The Most Victorious Weekend Off

Sometimes the greatest stories miss the cut by four shots.

More often than not, this is not the case. But Friday at Pinehurst, it was.
Michael Campbell winning was a great story. Jason Gore being in the final group was a great story. The ESPNEWS reporter saying that Tiger making his “normal final day comeback” at a major, even though Tiger has never come back on the final day at a major before, was a great story. ESPN’s Sportscenter at the U.S. Open showing a graphic that spelt the word playing without the g was a great story.

But none of those stories could compare to David Duval shooting a 152, missing the cut by only 4 shots.

I know that this is fifteen miles from the guy who won the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2001 and the guy who went neck and neck with Tiger at Augusta National earlier that year. But I also know that it is fifteen miles in the other direction from the guy who shot a 165 at Shinnecock last year, the second worst total in the tournament. And the year before, when he shot a first-round 83 at the Greater Hartford Open, eight shots worse than Suzy Whaley, before withdrawing.

Duval has entered 9 events this year and has missed the cut in all nine.

He was last by 20 shots during the first four rounds of the five-round Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Justin Leonard shot a 332 for the tournament over five rounds, David Duvall a 318 over 4 rounds.

He was last by 2 shots at Pebble Beach. He missed the cut by 8 shots at the Nissan Classic. He shot a respectable 144 in the Chrysler Classic at Tuscon, but missed the cut by 5 shots. He was last by 6 shots at Bay Hill. He beat Stuart Appleby by 3 shots at the Players’ Championship, but lost to everyone else.

But in his last two tournaments, he has played competitive golf.

At the Masters, he managed a 152. That isn’t great, but it beats not playing in it, as he did in 2004. And it beats the 162 he hacked in 2003. His 152 kept him in contention for weekend play, missing the cut by only 4 shots. More importantly, he did not shoot a round of 80 or worse, something he hadn’t done in a major since the 2003 U.S. Open when he went 72-78.

Duvall then took off two months and came back in the U.S. Open, again missing the cut by a mere 4 shots and again shooting a 152 without a round in the 80s.

Given, this is nothing remarkable, but when you look at the three years David Duval has had, he deserves a round of applause.

He made three cuts in nine tournaments last year, finishing 13th, 52nd, and 37th respectively. However, he scored in red figures in the International, the tournament in which negative scores are bad. And he ended the year down at Disney in 140th place, missing the cut. He made just over $120,000.

The year before, he missed the cut in 16 of his 19 tournaments. He finished in the bottom 30 nine times and out of the top 100 twelve times. He won less than $85,000.

And this year he has yet to make a cent.

You want to compare this to 2002? Only once did he fail to finish in the top 100 and he made 14 cuts from 23 events. And he had two top 10s. Talk about a waterfall.

But this isn’t because David Duval has become old. No. He is only 33 years old.

It isn’t because of injuries. No. he recovered from those a few years ago.

It isn’t even because he no longer cares. No. If he did not care, he would not be playing.

No, it is because David Duval is relearning the game; he is reinventing his game. It’ll take some time, but you watch. David Duval will once again be a highly ranked player. He may not ever reach number one again. He may not ever win that second major. He may not ever win another tournament, but he has come too far to continue to miss the cut. He will start making cuts. He will start reaching the final day in contention. He will start working hard on the weekends.

Although he missed the cut by four shots Friday at Pinehurst #2, David Duval has shown the world that he can again compete in high level golf. I offer my congratulations to Michael Campbell and Jason Gore and all the others who won our hearts over the weekend. But David Duval, you have won back my heart.

There may just be one story written about David Duval and his performance at the U.S. Open, and it may have been written well or poorly, you be the judge, but the story itself trumps every other story that could be written about what occurred at Pinehurst. He may have missed the cut, but compared to everything else he has done recently, it is as impressive as when he won the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes and when he went neck and neck for four rounds with Tiger at Augusta National.