Thursday, April 08, 1999
Masters: It's Duval vs. Woods
Young stars are study in contrasts
BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Whom do you like? David Duval and Tiger Woods are standing on the 18th tee Sunday night at the Masters, the last twosome. The setting sun slants through the swaying pines and settles upon their faces at the perfect, golden angle. Or something.
They're tied. One hole to go, dead even, winner gets a garish green jacket. Whom do you like?
DOC'S DIARY
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Getting a ticket to the Masters is like getting an assigned seat on a magic carpet. But once you're in, the living is easy and cheap, unless you're big on souvenirs. The list:
• Masters badge: $100, good for all four days
• Parking within a quarter-mile: $5
• Ham sandwich: $1.25
• Soft drink: 75 cents
• Milk: 50 cents
• 12-ounce beer: $1.75
• Pairing sheet: Free
Now the bad news:
• 100 percent silk, rain-resistant wind jacket: $275.
• Regular wind jacket: $59
• Cobble-cloth sweatshirt: $78
• Short-sleeve polo shirt: $59
• Bag towel: $15
• Hat: $14
• Screen saver: $15
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Will it be that way? Why not? The Masters on Sunday afternoon is Broadway at 8 p.m. It's four hours of seventh games. Every year, somebody does something heroic to win. Or something tragic to lose. It's the tournament worthy of Jack Nicklaus' epitaph. And Greg Norman's.
The Masters is golf for Shakespeare lovers.
Duval and Woods on Sunday evening. Could it be otherwise?
Whom do you like?
Duval and Woods, 1 and 1A without question, are staring at each other from the barrels of their drivers. Not since Nicklaus and Palmer have two players been so closely linked, so heavily scrutinized and so expected to do well.
Perhaps never have two players so connected been so different.
Over here: Fist-pumping, red-wearing, broad-smiling, erstwhile savior of golf. Over there: Insulated, self-contained, Zen-calmed refrigerator man with the wrap-around sunglasses.
Oh, yes. Those wrap-around Oakleys. They are as much a part of Duval as his game. He hides behind those Oakleys. Duval says he began wearing them in college, to keep the pollen from his eyes. Now they're armor. You want to know who this guy is? Good luck.
Duval had them on yesterday, and a baseball cap shoved down so low over his face it almost touched his nose. He was a moving cocoon.
Duval has entered eight tournaments this year and won four. He already has made more money than any player in a single year, and it's only April. In January, he shot a 59. The wonder now is if the hype will attach itself to him the way it did Woods and suck some of the life from his game.
Don't bet on it.
Second question to Duval during his press conference Tuesday:
“There's kind of a perception out there that you're somewhat of a dullard.”
The questioner meant “dull.” Not dullard. Duval isn't stupid. He sees that hype and glory haven't done much for Woods' game. “I might be in the process of becoming a golf star or whatever. But I'm not like Tiger in the sense that Tiger's a star outside the game (too),” Duval said.
“I don't find having a big ego and being real brash serves you well.”
His game talks, though. It verily screams. The difference is, you can look at Duval, but he won't look back.
Said Fred Couples, “People may want to see more. But I don't think he's ever going to give it.”
Duval admits to shedding pounds and lifting weights to compete with Tiger's prodigious tee shots and long-iron approaches. Players “were faced with the options of improving to compete, or relegating ourselves,” he said.
Duval lost 30 pounds but not his trance-like focus. Now that he's batting .500 in wins-per-tournament, people are beginning to notice him. Duval's galleries Wednesday were Oscars-night deep. You could say the people he played with helped the crowds, but few seemed to notice them. To be fair, Ron Daly, Sam Huston and Phil Nicholson all played very well.
Whom do you like?
Give Woods credit for provoking the question. Nobody else is. People are not standing around arguing, “Duval or Loren Roberts?” But in my extremely scientific poll conduc ted Wednesday, absolutely no one thought Woods could beat Duval this weekend.
How quickly they forget. Two years ago, Woods made Augusta punch-drunk. His 18-under finish was so frighteningly good, club chieftains made changes to their sacred layout, tweaks they hope will keep Woods from carpet-bombing the greens with pitching-wedge approach shots.
After he won the '97 Masters, Woods couldn't go anywhere without the National Guard. The adulation was complete. Now, he's Avis. He's the Utah Jazz, Duval's the Chicago Bulls and it's last June.
Tiger Woods, remember when.
It's not that Tiger hasn't played well. In eight '99 events, he has six top-10 finishes and one win and ranks third on the money list. But the Woods talking now is not the Woods talking even a year ago.
“Guys are outplaying me down the stretch,” he said. Of Duval, Woods offered, “As players, we want to get where he is right now.” Woods said he's a better player now than he was two years ago — “Oh god, yes” — but the well-known Tiger confidence-bordering-on-arrogance is missing.
“All these players can win out here,” he said. “I've learned when I'm not playing well to accept pars.”
Duval has learned when he's not playing well to say little, and when he is playing well, to say less. Zen Man plays within himself. He has a public personality like a dead man's EKG.
Duval or Woods? Last hole Sunday night, for all the rayon. Tied. Whom do you like?
Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.
MASTERS COVERAGE from Associated Press
DAUGHERTY ARCHIVE
