Imagine.
31 shots on the front nine, 28 on the back. 6,950 yards in 59
shots. Every shot on national television, plus you started the
day seven shots back from the leader of the tournament. On the
way to the win, you did something no one in the history of golf
had ever done before: you won a tournament on the final day with
a sub-60 round. Two other players, Al Geiberger and Chip Beck
have shot 59, but not on the final day to win a tournament. His
opponent, Steve Pate, said, "I guess I was in the wrong
place at the wrong time."
This year Duval is a cumulative 52-under par in the Mercedes
Championships and the Hope, his two 1999 tournaments, and has
already earned a total of $1,008,000. Last year he set the PGA
one-year earnings records with $2,591,031, and was not named
Player of the Year.
For those of you who do not play golf and find it boring, think
about this with me for a moment. You step to the first tee. You're
a normal golfer who plays twice a week. It's a nice day, but
windy. You're playing with Dave Duval. He says, "You go
first." You walk to the tee, there are 4,000 people around
the tee, another 20,000,000 watching on TV. They are all thinking,
"Who in the name of God Almighty is this?" You
have a 16 handicap,and up until this moment you were proud of
that fact, having been as high as 28. You bend over to tee up
your ball. Your pants are tight, you can hear the seams stress.
You take a practice swing, it feels stiff and not fluid at all.
You want to take another one, but are feeling the pressure, so you
address the ball. The world goes quiet. You can hear the pounding
of your own heart. You begin the swing. Somewhere in the downswing
you lose concentration and the club head strikes the ball somewhere,
you look up suddenly worried at how bad it might be. But, you
hit it solidly with an unfortunate slice to the right. 200 yards
maybe, in the deep rough. But, hey, it's out there. David is
standing behind you, ball and tee ready to go. You sheepishly
move off the tee. "Nice hit, Bill. Kinda of a lot pressure
today, right?" You nod your head and you both laugh. All
you can think of is that you're glad that's over. David is now
addressing the ball and with a one-piece picture-perfect swing
strikes the ball crisply and while you are staring at his beautiful
follow-through he bends to get his tee and begins the walk to
the next shot. You hear the announcer say, "That's about
300 yards straight down the fairway. Duval is in position 'A.'"
As you approach your ball, alone now, the cameras and the crowd
are staying with Duval, you are asking your caddy for a 4-iron.
"I've just got to get it out onto the fairway." The
caddy hands you a six-iron, suggesting that that will be a safer
club. "You can't get there anyway." You shake that
off and grab the 4-iron, thinking you'd really like to hit the
3-iron. After address and a practice swing, you swing on the
ball and top it 25 yards, still in the deep rough. "Now,
give me that 6-iron," you say to the caddy." Your next
shot is a "fluff," meaning
you hit under the ball, reducing its potential distance by probably
two-thirds, but it goes really high and it makes it onto the
fairway by about three inches. You are still 165 yards from the
green, and at least 40 yards behind Duval's tee-shot. It's still
your shot. You hit another 4-iron, it slices into the trap next
to the green. You lie four. Duval hits a beautiful pitching wedge
from about 126 yards to five-feet from the pin. He lies two.
On the way to the green and the next shots, he is carrying his
putter as you chat. "Just a chip and a putt," he says
to you, encouragingly. As you step down into the trap your mind
is whirring. The sands seems so soft and deep. As you peer over
the lip of the trap you can see David talking to a reporter.
They both look over at you. The camera swings over as well. You
take your open stance, you
open the club face. You dig your feet in. You remember to follow-through
and then you swing. There is a "poof" sound as the
club passes under the ball. The ball flies. It lands on the green,
15 feet from the hole. You are exhilarated. The best trap shot
you've had in many, many rounds. But, it's still your shot. Your
sixth shot on a par four. Your caddy hands you your new Odyssey
putter, there is sand all over you from the last shot in the
trap. You are brushing if off of your shoulders and out of your
hair as you approach the ball. "They probably think I have
dandruff," you're thinking as you notice the camera following
your slow progress across the green. You mark your ball. You
clean it off. You replace it and address it for your first putt.
You stroke it, and immediately you know it was too hard. The
ball goes racing past the hole, past David's marker to about
six and a half feet on the other side. "Wow," you think,
"these are fast greens!" You go through your routine
again, this time with a better result. Three feet past. "That's
good!" says David. You pick up your ball for an eight. You're
thinking, "What a tough hole." The crowd erupts in
cheers as David makes his first birdie of the day. And then you
think, "This is gong to be a long round of golf." As
you walk to the next tee, you realize that Duval is already ahead
by five shots.
So, for those of who don't play, perhaps this little story gives
you some idea of how good he is. The average player never breaks
100, and only the top 20% of all golfers break 90. Only three
golfers in the history of the game have ever broken 60 in a tournament.
Only one golfer in the history of the game has done it in the
final round to win. He won the tournament by only one stroke.
Oh, yeah. These guys of the PGA are good! |