Making Most of Downtime

So, David Duval, about last year, was that a disaster for you or what?

“It looked like a little bit of a meltdown,” he said. “It looked like a complete failure.”

But it also depends on who is doing the looking, Duval said.

“I’m 31 years old, I’ve been out here nine years, I’ve won 13 times, I’ve won a major, I’ve been on a winning Ryder Cup team, I’ve won a money title, I’ve been ranked No. 1 in the world,” Duval said Tuesday at PGA West as he practiced for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, which begins today.

“So I had one year that wasn’t so good. If you really think about getting questions about how bad last year was, I guess it’s flattering, because people’s expectations of me are high. Well, my expectations of myself are pretty high too.”

No one could have guessed that Duval would hit the skids the way he did last year.

He didn’t win a tournament for the first time since 1996, he had only two top-10 finishes, he missed the cut at the Masters and the U.S. Open and won less money than in any year since he joined the PGA Tour in 1995.

Part of the reason could have been that Duval wasn’t sound, battling nagging back and shoulder injuries. He also broke up with his longtime fiancee, but he eventually came to the conclusion that there is no sense looking back.

“Last year doesn’t really matter anymore,” he said. “I know it sounds kind of silly, but in the next 10 years, if I can do what I’ve done in the last 10 years, I’d settle for that.

“Last year was an amazing challenge. I got away from everything I ever did. Bad habits I learned from when I hurt my back. That’s not a cop-out. I didn’t have the right balance between quality and quantity in golf. I was just hitting balls. I wasn’t focused. I am not a ball-beater. You don’t see me hitting very many longer clubs.

“I’ve played a long time. I’ve had some good results. I know what to do. I’m optimistic.”

To become that way, Duval removed himself from golf. He spent six days snowboarding at Sun Valley, Idaho, over Thanksgiving and two more weeks before New Year’s. It wasn’t until three weeks ago that Duval started practicing again at home at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., most of the time alone, but sometimes with a trusted observer at his side -- his father. Bob Duval is a Champions Tour player and a noted teaching pro.

What they worked on was, basically, nothing. Instead of practicing in a strict regimen, Duval said he and his father simply played golf and attempted to find a comfortable rhythm. It was golf but not tournament golf. And playing was fun, which proved to Duval that in concert with his off-season activities, he had struck the right balance, at least for him.

“With this game, at times, less is more,” he said. “There are times you need to work and times you need to stay away.

“With this game, you’ve got to take the good with the bad. I’ve been very fortunate. There hasn’t been too much bad.”

In fact, it has been almost overwhelmingly good, just not lately. The last tournament Duval won was 18 months ago, but it was a big one -- the 2001 British Open. Before that, he let it be known with his play that if there was going to be a rival to stand up to Tiger Woods, it would be him.

There was a 16-month period from late September 1997 to early April 1999 that Duval dominated. He won 11 times in that span, including the last three events of 1997, the NEC World Series of Golf in 1998 and The Players Championship in 1999, when he became the first player since Johnny Miller in 1974 to win four times before the Masters.

Duval also won the Bob Hope in 1999, when he eagled the last hole and shot a record-tying 59.

The next year, Duval was out of action for 10 weeks because of a back injury, a ligament problem in his lower and middle back. He had to withdraw from the 2000 PGA Championship -- the first major he had missed since he was a rookie. If that was hard for Duval, it was even more difficult to have seen him at St. Andrews in July, when Woods won and Duval was in so much pain because of his back that he conducted his news conferences standing up.

But a year later, Duval stood tall and came through with a closing-round 67 and a three-shot win over Niclas Fasth at the British Open at Royal Lytham.

That victory seems as if it came a long time ago. His reputation as a big hitter with accuracy deserted him. Last year, Duval ranked 176th in driving accuracy and 100th in greens in regulation. He missed eight cuts and had only one top-10 finish after May.

As a result, his ranking suffered. Once ranked No. 1, Duval begins tournament play in 2003 at 24th -- his lowest ranking in nearly seven years.

With the start of the Hope, he has his first chance to turn it all around. There are those who expect that Duval’s slump, if that’s what it was, probably will be short-lived.

“I know he had a down year and I’m sure he’s anxious to get back out here and show people what kind of player David Duval really is,” David Toms said. “I haven’t watched tape of his swing to compare, but I guess he did struggle with his driver and we all know it’s hard to make birdies from the rough.”

Is it still time to worry about him?

“No,” Toms said. “He’ll be fine.”

That’s just how Duval expects to be. From where he stands, pain-free for the first time since 1999, things are looking up. From his position, the perspective is good, Duval said.

“In the end, you need a year like I had to appreciate the good. That’s where I’m at.”