I sometimes wonder about my own fascination with David Duval. I look for his name in tournaments, and cheer him on when he’s playing. And I’m always on the lookout for articles that follow his travails.
Perhaps it’s the fall from the grace of the Gods of Golf. In holding the number one position over Tiger, it was almost as if—like Icarus—he had flown too close to the sun, and now is being punished. (Vijay is being punished with his flatstick).
Or maybe it’s the good spirits in which he has seemed to take it all. He fields questions, seemingly without anger or resentment (at least I haven’t seen it). He has made television appearances, such as the on the Golf Channel at the PGA a couple of years ago, where he spent an hour answering questions. And he allows Nike to poke fun at his game in their ads.
After the public breakup with his long-time girlfriend, he seems to have found happiness with his wife and new family.
At any rate, there’s another good article about David Duval on Greg Norman’s site, Shark.com.
In it, Duval mentiosn that he may never be over the injuries that have crippled his game.
But somehow, he seems ok with that.
Yes, I know that he’s won $16 million, and doesn’t really need to play anymore. But know that I personally would NOT be ok with it. I am not ok when my own pathetic game slips a point or two. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have been at the top, only to fall.
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You wonder about your fascination with Duval, as do I. I don’t think it has to do with greatness, or decline; but rather, with style. I recall during his ascent, the early years, I had the fascination. Was it the attitude, the alternative lifestyle, the girl, the shades, or what? Maybe the swing, and the intellectual, or pseudo-intellectual approach to the game. Something. But it’s clearly something that affects lots of folks, for he generates an aura like Daly, Woods, Mickelson and few others. This fellow Gore got it with one tournament, and his appeal is obvious. Yet Duval has nothing in common with Gore, so it remains a mystery as to Duval’s attraction.
I fear, like many who have ascended the heights in various disciplines, and cannot accept the pressures that result, or alternatively, find that they prefer the struggle more than the success, that Duval will always remain on the periphery, a sort of tantalizing figure of potential that cannot be sustained.