Golf's Greatest Players - David Duval
David Duval : One of the golfing greats, perhaps best remembered for his round of 59 in 1999
A profile of American golfer David Duval, a winner of a Major Championship and former World Number 1
David Robert Duval: born on November 9, 1971, is an American professional golfer and one of the finest in the history of the game. He is a former World No.1 Golfer who competed on the PGA Tour. David Duval collected 13 PGA Tour tournament wins out of 20 total wins, including a Major title at 'The Open Championship.' These successes were achieved between the years 1997 and 2001.
Duval earned his PGA Tour card in 1995, after he was crowned two-time ACC player of the year, player of the year for 1993, and also winning the Nike Tour twice between 1997 and 2000. He finished all four seasons being nominated among the top 5 of the PGA Tour money list and was the leading money winner and scoring leader in the year 1998. Despite all these impressive stats, he improved on them by winning the 1997 Tour championship as well as the 1999 players’ championship.
After winning the 2001 Open Championship, Duval saw his game hit rock bottom, due to injuries and several medical conditions, his performance declined drastically, and he never won again on the PGA Tour.
The decline made him lose his tour card in 2011. Following this decline, he became a golf analyst and commentator because of the love he has for the game. Currently, Duval works for Golf Channel and NBC.
Early life/ Background of David Duval
David Duval was born and bred in Jacksonville, Florida. His father 'Bob Duval' was a golf club professional and a golf instructor too. His mother 'Diane Poole Duval' alongside Bob was a member of the FSU Flying High Circus during their time in college. David had an elder brother 'Brent' and a younger sister Diedre. David learned a lot about golf from his father Bob, who worked at Timuquana Country Club.
David didn't have a smooth ride while growing up. When David was 9, his brother developed aplastic anemia which led to David volunteering to donate bone marrow to restore Brent's health. Unfortunately, the transplant wasn't a successful one, and led to the tragic death of Brent as a result of septicemia.
The incidentt broke the family down, and their father being unable to cope, moved out of the family home. Bob later reunited with his wife and children in 1982 after a year of intense counselling, and he continued to give golf instruction to his son (David). Just as David was kicking off with his professional golf career in 1993, his father left again, but this time permanently.
Amateur Career
In 1989, Duval graduated from the Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, Duval was also the winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur champion in that same year.
As an amateur, he was one of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's golf team, and he was a four-time first-team All-American. As previously stated, David Duval was a two-time ACC Player of the Year and the National Player of the Year in 1993. He led an official PGA Tour event known as the BellSouth Classic (which he would win as a professional), while he was still in college.
Duval’s Professional Career
Duval won the Nike Tour twice in his two years' stay and earned his PGA Tour card in 1995. He qualified and posted a 4-0-0 record for the 1996 Presidential Cup, but was unable to win the PGA Tour until he won the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill in October 1997. In that same month, he won two extra tournaments and also the 1997 Tour Championship.
In 1998, Duval led the PGA Tour money list, and also clinched a victory in the Vardon Trophy and Byron Nelson Award for lowest scoring average. He won a total of 13 PGA Tour tournaments from the year 1997 to 2001, including the 1997 Tour Championship, 1999 Players Championship, 2001 Open Championship, and also the 2001 Dunlop Phoenix on the Japan Golf Tour and the 2000 World Cup (with Tiger Woods) internationally. His winning speech at the 2001 Open was said to be “delightfully modest and heartfelt" by British commentators.
Other highlights of his career came in 1999 when achieved the number one spot in the Official World Golf ranking and shooting that famous 59 in the final round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic on the Palmer Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California in the same year.
Career Achievements
Professional Tournament Wins : 20
PGA Tour Wins : 13
| No |
Date |
Tournament |
Winning Score |
Margin of Victory |
Runner(s)-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Oct 12, 1997 |
Michelob Championship at Kingsmill |
−13 (67-66-71-67=271 |
Playoff |
Grant Waite, Duffy Waldorf |
| 2 |
Oct 19, 1997 |
Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic |
−18 (65-70-65-70=270) |
Playoff |
Dan Forsman |
| 3 |
Nov 2, 1997 |
The Tour Championship |
−11 (66-69-70-68=273) |
1 stroke |
Jim Furyk |
| 4 |
Feb 22, 1998 |
Tucson Chrysler Classic |
−19 (66-62-68-73=269) |
4 strokes |
Justin Leonard ,David Toms |
| 5 |
May 3, 1998 |
Shell Houston Open |
−12 (69-70-73-64=276) |
1 stroke |
Jeff Maggert |
| 6 |
Aug 30,1998 |
NEC World Series of Golf |
−11 (69-66-66-68=269) |
2 strokes |
Phil Mickelson |
| 7 |
Oct 11, 1998 |
Michelob Championship at kingsmill (2) |
−16 (65-67-68-68=268) |
3 strokes |
Phil Tataurangi |
| 8 |
Jan 10, 1999 |
Mercedes Championships |
−26 (67-63-68-68=266) |
9 strokes |
Billy Mayfair, Mark O'Meara |
| 9 |
Jan 24, 1999 |
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic |
−26 (70-71-64-70-59=334) |
1 stroke |
Steve Pate |
| 10 |
Mar 28, 1999 |
The Players Championship |
−3 (69-69-74-73=285) |
2 strokes |
Scott Gump |
| 11 |
Apr 4, 1999 |
BellSouth Classic |
−18 (66-69-68-67=270) |
2 strokes |
Stewart Cink |
| 12 |
Oct 1, 2000 |
Buick Challenge |
−19 (68-69-67-65=269) |
2 strokes |
Jeff Maggert, Nick Price |
| 13 |
Jul 22, 2001 |
The Open Championship |
−10 (69-73-65-67=274) |
3 strokes |
Niclas Fasth |
