David Duval turned back the clock at The Open Championship with a round of 67 that was so emotional it forced the crowd to give him a standing ovation on the back nine and drew tears in the eyes of his long-time caddie Ron ‘Bambie’ Leven.
Duval, the 2001 champion at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s, is one of the greatest enigmas in the game in recent years. At the peak of his career, he had a running battle with Tiger Woods to become the top-ranked player in the world, and briefly held that spot in two phases for a combined 15 weeks.
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And then, within weeks of his greatest win, his game deserted him. Duval is yet to win a tournament since the 2001 Dunlop Phoenix Open. He is now ranked 1268th in the world and has played just four events this year before his trip to St Andrews.
Duval said he wasn’t surprised to see himself facing the huge media contingent following the round that included seven birdies and two bogies.
“Well, I expected to play well at some point. I’ve been doing what I want to do for a long time, just not putting this together,” said the man lovingly called ‘Double D’ on the Tour.
“The difficulties I face is not getting to play. Competing against the best golfers in the world, the Dustin Johnsons and Jordan Spieths and Rorys is not a fair fight when I haven’t played a golf tournament in three or four months and they’ve been playing constantly.”
From column: In two sentences, David Duval succinctly explains the difference between playing well and playing badly. pic.twitter.com/B9ZmeG5ljj
— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelESPN) July 19, 2015
Duval said the birdie on the 18th hole in the second round on Saturday was a huge boost, especially after he hit two great shots into the 17th green moments earlier, and three-putted for a bogey.
“I faced a challenge yesterday, and it made me feel real good to do what I did,” he added. “I hit the golf shots I needed to do on 17 and then three-putted like a fool, but then birdied the 18th knowing I had to, and that was cool.
“And then just went out today, and it was a nice day, conditions weren’t too bad other than we just dealt with rain for probably the front nine. I just hit the golf shots I wanted to do and made a few putts, and that’s what happens.”
Duval’s caddie Leven revealed he has been at the range or the golf course for 12 hours a day on an average for the past two weeks.
“I have seen him come through so much adversity. I am just so proud of him,” said Leven using the mud-soaked towel he had been using to keep Duval’s clubs clean to wipe his tears.
When asked how tough it was to motivate himself to put in the 12-hour practice schedule despite such limited playing opportunities, Duval said the last few days had been special and he was just trying to enjoy a “Scottish Links trip”.
“I was excited to come over and play Gullane (Scottish Open). Links golf is my favourite thing to do, just puts a smile on my face when I’m out there playing, the challenges of it I find intriguing, frustrating, uplifting, all these things, and so to get to do it for two straight weeks, it’s a blessing as a golfer, regardless of who you are.
“Those long hours come from the enjoyment of being out here. I had a couple weeks of strictly paying attention to golf and practising and chipping and putting and doing all those things, and I was going to take advantage of it.
“It’s kind of like a lot of the people from around the world who travel here to Scotland. They don’t play nine holes and go and hang out. They do 36 holes. I was doing the same thing. I’m on a Scottish links trip.”
