Of course I know his story but here we are just before the final round of another major and Tiger is in the hunt, in the final pair (again). I was thinking back about 8-10 years ago when the golf world seemed poised for great competition with Tiger, Ernie Els, Phil, David Duval, & Justin Leonard.

Fast forward to today and the 2 constants of golf are that Tiger will compete for just about every major, and his chief competition will be someone different each time. Phil and Ernie, dispite their success have failed to be a true rival to Tiger and Justin Leonard has just fallen off the map. So I was wondering if the guy we all wish were here (ok the guy I wish was here), the guy to push back against Tiger for the past 10 years, should have been/could have been David Duval. Maybe, maybe not. I just wonder what could have been if his heart was still in the game.

Justin Leonard was never in the hunt, he only had a fluke win here and there at big events

Duval broke up with his beetch of a girlfriend to marry a Denny's waitress with 3 kids. Now that his tour exemptions are all but gone he will never be seen again.

quote:

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Numerous reasons have been postulated for the decline, including back, wrist, and shoulder problems; private difficulties; and a form of vertigo.

Many commentators believed Duval's career to be over, but he returned to golf in 2004 at the U.S. Open, where he shot 25 over par and missed the cut. David has struggled since his return with his highest results a T-13 at the 2004 Deutsche Bank Championship and a T-16 at the 2006 U.S. Open. He made the cut in only one PGA Tour event in 2005, but did finish in the top ten at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan. While Duval at his peak was viewed as aloof and distant and was not a fan favorite, now galleries sympathize with his plight and root for him to overcome his issues and to experience golfing enjoyment.

Duval had a successful start to the 2006 PGA Tour season, making the cut in his first two tournaments, as well as a very respectable finish of T-16 at the U.S. Open Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club, where his second round 68 was good enough for a tie as the best round of the tournament. Despite not reaching the same heights in the remaining two majors of the year, his performances continued a general upward trend, with none of the rounds of 80+ that had become so familiar in the previous years. David is currently taking time off from golf to help his wife during her pregnancy.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Duval

His career is over and has been so for at least 2 years. He's not just a headcase; he doesn't seem to desire playing anymore. Family or the grind finally caught up? Who knows. Maybe its too much snowboarding with John Kerrey's secret service agent.

His British exemption runs out in 2011 [actually, I'm wrong: it goes until he is 65]. If he even plays that long, that's the last we'll see of him. What a waste.

[This message has been edited by 91AggieLawyer (edited 7/23/2007 7:57p).]

As one of the original members of the Tiger Hater Club, I was very disappointed to see Duval's career nosedive.

The injuries did take their toll and changed his quirky swing - and he just never seemed to find it again. He went from a power-fade player who could always take the left side out of play to a player that had no freaking idea which way he was headed - particularly off the tee. Lost his swing, lost his confidence, and then lost his mind when he met his Denny's waitress wife and decided to quit working at finding his game again.

He went through some tough stuff as a kid, so I'm not all that surprised he ended up going off the deep end a little. For instance, when he was 10-11 years old, he donated bone marrow to his older brother who had cancer. His brother reacted severely to it and died. Duval blamed himself and it really messed him up in the head.

Duval is alive and well and plays at Castle Pines regularly (when it is open 6 months of the year). The folks there will tell you that he can still play, still works on his game, and don't count him out yet.

I don't think we will see him in the top ten rankings again, but I think he will still make a living on tour and he is said to be happy by all other measures. Sounds like a pretty good life still.

Considering he didn't play at the one major where he won and has an exemption, I don't think we'll see him again.

David Duval is a complete @ss! About 7 or 8 years ago I took several girls from the daughter's HS golf team to the Colonial. One of the girl's was a big fan of David Duval. After the round was over she tried to get his autograph before he got to the clubhouse. Absolutely nobody but her was trying to get his autograph. He was a complete @ss to her and told her he wasn't going to autograph her hat. No wonder no one else was even talking to him. Whatever negative befalls Mr. Duval is justice service in my opinion. The young lady was heartbroken.

In fairness, though, many people have stories like this for a ton of celebrities. I don't think any of us truly understands what its like to be hounded by many people, so I give these guys a break on this even if they did sound like a jerk.

Agree with 91lawyer. Always thought it was ridiculous about how many character judgments get made because a guy wouldn't stop to sign the eleventy-billionth autograph that's been requested in his lifetime.

That said, his absence from the British does say a lot about his aspirations toward getting back into the game. He was starting to pull things together a bit in 2006 and early 2007, but he's dropped off the face of the golf earth. He made the cut at the British Open last year.

I think I remember reading something about how his wife is or was pretty sick and he was taking time off from the game to care for her. It then went on to say that he may seek a medical exemption for this year since he didn't really play and still had a year left from his previous exemption.

Good article about Duval in this week's Golf World magazine - his wife if pregnant, so maybe that's why he didn't make the trip over to the British Open.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golfworld/columnists/2007/07/20070718_hawkins