It’s Personal for Duval

David Duval is back, maybe for 20 tournaments, maybe not. He doesn’t know what to expect, how he’ll play or if he even wants to be playing anymore, but he’s here at Torrey Pines, then plans to show up at the Hope, then Pebble Beach and Riviera.

What Duval wants to accomplish after playing only nine times last year, missing six cuts and falling to 210th on the money list is simple, he says.

“I guess my biggest goal would be just to work on the things I’ve been working on and feel that much more comfortable with it.”

Duval has changed his grip and is revamping his swing to alter the way he releases the club.

That’s the technical aspect. There is a more personal side as well. Now married, Duval became an instant father because his wife, Susie, has three children from a previous marriage. He said his family situation made it even more difficult to leave home and play golf, which was hard enough before and the reason he took seven months off last year.

He sounds as if he’s trying to convince himself he wants to be here.

“I think I would just really like to enjoy this atmosphere again and playing. I’ve done it a long time.... Maybe it’s my personality, maybe it’s not, I don’t know, but I’ve never dealt with the things that go with it very well, being No. 1 and those things. I’m not a natural like an Ernie Els, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson or whoever you name.”

A 13-time winner on the PGA Tour, Duval won the 2001 British Open and was ranked No. 1 for a period in 1998. He turns 34 this year and says he is a changed person.

“You know, just a feeling [that] you found home, you found where you’re supposed to be,” he said.

Tiger Woods said he had empathy for Duval.

“It’s hard because he obviously has gone through his share of troubles,” Woods said. “For the first time since I’ve ... known him, he’s finally happy off the course and [with] his life. So now it’s just a matter of time before his game comes around.”

*

Mickelson picked up a new hobby in the off-season: writing. He and his wife, Amy, collaborated on a book of personal short stories about his golf, titled “One Magical Sunday” and subtitled “But Winning Isn’t Everything.”

When asked the biggest difference between beginning this year as the Masters champion, as opposed to last year, he said, “The questions have changed, which is nice.”

*

He has tried to low-key his being Woods’ swing coach, which is the way Woods wants it, but Hank Haney has tailored his media approach, for obvious reasons. Haney rarely gives interviews, to those in either print or electronic media, but he had no problem taping two sessions with Woods on wedge play for ESPN at Kapalua during the Mercedes Championships. Haney is on the ESPN staff and Woods is tied to ABC, which owns ESPN.

*

At the World Cup of Golf in November in Seville, Spain, Paul Casey made the biggest splash, and not just because he won the event for England with partner Luke Donald. Casey made headlines with comments that he didn’t like Americans.

Now, Casey, who earned a two-year exemption to play the PGA Tour for playing on the European Ryder Cup, has pulled out of the Buick Invitational and the FBR Open at Phoenix.

Brad Faxon, a former member of the PGA Tour policy board, said if he’d had a chance, he’d have offered Casey some advice.

“I would have told him, ‘Look, what you said is done. You can’t change that now. I would not withdraw from tournaments. I would not hide from what you said. I would just apologize to people and play more. Every time you withdraw, you are going to create more publicity for yourself.’ And I know he withdrew from Phoenix.”

Of course, the Phoenix event is famous for its rowdy 16th hole, where the fans are right on top of the players and where Casey probably would get an earful.

Faxon said he liked Casey.

“I think he’s a nice guy, and I think he could do a lot for himself by being here.... Go on with it instead of hiding from it.”