DUVAL: Oh, 40 feet. I eagled 16. I hit a driver off the tee and then 2-iron just onto the back fringe, up near the cut of the rough. Kind of hit a little bump-and-run shot with a 5-iron. It went in.

WES SEELEY: How far was that about?

DAVID DUVAL: Not more than 20, 22 feet from the hole. I was kind of right behind the hole. I birdied 1 and sand wedged to about eight, ten feet.

WES SEELEY: Was it one or two?

DAVID DUVAL: I am sorry, two. Sand wedge to about ten feet. I birdied 4 with a sand wedge to about four feet. I bogeyed five. I missed the green to the right with a 4-iron and pitched to about eight feet and missed the putt. I birdied 6 with a wedge to about 15 feet, twelve feet. Then I birdied eight. I hit a 3-iron; made it about, I don't know, 50 feet, maybe. 50-footer, something like that.

WES SEELEY: Okay. Questions.

Q. David, I wonder if there is anything that is working well this week that you kind of felt was coming along about your game before you got hurt? Is there anything that is kind of like -- did you pick up any progression of things from earlier this year?

DAVID DUVAL: No. Everything seems to be generally better right now than it was in the beginning. I have driven the ball really well for two days now, and I feel like I have putted quite well also. That was -- especially -- I drove the ball pretty well out west, and I just didn't make a whole lot of putts. I felt like I was rolling it pretty good, but they seemed to have gone in the last two days.

Q. On 8 what did you -- was the idea to get it close or did you see something you liked as far as the break?

DAVID DUVAL: No. I just kind of guessed and -- I mean, it was, you know, it was so far off, I was just hoping, with a big slope, just try to get a good pace on it; get it down pretty close to the hole so you don't have to sweat over another one. But it just -- I think I got the line right -- I don't know if the pace was quite right, it still went in. I think it would have rolled four, five feet by. From there, not too bad.

Q. You were having a disciplining Friday last year, and there were a lot of expectations on you. What is different about this year as far as the expectations?

DAVID DUVAL: I think -- I would think a lot of it would be that there weren't a whole lot of expectations after having to sit down with a little injury; especially because there was kind of nothing to compare it to coming into here as far as playing -- whether I was playing well last year, I was playing real well coming into here this year. This year I haven't been able to play much at all. So I think some of the expectations were just not there.

Q. Talk about the injury a little bit. What did you do and --

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. It kind of went as quickly as it came. I was having some pain, and I was told after visiting the Mayo, and the doctor there, Mark Broderson, said it was Tendinitis. I went through an M.R.I. That is kind of sketchy. But you know, I don't know what happened. It just -- I don't know why it came up, and I don't know why it left. I did a lot of stretching and exercise with water, but I played -- hit some balls and played the weekend before in New Orleans, and I was planning on going to New Orleans and just couldn't do it. Then I woke up Monday morning of New Orleans and felt fine. So, you know, I don't know why it left, and I don't know why it came. I am not an expert at all on that. And I was just -- I think I was just -- I was lucky.

Q. Left shoulder?

DAVID DUVAL: Right -- correct. (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER.)

Q. When did you first start noticing the pain in the shoulder?

DAVID DUVAL: Probably the week before I went out west to start the TOUR. I had to quit one day playing with my father, and I think maybe one or two other people, but out west it was there. I noticed it. But it wasn't anything that was ever unbearable. And then when we came back east, I had Doral -- probably the week before it was bothering me; especially when I got back. I was going fishing. I thought it would probably cure it. I got to Doral and it just got too bad, and I had to walk off the golf course. I have never done that. I had never had to withdraw from a golf tournament before it started or after. I had to do it. I didn't want to. I was thinking of this tournament and the next few coming up, Augusta, that I want to make sure I didn't hurt myself anymore.

