NISSAN NOTES
PACIFIC PALISADES – David Duval has spent the better part of the last year on the fringes of the PGA Tour, having disappeared from final-round leaderboards and plunged to 80th on the money list.
In yesterday’s second round of the Nissan Open at Riviera, Duval conceded that he was “aiming at the fringes.”
That’s because Duval, who’s in contention entering weekend play at 3-under, has chipped in three times already this week.
Though Duval isn’t hitting his irons as crisply as he’d like, he’s scoring, which is very encouraging considering the slump he’s been mired in essentially since winning his first major, the 2001 British Open.
“Ironically, I haven’t hit the golf ball quite as well as I did at my two tournaments where I missed the cuts,” Duval said after shooting a 1-under 70 yesterday. “But I have managed to hang in there. I got back into the essence of the game and scored well. So I’m excited about that.”
As Duval kept draining bombs, like the 80-footer he dropped in for birdie on No. 4, Tiger Woods, his playing partner, kept smiling and acknowledging his friend’s shots.
“For him to be under par is some pretty good work,” Woods joked. “He’s chipped in three times and made three putts of over 40 or 50 feet. Put that together and you’re going to be all right.”
Duval was anything but all right last year as his standing and ranking plummeted. In the seven previous years leading up to last year, Duval had never finished worse than 11th on the money list.
After finishing no worse than tied for sixth at the Masters the previous four years, Duval missed the cut at Augusta, as he did at the U.S. Open. In defense of his British Open title, he finished tied for 22nd. At the PGA, he tied for 34th.
For the first time since 1996, Duval didn’t win a single tournament. Along the way, Duval nursed some physical injuries and broke off the engagement with his long-time girlfriend and fiancee.
“Unfortunately for me I had a bad year,” Duval said. “I don’t know what else to say about it.”
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Matt Gogel carded a hole-in-one with a 6-iron from 163 yards out on the 16th hole yesterday.