Duval Seeks Simple Way Out

The sky hung heavy over Muirfield yesterday, mizzling wetting rain coming in from the Firth of Forth to curtain off the far reaches of this mighty course as the players went through their final preparations before the gun goes today. For many it was a chance to check out the layout one last time, the back nine for Tiger Woods first thing, while others, like the world No2 Phil Mickelson confined themselves to the range.

The Open champion David Duval left it late, seeking out John Daly and joining him for the home stretch even as the course was being given its final sprucing. Earlier, though, he was to be found out on the practice range, black shirt buttoned to the neck, sleeves long, easing out his gentle fades into the grey distance, the ball hanging in the air before tailing away to the right at the end like a smoke wisp. Not a care in the world it seemed. Swing grooved. Wrong.

It is almost a year since that glorious Lytham Sunday when Duval reached the summit of his ambitions, whipped off his hat and shades and, wreathed in smiles, admired the view. A drive of monstrous proportions down the 72nd fairway had been followed by a pitch as perfect as Pavarotti's and a couple of putts, so that minutes later the famous old claret jug was in his hands, ready to go back home to Florida so that he and his father could drink cognac from it as they had promised one another. He had won the most prestigious title by three shots with closing rounds of 65 and 67, and life was at its sweetest.

This year the scent of roses has gone. Fifteen starts have brought him just a single top-10 finish, with six cuts missed, four of them in the past five tournaments, including the US Open, in which he subsided to 11 over par before making the Friday night journey home.

This from a man who three years ago had the ball on such a piece of string that he shot a closing 59 to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, and took tournament after tournament to overtake Tiger and become, officially, the world's premier golfer. The result is on course earnings for this season of less than $500,000, hardly a qualification to take up residence in Cary Street, but $3m lower than Phil Mickelson, $3.5m less than Woods, and a bit of a comedown for someone who took home $2,801,760 last year.

He seems at a bit of a loss to explain it. A back problem has almost certainly contributed and it is the nature of these things to throw everything out of kilter. Then there has been the emotional trauma of a split from his long-term partner, which some say has hit him harder than he shows. More revealing though may have been his off-the-cuff acceptance speech at Lytham last year, in which he showed to the British public an endearing personality far removed from the enigmatic stony-faced automaton hiding behind the wrapround Oakleys.

"You know what," he said, "it is a silly old game. I was just trying to hit it solid and move it forward. Then I was going to hit it again and I was going to count on making putts. It sounds stupid but I found myself thinking at times it is funny how much is made about it, because we are playing a game. At times, I've made it a lot bigger than it is, too." Maybe, he continued, that was why he felt so good: he had finally realised it was indeed just a game.

If only it were that simple. Duval realised that he had won the Open while not playing at his best. Imagine, he thought, what could be achieved if he played his best golf all the time. It is ambition running riot, a top player wanting not just to be the best, but the definitive golfer.

This week, he has talked at length about the downturn in his playing fortune. "I don't think I could list all the reasons why I have played poorly," he said. "Certainly I lost a little focus, got a bit too absorbed maybe in how I was swinging the club, striving to improve and choosing the wrong path to go down. What made me so good at playing the game was simplicity and that is how I've always approached it.

"I built a golf swing of feel and practice and I had sound fundamentals. But I got sidetracked a little and now it is just a matter of getting back on track with those things. It's just the ups and downs. I've played pretty well, obviously not every week but I've played pretty good for nine years as a pro. And here I've had four or five months where it has not been so good.

"But if I can correct those things and go another nine or 10 years and have just five bad months in that time I'll be a happy man. Getting back to where I was is now my goal, my burning desire. My ambition when I started was not winning tournaments or majors but walking away thinking I did everything to maximise my potential. I did that for a while and I want to get back on track."

This may not be the week for that. But then again, you never know. Does Duval believe in omens? In the midst of the four recent missed cuts came a fourth place in the Memorial Tournament played at Muirfield Village, the course that Jack Nicklaus named after the corner of Lothian where he secured the first of his Open titles 36 years ago. If he is looking for straws at which to clutch then this surely is as strong as any.