David Duval lost the 1998 PGA Player of the Year vote to fellow American Mark O'Meara, but beat the Masters and British Open champion by nine strokes on Sunday to open the 1999 season.
Duval breezed to victory at the $2.6 million PGA Mercedes Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii, firing a final-round five-under par 68 to finish at 26-under par 266 for the tournament and win the $468,000 top prize.
"I'm tickled. It's neat to do this," Duval (27) said. "Things were going so well, I didn't want to have a lapse."
The margin of victory was the largest in a PGA event since Tiger Woods won the US Masters by 12 strokes in 1997 and the 26-under was two strokes off the 72-hole PGA record set by John Huston at the 1998 Hawaiian Open.
O'Meara said Duval was playing better these days than Woods. "David's probably a little more patient than Tiger right now and David's putts are falling," said O'Meara, whose final-round 68 was only enough for him to share second with Billy Mayfair.
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