The PGA Tour Guide, formerly known as the Media Guide, divides the biographies of Tour members into two sections.
The first, with larger photos and more detailed information, features fully-exempt players and some of the game’s all-time greats (Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Watson etc.). The second section, listed under “Other Prominent PGA Tour Members,” includes more abbreviated bios and is placed well back into the Guide.
The 2010 version of the publication illustrates the direction David Duval’s career has gone over the last seven years. Duval, now a resident of Cherry Hills Village, was prominently featured in the PGA Tour Guide’s primary biography section every year from 1996 through 2009. But this year, for the first time since his rookie season on Tour in ’95, the former No. 1-ranked player in the world is relegated to the secondary section of the Guide.
Ironically, this comes despite Duval’s best tournament performance on Tour since 2001. Last June, he shared the lead in the U.S. Open with two holes left, and finished tied for second place. It appeared Duval, who had recorded just two top-20 finishes in his previous 6½ years on Tour, had taken a big step toward coming back from the abyss.
NBC analyst Johnny Miller went so far as to say during the U.S. Open telecast that, “One thing you’re going to have to get used to, folks: David Duval is going to be around for a while.”
But if Miller was hinting that Duval — a 13-time winner on Tour — would become a regular contender again, he apparently jumped the gun. While the U.S. Open performance was a welcome — and unexpected — turnaround for Duval, it turned out to be a blip on the radar screen for him in 2009. When all was said and done last year, he made just six cuts in 22 events, and he didn’t have a top-50 finish other than at the U.S. Open.
That all led to the reason Duval’s biography was pushed back in the 2010 Tour Guide: For the first time since 1994, he’s no longer fully exempt on Tour. By missing the cut in the season-ending Children’s Miracle Network Classic, he fell out of the top 125 on the 2009 Tour money list, then failed to regain his full exemption at the final stage of Tour qualifying.
The bottom line is, it hasn’t been pretty for Duval since the U.S. Open. He’s played in nine official Tour events since then, and has made just one cut (63rd in the Buick Open in early August).
Despite his struggles in general since the start of 2003 — he’s made just 34 cuts in 123 tournaments in that period — Duval had always found a way to remain fully exempt until this year. Through 2006, it was thanks to his victory in the 2001 British Open. Since then, he’s used one-time exemptions for being in the top 25 — then in the top 50 — of the Tour’s career money list. Another year, he received a major medical extension due to his wife’s difficult pregnancy, which kept Duval from playing much in 2007.
This year, the 38-year-old Duval is using partially-exempt status — by virtue of finishing between 126 and 150 on the 2009 money list — to maintain a fairly full schedule. Thanks to being a big-name player and a former world No. 1, sponsor exemptions are relatively easy to come by, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he got into 20 Tour events in 2010. And, by virtue of his performance in the 2009 U.S. Open, he’s assured of spots in the first three major championships of this year.
Just this week, Duval received a late sponsor exemption into the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, but he decided not to accept it. He had originally asked for a sponsor exemption, but when the request was initially turned down, he accepted sponsor exemptions for subsequent tournaments in Los Angeles and Pebble Beach. Combine that with a Feb. 18-21 event Duval plans to play in Mexico, and he would have been competing five straight weeks had he gone to San Diego. Instead, he’s taking this week off.
The good news for Duval is that he received sponsor exemptions into the three biggest events on the Tour’s early-season California swing. That’s a sign he’ll get into plenty of tournaments this year despite no longer being fully exempt. But unless he plays better than he has the last seven months, he’s in danger of having his 2009 U.S. Open performance being labeled a flash in the pan.
