Tales From The Bunker

David Duval was on fire from the end of 1997 to early 1999. He won 11 of 34 tournaments including his infamous 59 to win the Bob Hope Dessert Classic.   The world rankings had made official what had been obvious for months: It was no longer Tiger Woods who was the number one player in the world. It was Duval with his signature Oakley shades.  His sunglasses, worn to correct astigmatism and protect his sensitive eyes, were symbolic of his desire to keep the world from knowing the true Duval. His shyness and social anxiety came across as callow self-absorption.

His glory years were brief and he tumbled quickly. His woes began when a sprained fifth lumbar vertebra threw his back out in early 2000. His swing got out of whack as he tried to compensate for the injury. The great fairway driver would stand on the tee not knowing whether his ball was going left or right. Sometimes his back was so tight he could do nothing but lie down on the floor.

By 2004 Duval had fallen to #434 in the world rankings. Of the 20 tournaments he entered in 2005, he made the cut in one, earning $7,630. He was winless in 2006; winless in 2007, playing on a medical exemption; and winless in 2008 and 2009, playing on the last of his lifetime earnings exemptions. Now he has to rely on the kindness of sponsors to get into fields.

Probably no elite athlete has fallen so far so fast. Those are the facts of his career but to really know who David Duval is you have to go back to when he was a nine year old boy and tragedy struck his family. A tragedy that David took most of his life to recover from.
In our next blog we will examine his tragic childhood and how he finally found happiness in his life.

As always keep ‘em in the fairway.

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