David Duval, already the great accumulator, yesterday became the great intimidator, too, winning his fourth event of the season in only eight starts, as all his opposition visibly crumbled.
Duval, whose win took him to the incredible total of $2,598,300 already this season, was three shots behind after 12 holes of the final round, but the leaders, Stewart Cink, John Huston and Tour rookie Rory Sabbatini disintegrated over the final holes. Duval, as usual, carried on without any visible sign of emotion and played the last six holes in three-under par for a final round of 67 and a total of 270, 18-under par.
This is Duval's 11th win in his last 34 tournaments, an amazing strike rate, and one that confirms his position as world number one.
Cink sank at the 16th, where his tee shot bounced short of the guarding bunker, so badly struck was it. Sabbatini hit the destruct button at the 17th, driving into a bunker, recovering into trees and missing from four feet, for a double bogey six. Moments later the same hole saw Huston take three in a greenside bunker, leaving Duval little more to do than make a graceful acceptance speech as he picked up a cheque for $450,000.
Duval was some distance from his best, but as good a benchmark as any against which to measure a golfer is his ability to scramble a score when the timing, or rhythm, is a little off. The American birdied the long sixth, quickly followed by another at the seventh, but he has not been happy with his striking this week, even during a third round 68 that left him in third place overnight. "When you stop thinking that you have to play great golf to put up good scores," he said, "you take a step forward".
This was amply demonstrated at the eighth and ninth holes. The former is a short hole but Duval's tee shot scattered scorers by the green, finishing 20 yards off the putting surface. But he deliberately pitched his recovery into quite thick rough, slowing it just sufficiently to finish four feet from the hole. The shot demanded delicacy and precision, got both, and Duval saved his par.
His drive to the ninth looked like diving deep into the trees when it hit one at just the right angle to bounce back out onto the fairway and he capitalised on his luck to again save par. He also missed the green at the 15th, leaving a difficult chip to an elevated green but in it went and when he holed from 10 feet at the short 16th he joined the leaders at 18-under for the first time.
He had another stroke of luck at the long 18th when, not knowing of the devastation among his challengers, he went for the green in two. The ball only just carried the lake and then started rolling back towards the water. There was seemingly nothing to stop it, but stop it nevertheless did, barely two feet from the water. Shades of Freddie Couples in the 1992 US Masters.
His professional career, beginning in 1993, is quite extraordinary. His talent was immediately obvious, to the extent that the pundits declared it was just a matter of time before he won. It turned out to be a matter of a long time, though, as Duval played 86 events, finishing second no fewer than seven times, before he broke through.
Now that the genie is out of the bottle, though, all kinds of magical things have happened for him, winning over $5 million in five years. He is an inevitable, and justifiable, favourite for the Masters.
Colin Montgomerie, on the other hand, is not. He had a 76 yesterday, following successive Sunday 79s, dropping five shots in the last seven holes, to come home in 41. Nick Faldo managed level par, 72, to finish on 287, oneunder, while Ian Woosnam had a final 75 to finish on the same mark.
