Editor’s Note: David Duval is No. 7 on the Times-Union’s Top 100 list of athletes from the Jacksonville area.
Looking back at David Duval’s golf career, there was almost no in-between. He endured one of the most astounding hot-or-cold streaks in the history of the game.
All four years at Georgia Tech, the Episcopal High graduate was a first-team All-American. Hot.
Despite often being in weekend contention, Duval failed to win in his first 86 PGA Tour events. Cold.
He then flipped a switch and won 11 times in his next 31 starts, taking the No. 1 world ranking from Tiger Woods for a 14-week period after capturing The Players Championship in 1999. Hot.
Six months after capturing his first major at the 2001 Open, a slew of injuries over two decades ruined any chance at him recapturing greatness. Cold.
Duval became the first golfer to shoot a final-round 59 and win a golf tournament at the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Hot.
He also shot a career-high 91 in the 2019 Open, taking a 14 at the par-5 seventh hole, which tied for the worst one-hole score at any major in 28 years. Cold.
All those highs and lows made for a whirlwind career, one that might cause some golfers to engage in a lot of what-if reflection.
Duval, ranked No. 7 among the 100 Greatest Athletes in the Jacksonville area, sees no point in tormenting himself over issues beyond his control. Whether it’s injuries or fate of the golf gods — like Mark O’Meara’s winning birdie putt at the 72nd hole of the 1998 Masters that kept him out of a playoff — Duval long ago came to terms with hypotheticals of what his career might have been.
“When I turned pro in 1993, if you would have said I’ll give you an Open, a Players Championship, a Tour Championship, a number one ranking, a 59, a World Cup title with Tiger [in 2000], three President Cups and two Ryder Cup [appearances], I’d say, ‘Okay, thank you, I’m good.’
“If you look at the whole body of work, I’m pretty happy with it.”
Setting world on fire
A quarter century ago, right before Woods went on a torrid streak that saw him capture 21 tournaments and five majors in a 26-month span, Duval was the talk of the golf world.
He reached the peak of his dominance at age 27, winning The Players and BellSouth Classic in back-to-back weeks in 1999 to give him 11 victories in 18 months.
That feat, matched by only Woods (three times), Jack Nicklaus (twice), Ben Hogan (twice), Arnold Palmer (twice), Byron Nelson (twice), Sam Snead and Vijay Singh, elevated Duval to an exalted place.
Stealing Woods’ thunder put him on a bullet train to stardom, though his time in the spotlight didn’t last anywhere near as long as many anticipated.
On April 12, 1999, a hatless Duval made the first of his two Sports Illustrated covers, a portrait of him in Ray-Ban sunglasses blowing on a smoking 5-iron.
The terrible irony is Duval actually did cool off after his SI debut, winning only the Buick Challenge in October, 2000, and the ‘01 Open at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s for his final Tour victory.
Still, once he broke into the winner’s circle at the 1997 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill, defeating Duffy Waldorf and Grant Waite in a playoff, what a spectacular run of excellence Duval enjoyed.
Jacksonville resident Len Mattiace, a two-time Tour winner, estimates he was paired with Duval 5-10 times during the period when he broke into world prominence.
“I was a group behind him when David shot 59 at the Bob Hope,” said Mattiace. “That [18-month] stretch was as good a golf as you’ll ever see.”
‘Golf was easy’
During a phone interview from his Colorado home, Duval was almost at a loss for words to explain the magnificent form that propelled him to the top of the world.
“Basically, during that stretch before I got hurt, golf was easy,” said Duval. “It really paid off when I shot that 59, which was the easiest round of golf I ever played. I don’t know how to explain it better.
“If you talk to other athletes, it’s the proverbial zone. You’re just in a zone. See ball, hit ball, make birdie. It was just easy.”
Never was Duval in a better zone than at the ‘99 Bob Hope, then a five-round tournament in La Quinta (Ca.) on the PGA West Palmer Private course. He needed an eagle at the par-five 18th hole to shoot 59, showing rare emotion by clenching his fist when the 7-foot putt dropped.
Duval had 11 birdies and one eagle, never making a putt longer than 10 feet all day. Duval had to wait until third-round leader Steve Pate finished with a 66 to learn he won by one shot.
Mattiace points to Duval’s supreme confidence as the biggest factor in his meteoric rise to stardom.
“David had things going for him that put him in an elite class during that time period,” Mattiace said. “One was very good mechanics, though that’s kind of the smallest thing. What set him apart was an incredible confidence to get the job done and perform.
“What stood out to me was his fierce competitiveness like Tiger. He had a lot of…
