What the heck happened to David Duval??

Have you ever heard of the putting "yips"

Yips in putting mean you couldn't hit water if you fell out of a boat.....from 2 feet. See Scott Hoch SPGA tour event this past weekend ( harking to Agusta 1992 IIRC) The putting stroke feels good, looks good, etc, etc....problem is the ball does not go in the hole and you make no cuts, no $, and no sponsors knock on your door, nada...zip career over, ca-put!

About 2 years ago, a prominent teacher obvserved that DD had "The full body yips" (actually a new term FORM me). Point is that he might look good, swing well, etc, etc...but can't get the ball in the hole when it matters....which is the ultimate point of golf....and a problem if you play golf for a living.

Ian Baker Finch was perhaps the 1st modern person to have the full body yips, (prior to the actuall defenition of the term). IBF, won the Britishh Open and then basically lost it...not just putting, not just his iron game, not just driving, but everything.... There are stories of IBF shooting 62 in the practice rounds tues/wed and then 82+ in the first round of the actual tourney thurs morn.

Golf is truly cruel on the mental side of the game.... You ride the razor edge of confidence and once you lose it players either tend to ride it out (AKA fall back into oblivion and fight their eay back...ie Steve Stricker) or fall off the deep end...DD fell off.

Don't know if you have followed golf for a long time, but somewhere about 1992 (ish) when the Ryder cup was at Kiawha Island (google the date). Mark Chalchevecia was playing Colin Montgomery in a singles match. MC had CM dormie (google) with 4 or 5 to play. MC gagged all the way in... highlighted by horribly shanking a tee shot on #17 hole then lossing #18 to only manae 1/2 a point for the match, which had he only tied one of the remaining 5 holes would have been a whole point.

USA IIRC won the matches, but MC's career went into a deep downward spiral for many years after based on that one shot...a single shot.... brutal.

MC has since won on the PGA tour, is still a talented player, but it took him 10+ years to crawl out of the shadow of self doubt, disbelief and confusion...golf at that level is cruel.

JMHO

 

He was a World #1 and won the British Open, since then he has gone to $h**. I think about him every so often, how you can go from best in the world to not making the cut.

 

I know that Duval received a medical exemption for 2007 due to his wife's difficult pregnancy. IIRC, she was bedridden for the entirety of her pregnancy and David had to care for the other kids.

As for this this year, he has played in 7 events and missed 7 cuts. His scoring average is 74.86

He was one of my favorite players, but it looks to me like he is done on the PGA Tour, and I don't see him as the kind of guy that would go back down to the Nationwide Tour or go back to Tour School. I think he is perfectly happy being a dad and husband and the drive to be on the PGA Tour is gone. The guy did pocket over 16M of Tour money so he is going to be OK.

 

He seems like a good guy, and I could see that being the case. I seem to recall that he was experiencing physical difficulties himself--his back I think?

 

In 2000 or 2001 I was playing in the Byron Nelson Golf Tournament Pro-Am, and at the lottery, we got an early pic and chose Duval. He had just been #1 in the World for a short while until Woods took it over. We could have had Ernie Els, and we have kicked ourselves ever since for not picking him. This was Monday night. On Wednesday morning at the tee box at 7:15am, we are told Duval had to fly to Birmingham last minute for a MRI, and we now would be playing with Scott Dunlap from Canada (?). Our foursome had paid $7,500 each for the pro-am package, so $30k towards the purse and tournament to only get stiffed at the last minute. It would have been easy for him to jot a note, or do something to show
a heart, but we never heard a thing. He was back to play in the tournament the next 2 days, until he missed the cut.

We put the hex on him then, and he has been bad ever since.

Now, years later, i just feel sorry for someone who had such a great swing, and cannot seem to find it again.

 

i believe he had a very serious case of vertigo and he never really regained his confidence. i couldn't imagine trying to play golf with a case of the dizzies!

 

I have been wondering if Tiger being out for a year might help David's mental block. If he gets a top 10 this year, remember you heard it here first!

 

Tiger didn't give DD Vertigo.......

But to your point, I think a lot of guys will come forth trying to make names for themselves like (that supremely mental, Tiger-psyched choker, Stewart Cink) last weeks winner!

 

I happened to see a little of his coverage. He's put on a few pounds too.....

 

Duval challenging for the lead at the British Open after two rounds, and blew up with a +13 for the third round. Now tied for 64th place.

Perhaps the mental edge is not too sharp these days...

 

The Shark swam in his usual final round waters today. Bummer too, I was pulling for him!

 

Me, too. But Harrington really played well...and deserved to win...

Mike in Kuwait

 

Imagine if he would have won. At 500-1 odds, a few lucky people would have had a nice week.

 

I can't stand Anthony Kim.

After Tiger came on the scene, Duval hit the gym hard trying to bulk up to hang and ended up losing his swing. That plus his back injury, personal life, etc... he never got his mojo back.

 

There are a lot of golfers that went from 'Hot' to 'Not' overnight, with dozens of reasons why.

The first one that comes to mind is Fred Couples - he was winning dang near everything, then divorce hit him, then physical (back) problems, only now is he getting back into it.
Bernhard Langer used to win a ton, then he kinda disappeared for awhile..

Just look at who didn't make the cut, and it is names we all remember.

I guess by some stroke of luck, Nicklaus' back problems hit him late in the game: same with Palmer.

I just wish John Daly would have gotten HIS mojo back, but if he changed his life to be what 'we' think it 'should' be, then he would not be the John Daly we were all pulling for...

 

He is something to watch whenever he makes a cut. There aren't many people that can even make the PGA period. He was making cuts and doing great while completely wasted and/or hungover.

He's a spectacle, but we all love to watch him and pull for him. I don't think he's as bad a guy as he's made out to be. He just doesn't give a **** about anything or what people think of him. He just want's to enjoy his alcohol and smokes.

 

And 'John Daly: the Movie' will be great, with Nick Nolte playing the lead roll...