GOLF: Drowning David (Duval) Up For Air

By Lee Manchur Sports Central Columnist

With only eleven tournament victories in his career to start the 2000 golf year, David Duval was still the No. 1 player in golf. However, as "some guy" named Tiger Woods picked up steam throughout the season, becoming the first person in many years to win three major and national champions in the same year, Duval's play seemed to go down a notch. At the British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, Duval got in sand trouble on the final day of the tournament, taking four shots to get out of a bunker on hole seventeen.

It seemed like Duval and sunk to another level; his back was aching and his level of play went down, as if it had found a nice spot at the bottom of a water hazard.

This week, however, Duval has seemed to be fully recovered. In his first tournament since the British Open this weekend, Duval is coming on strong, contending for his twelfth career victory at The Buick Challenge.

Duval is back, and although he recently lost major points in his world ranking, he seems to be picking up steam for the final months of the season, and will definitely came some ground on Ernie Els, who is currently ranked second in the world with a rating of 11.98 (Duval's is 9.90, while first-ranked Tiger Woods is at 27.57 and Lee Westwood, fourth, is at 9.50).

As long as his back holds up, Duval, back on the links, out of the water and up for air, should stay up for a while to make his comeback on the PGA Tour a successful one.

Article courtesy of Sports Central