Duval Knocks Out Garcia to Tip Scales in His Favor

David Duval is about as thin as a one-iron these days, but that doesn’t mean he thinks he should be easily overlooked by those compiling a list of golf’s young superstars.

There’s more to a list than one that begins with Tiger and ends with Woods, of course. Sergio Garcia is there, and now, we are reminded, we can’t dismiss Duval.

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At 28, Duval is four years older than Woods and eight years older than Garcia, who might have aged a few years Friday because of Duval in the $5-million Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship.

While the chances of a Woods-Duval final remained intact, the tournament’s top match so far was Duval’s 2-and-1 victory over Garcia in this showdown between superstars-in-waiting Friday in the third round at La Costa.

Garcia led only once, but not after Duval had made a 10-foot putt to birdie the sixth hole.

Afterward, Duval, ranked second in the world, said beating Garcia carried some additional meaning because of all the emphasis on Woods and Garcia.

“[Garcia] had some exciting things going on and had done some tremendous stuff at the PGA, but I’m pretty good in this game too, still,” Duval said.

“It might be Sergio and Tiger as a rivalry and I might not be involved, but right now, I think I could be just as much a part of it. And I think, for me, had I lost to Sergio, I would have been further cast aside. And I think there would have been a lot of ‘See, that’s what we’re talking about.’

“So did it make it more exciting for me to win in the end? No, it didn’t. But certainly I think the fallout could have been a little greater had the results been different.”

Meanwhile, the results from this second-year World Golf Championship event have been impressive, if only for the fact that Woods hasn’t checked out.

Woods never trailed in his 4-and-3 third-round victory over Maruyama and he offered this assessment: “I played beautifully.”

It’s hard to argue with Woods, who had a five-birdie, no-bogey, virtually trouble-free 15-hole match. And the idea that he could play so well after two rounds of playing, well, not so well, appealed to Woods’ sense of timing.

On Thursday, this match play event reminded Woods of the NCAA basketball tournament and Friday he used a tennis reference, apparently leaving him only lacrosse or badminton for today’s analogies.

Woods, who meets British Open champion Paul Lawrie in the quarterfinals this morning, said his game is coming around to where he wants it to be.

“You don’t necessarily want to play your best golf early and not have anything left,” he said. “You want to just get better each and every match and hit this many good shots and putt the ball as well as I did.”

Lawrie didn’t have much luck putting, except when he needed it the most against Mark Calcavecchia, making a 20-footer on the third extra hole for a 1-up victory. Lawrie missed putts on the 17th, 18th and 19th holes, when any one of them could have won the match.

Lawrie was much better at firing his caddie, which he did about 10 minutes before his tee time Thursday. His caddie the last two days has been his coach, Adam Hunter. Lawrie didn’t have much to say about why he made such an abrupt decision.

“These things happen,” he said.

This will be a busy day for the players: quarterfinals in the morning, and the survivors play the semifinals in the afternoon.

Davis Love III, who plays Miguel Angel Jimenez in a quarterfinal, was six under in his 3-and-2 victory over Jim Furyk. Scott Hoch defeated Jesper Parnevik, 2 and 1, for the chance to play Duval. In the other quarterfinal, Darren Clarke plays Hal Sutton. Clarke had four birdies and an eagle in his 1-up victory over Thomas Bjorn, and Sutton defeated Duffy Waldorf, 2 and 1.

Love had complained about his swing at Torrey Pines two weeks ago, but he said he is comfortable with it now. Woods, Duval and Love, who is seeded No. 4, are the only remaining players who were seeded in the top 10. Lawrie is the lowest-seeded player left at No. 41.

Love said he doesn’t know what to expect.

“You still may not have a top seed left at the end,” he said. “Hopefully there’s one. But it’s a strange tournament. Anything can happen.”

Ask Patrick Byrne. He is Lawrie’s former caddie.