When some of the kids from The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch were asking David Duval about the core values the organization teaches, the 2001 British Open champion couldn’t help but chuckle when “perseverance” was mentioned.
If any elite-level golfer knows about perseverance, it’s Duval, a Colorado resident since late 2003. After all, he was a stellar player in his 20s, winning 13 times on the PGA Tour from 1997-2001, ascending to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings and shooting a final-round 59 to claim victory in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 1999.
But then a long stretch of injuries and poor play led to a dramatic downfall in his game, to the point that he’s recorded just four top-10 finishes — with no wins – in the 221 PGA Tour events he’s entered since the beginning of 2003. But if nothing else, he’s demonstrated remarkable perseverance in the face of adversity over that stretch.
“I’ve struggled in this game as much as anyone,” Duval said while conducting a First Tee GVR Kids Clinic — attended by about 200 people — that was sponsored by CoBank on Tuesday evening (see photos). As he noted, he’s a guy who’s shot 62 at Pebble Beach, as well as a person who’s posted an 85 at the same course.
But you have to hand it to Duval: In recent years, he’s found a vocation within a vocation, and he’s become pretty darn good at it. Since 2015, he’s been an analyst for the Golf Channel, and the more that he’s worked at it, the better he’s gotten. And as a former world No. 1 — and the winner of a major championship — he has some additional credibility that some other prominent golf analysts lack.
“I enjoy” the TV work, Duval said in an interview with coloradogolf.org on Tuesday. “It keeps you connected and around the game. It gives you a little bit of a voice. I think it’s fair to say I definitely prefer (broadcasting) live golf as opposed to wrapup shows. (About 30 percent of Duval’s work this year will be live golf.) But both are cool.
“There’s some type of learning curve to it, obviously, and getting comfortable and figuring out how to be concise and get your points across. I go about it trying to just maybe educate. If I can get you thinking about one thing or tell you one thing you didn’t know before each couple hours of the show, I think I’ve succeeded.”
Perhaps one of the reasons Duval has improved is that golf fans have gotten to know him better. During his years of playing full-time on the PGA Tour, he often came across as quiet and reserved, perhaps a little standoffish. But the role of TV analyst brings more of his personality — and knowledge of the game — to the forefront. In that sense, he’s not disimilar to golf analysts such as Nick Faldo or Curtis Strange — top-level players who could be testy at times while competing but have blossomed in the TV booth or studio.
“How a player chooses to compete — and how they need to compete to succeed … Some are quiet, some can’t shut up,” Duval noted. “I didn’t say much, Lee Trevino couldn’t stop talking. That’s just your makeup and what’s best for you as an individual to compete and succeed. On the other side of the camera, whether you like to talk or not, you have to. You’re in a position where you’re going to learn about a person now more.
“It wasn’t that hard” to transition to putting more of himself out there publicly on TV. “It’s one of those simple things that it is what it is. If you’re going to do it, this is what you have to do.
“Even though I may have been quiet when I was competing 20 times a year, I didn’t lack an opinion. I still had a pretty strong opinion. You just had to ask me for it. Now I just tell it to you without you asking me. That’s the difference.”
Duval tries to walk that fine line between being very critical of PGA Tour players at times — a la Johnny Miller — and losing credibility with viewers by virtually never finding fault with a golfer’s performance.
“I have certainly gotten on things (been critical), but when I do, I try to explain why,” he said. “‘This is why this was bad, this is why this was wrong.’ When I’ve done live golf, the reality is, when a guy hits an 8-iron and misses the green by 15 yards, it’s a friggin awful shot. What else are you going to call it? But I don’t think there’s reason to be mean for mean’s sake. That’s how I go about it. And I also recognize that having done it, how hard the game is.
“I also go about it that 98 percent of the time, the players are trying their best, trying to shoot the best score they can. There’s a few times they phone it in every now and again. If he’s shooting 73, he’s trying to shoot 72. I try to keep that in mind. I’ve shot 62, which is part of the course record at Pebble Beach. I’ve also posted 85 there, making sure I didn’t shoot 86 that day. I try to think of it that way.”
Duval said the approach he’s taken to being a golf analyst on TV is pretty straightforward.
“The best advice I’ve been given — and the thing I’ve been asked to do — is just be myself,” the 45-year-old said. “Give my thoughts, explain why I have those thoughts. That’s what they really want from me, both in studio work and in live golf. The rhythm of those shows are obviously different, but that’s what I’ve really tried to do.”
Duval, who met his future wife Susie while in Colorado for The International, has long lived in Cherry Hills Village with his family and plays a fair amount at Cherry Hills Country Club when he’s at home and the weather is decent. The Denver area is a far cry from his former home of Jacksonville, Fla., but despite occasional grumblings about a snowstorm, he’s taken to it quite nicely.
“We love it here. We feel like it’s home,” he said. “Like a lot of people, I sometimes wish the winter would shorten up a little bit. That snowstorm in May was quite annoying. But I love it. All you have to do is walk outside right now, and it tells you everything you need to know. It’s just spectacular. The people are wonderful. I love the culture of it — the food, the views, the mountains, the air. It’s just wonderful.”
