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The curse Defending champion's problems not new at TPC
Posted: Saturday March 25, 2000 09:11 PM
By Garry Smits
Duval shot a 73 to finish at 4-over-par 140, and in a tie for 46th, 10 shots behind leader Hal Sutton. By making the 6-over cut, he became the fifth defending champion in the past seven years to play on the weekend (Nick Price missed the cut in 1994 and Steve Elkington withdrew with a sinus infection in 1998), and join Fred Couples in 1997 (tie for 10th) as the only defending champions in the last 10 years to finish among the top 10. However, Duval wasn't thinking about how high the uphill climb will be Saturday and Sunday. And he was clearly upset at himself for making a triple-bogey 6 at the par-3 eighth hole, and a double-bogey at the par-4 18th, after hooking his tee shot in the water for the second day in a row. "You can see how happy I am right now," Duval seethed after his round during which he displayed a rare show of anger on the course. "I played a really good round, got it back to 2-over for the tournament [after a birdie at the 16th hole], and on 18 feeling pretty good about how I'm playing. Heck, I'm thinking about finishing 1-over for the event, be right in the thick of it. So now I'm 4-over. I am not particularly pleased right now." Duval started the day well enough, and was 1-under through seven holes. But at the 215-yard eighth hole, he left his tee short in a bunker on the right front, bladed the ball out over the green and onto a grassy spot between two rear bunkers. He chunked his next shot into one of those bunkers, then blasted out and two-putted. As he left the green, he slam-dunked his ball into a trashcan. Duval righted himself with a birdie on the next hole, and rebounded from a bogey at No. 10 by making consecutive birdies at Nos. 11 and 12. At the par-5 16th hole, he pounded his second shot in the left fringe, pin-high, chipped to within 5 feet, and made the birdie putt to get himself to 1-under for the day and 2-under for the tournament. He escaped with a miraculous par at No. 17. Duval's tee shot spun off the back shelf and rolled back into the fringe, almost against the bulkhead. Balancing himself carefully, with his heels hanging over the edge, Duval closed a 3-iron and punched the ball out to within 18 inches of the hole. But hitting driver off the tee at No. 18 for the second day in a row, Duval splashed his tee shot, and wound up with a double. "I just try to aim it down the middle at those trees," Duval said of his usual strategy at No. 18. "Maybe I'll just hit 3-woods [today]." Duval at least will avoid the fate of defending champions in the early years in the tournament, in which a victory in the previous Players seemed to be a jinx. Beginning with Jerry Pate's withdrawal because of a shoulder injury in 1983, six defending champions in 12 years either missed the cut or didn't play at all. The best success for a defending champion continues to be the back-to-back top-10 finishes by Mark McCumber in 1989 and Tom Kite in 1990. McCumber won in 1988, then tied for sixth in 1989, four shots behind Kite. In that 1989 tournament, McCumber was one shot off the lead Saturday before calling a whiffed putt on himself at the 17th green, and taking a bogey. Kite returned to the Stadium Course in 1990 and tied for fifth, seven shots behind Jodie Mudd. Kite was three shots off the lead entering the final round but closed with a 73. Possibly the worst performance by a Players defending champion was Nick Price in 1994. During a year in which Greg Norman set the 72-hole scoring record at 24-under-par, Price shot 5-over on Thursday and Friday, and finished five shots behind the even-par cut line.
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