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Deflated David Despite his best efforts, Duval couldn't pull off miracle
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) -- David Duval showed why he is rated the second-best golfer in the world when he was the only player in the field to put pressure on eventual British Open champion Tiger Woods on Sunday. Duval's final position of sharing 11th place, 12 shots behind fellow American Woods, was by no means a fair reflection of his efforts. After nine holes, he had cut the world No. 1's lead from six shots to three and but for a miss from 2 feet on the fifth, it could have been two. Duval continued to press but, as Woods had been saying all week, St. Andrews cannot be forced into giving up birdies and he dropped shots at Nos. 11, 12 and 16. The title was long gone by then, Woods forging clear to reach 20 under par, but any disappointment Duval was feeling was to be magnified by his experience on the 17th. The world's toughest par 4 had lived up to its reputation this week and when Duval sent his 6-iron approach into the road bunker, he was in for some serious trouble. Four shots later, he finally emerged, and after two-putting, he had the ignominy of an 8 on his card, which plunged him from a share of second place to off the leaderboard. That he was able to make a solid par on the last hole speaks volumes for his professionalism, but there was no hiding his disappointment after he watched his friend Woods lift the trophy that, just briefly, had been in his sights. "I tried to put some pressure on but after a good start, I made some mistakes and he didn't," he said. "His was a spectacular performance to say the least. He capitalized on the holes you expected him to and played efficiently, which is how I wanted to play." Of his time in the bunker, reminiscent of Tommy Nakajima taking 4 en route to a 9 and an end to his chances in the 1978 Open, he said: "The first shot was my best, the problem was that the ball was under the lip and I was looking to the right and the left to figure the best way of getting it out. "Each time I stopped to try to think how to get out, until finally I was in a position to do so." That was thanks to his third try, a one-handed backward scoop that shifted the ball to the shallow side and enabled an exit. The bunkers came in for severe criticism in the build-up to the tournament but officials acted to try to prevent the ball rolling as tight to the wall as Duval's did. He was reluctant to blame anyone but himself for his misfortune. "I wouldn't like to say whether the bunker is fair or not," he said. "There certainly isn't much sand in it but the fact is you know it's there and you just have to keep out of it." Duval said he realized the tournament was out of his reach at the 10th. After hauling back to within three shots, he then left a birdie putt a fraction short and watched Woods roll his in. Two holes later, he bogeyed as Woods birdied and it was effectively all over, the bunker carnage just adding to his frustration. However, Duval, without a win since April 1999, can take enormous encouragement from his performance this week. He gets another chance to dent Woods' hegemony at the PGA Championship in a month's time.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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