Q. I think we read a quote earlier this week from you saying that -- about the first-time winners, saying anybody who is surprised doesn't know anything about golf. What did you mean by that?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, that is not exactly what I said. What I said was anybody who is surprised doesn't follow professional golf a whole lot. They are not -- because I think if you ask any of the players out here, I don't think they are surprised. I don't know what their responses have been, but with such tours as NIKE and HOOTERS TOURS, and then the qualifying tournament itself, the mental toughness that you need to gain to win tournaments is given to you through routes through the PGA TOUR. I think I had said something to the effect that Scott winning last week was probably a walk in the park compared to having to shoot 129 all weekend at Vegas to keep his card, so I think that you know, I don't think players are surprised. I think it is just that everybody knows the big names a lot more than they know the bottom half of names and the players themselves aren't ever surprised to see another player win.

Q. The fields haven't been too shabby, at least, not at Bay Hill --

DAVID DUVAL: That is my point. I mean, you know, they can play and I don't see why-- I wasn't surprised. I know Tim Herron, Paul Goydos, and I know Scott and I played with Tim more than the other two and I have watched him do it before.

Q. Does this change make you hungrier to see those guys coming through and you are still scratchy?

DAVID DUVAL: Well, maybe a little bit. I am happy for them as much as anything. I feel like my time will come. It is not something that I am trying to rush. But I feel like it will come, but with those guys I was just tickled to death to see them win because they are all friends of mine.

Q. Is this the first time you had an injury, a serious injury that kept you from playing?

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah, it is.

Q. Was it scary?

DAVID DUVAL: Yeah it was. It was very. I didn't know -- especially not knowing exactly what the problem was you know, a lot of stuff goes through your mind.

Q. David, growing up here, was this a dream to try to win this tournament? I mean, is that something you ever thought about when you were younger?

DAVID DUVAL: On many occasions, yeah. This is the event that I got to come out and watch as a kid and so I was familiar with this event as other players might have been with some around their home towns. Where I chased players trying to get autographs myself. So I have watched it for years and years and years now and I was just -- had always wanted to participate in the event and I think as far as personally important, it is up there with a lot of them.

Q. David, I think Lenny Mattiace said something a couple of weeks ago that he noticed a lot of guys when they go to events, other spots on the TOUR that is in somebody's hometown, that they feel a certain amount of pressure or feel certain amount of expectations so it is not unusual for this to occur for somebody to win an event in their hometown?

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know. I am not as aware of that as Lenny might be. I feel like there is a bit more of attention probably just because it is your hometown and I think winning a tournament in your hometown probably be a bit more difficult than on the road somewhere. The expectations are high, but a lot of the players play with us every week irregardless of where they are, Norman and Price and Couples, they are expected to win all the time and that just doesn't work. It just doesn't happen that way out here.

Q. What were some of the most cherished autographs you had gotten as a kid?

DAVID DUVAL: All the big guys that I am competing with now, Norman and Couples, Seve. It is just -- it was fun watching them and kind of looking up to them and following them practice days; watched them on the range.

Q. Do you have any local knowledge on this course?

DAVID DUVAL: I probably have more than most of the TOUR rookies, but I have far less than the veterans; especially in tournament conditions, I haven't seen the golf course, but for four rounds in tournament conditions; whereas, guys like who have been playing here for 10, 15 years have seen it play in all kind of weather; all kind of firmness and fastness. I remember up in Atlanta when I was playing so well as an amateur, they said a lot of local knowledge I had was an advantage. I think Tom Kite was playing that tournament for 20 years and he probably played 2, 300 rounds on it and I think I played 10. It is kind of like around here I might have played 50 rounds on this golf course; whereas, the other guys who have been here so long might have played at least 100.

Q. Didn't you play real well as a marker here one time? You were marking -- I can't remember who it was with.

DAVID DUVAL: With Joey Sindelar. Played five holes and then Scott Hoch withdrew and Greg Norman moved up to play with Joey. I wouldn't say I played well. I was 1-under-par. I think I probably had five putts so far five holes.

Q. You were how old then?

DAVID DUVAL: I think I was a freshman in college, so I was 18.

WES SEELEY: Anything else?

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