Duval Grabs the Spotlight Going into Masters

All David Duval could do was wait and watch.

He signed for a 67 and sat; in the white clapboard lodge known as Jones Cabin, next to the 10th tee at Augusta National Golf Club.

Mark O’Meara, who had birdied the 17th to poll into a tie, was standing over a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th -- virtually the same putt Duval had missed moments earlier.

“Don’t worry, David.” Augusta chairman Jack Stephens told him. “Nobody ever makes that putt.”

It had been 10 years since anyone had won the Masters with a birdie putt on the 18th hole. Only Arnold Palmer in 1960 had birdied the last two holes to win. But there was no mistaking that roar for O’Meara.

With shocking suddenness, the tournament was over. Before leaving the room for the green jacket presentation in Butler Cabin, Stephens looked over at Duval.

“Hey, good tournament,” he said. “We’ll look forward to seeing you next year.”

Duval returns to Augusta National or Thursday, not as the hard-luck runner-up but as the No. 1 player in the world whose resume lacks only a major.

The 1998 Masters was the first time he had been in contention as a major. The outcome left a feeling he later described as getting kicked in the teeth.

But from that experience, and a stunning stretch of golf that followed. Duval will drive down Magnolia Lane riding a wave of confidence.

“There is no question in my mind I can win that golf tournament,” he said. “I know I can beat the players. It’s just a matter of being on my game and playing well to do it. It’s no guarantee I will, but I have proven I can do it. I have proven it to myself.”

He has proven it to the world. Duval has won 10 times in his last 33 tournaments, the best stretch of golf since Tom Watson went 10-for-25 during the Carter administration.

In the winners-only field in Hawaii, Duval won by nine strokes. He was seven strokes back in the final round of the Hope Classic and turned in the only Sunday 59 in tour history to win again. And after taking three weeks off, he beat the best field of the year in The Players Championship to rise to No. 1 in the world.

Not since Fred Couples in 1992 has anyone come into the Masters on this kind of roll, with expectations this high. Couples was the last player to be ranked No. 1 without having won a major, and he won the Masters a few weeks later.

Clearly, the 63rd Masters could be one of the most intriguing this decade.

Three of the best young players in golf -- Duval, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els -- have each won at least once this year and could start an anxiously awaited rivalry.

O’Meara proved last year how valuable experience can be in the Masters, winning the green jacket in his 15th try. Greg Norman is still trying to get into the Champions Locker Room, this year with a healthy left shoulder.

Palmer will set a record with his 45th straight appearance, while Jack Nicklaus had hip replacement surgery and will miss the Masters for the first time in 40 years.

Augusta itself has gone through a reconstruction. Two holes play 25 yards longer, there are new pine trees on the par-5 15th, a new green on No. 11 and rough only as deep as a golf ball, but still twice as high as usual.

Still most eyes will be on the 27-year-old Duval, whose success has a lot to do with patience and perseverance.

He never hanged his head against the wall when he finished second seven times before his first PGA Tour victory. He never thought once about changing his game, which was good enough for an 11th-place finish on the money list when he was a rookie and no worse than that since.

“David has gotten over the hurdle of winning on Sunday,” Nick Price said. “All he has to do is realize that he’s beaten the guys in a major championship. Once he realizes that, he’s going to win a couple.”

Not long ago, the player who was going to win a bunch of majors was Woods, and the Masters figured to be his domain.

Nicklaus once predicted that Woods would win as many green jackets as he and Palmer combined (10) That didn’t look too farfetched when Woods won his first Masters as a professional by a record 12 strokes with a record 270.

“Two years ago has gone by pretty quick in my life,” said Woods, who hasn’t won a major since.

With Duval getting all the attention, Woods could be lying in the grass waiting to pounce. He has won just twice on the PGA Tour over the past 21 months, but he is never too far from the lead -- already six top-10s this year in just eight tournaments, including a victory.

“I’ve made some improvements in my game and I’m getting better each year,” Woods said. “It’s only a matter of time before things start clicking. I know how it felt to put on a green jacket, and hopefully I’ll do the same thing.”

And don’t forget Els, the two-time U.S. Open champion who could be the third part of this generation’s “Big Three.”

All that is missing is a showdown between the best young players on the most important stage in golf--a major championship.

“I imagine that will happen in time,” O’Meara said.

What better place than Augusta?

The Masters gave us the great rivalry between Ben Hogan and Sam Snead in the early 1950s. Palmer and Nicklaus first went head-to-head in the U.S. Open, but the Masters is where their rivalry blossomed in the ‘60s. Both times Tom Watson won a green jacket, Nicklaus was a runner-up.

“It will be great if you get a guy like David and Tiger, both of them playing well at Augusta,” Els said. “That should be one hell of shootout, because they hit the ball the same way and that would exciting.”

Not that Els wouldn’t love to be part of that mix once again, this time with a major championship stake. Or Justin Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion. Or Phil Mickelson, a 13-time winner on tour who is still looking for his first major.

“It would be nice if all these players can get together and well in a major,” Els said. “You remember that for a long time.”