Fans still have faith in Double D

Colin Byrne / The Caddie's Role: Sports fans adore a comeback. The fallen hero who gradually claws their way out of the mire of lost form is always given a bigger reception than the one they got for building their reputation in the first place. We were drawn to play with David Duval and Mark Brooks in the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando last week.

This was Arnold Palmer's event, the great icon of golf who was fortunate never to suffer such a fall from greatness as Duval did in his career.

In fact, Arnie even got to extend his golfing lifespan with the advent of the seniors tour, thus experiencing a sort of rejuvenation of an already long and rich golfing life. Such longevity is not bestowed upon every player.

David Duval won no fewer than 11 events between 1997 and 1999. He gained access to the US PGA Tour in 1995 due to his success on the then Nationwide secondary US Tour. He shot a record 59 to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 1999, went on to win the Players Championship in March that year and knocked Tiger out of his position as best golfer in the world after 41 consecutive weeks.

Duval had won four events before the Masters in the same year. He had become a serious contender every time he teed his ball up.

In 2000, Duval was sidelined due to injuries. From wrist to back problems, it was to mark the gradual decline of a blistering career. Despite multiple high finishes, the injuries were obviously starting to take their toll on Duval as he had to miss or pull out of numerous events. In 2001, I saw Duval shoot a stunning third round of 65 in the British Open Championship at Lytham, when I was caddying for Paul Lawrie. He went on to win the British Open that year.

This was the last event that Duval won. He slipped from eighth in the US money rankings to 80th in 2002, 211th in 2003, 210th the next year and 260th last year.

He has gone from being a "big boy" in both weight and status to being a much smaller boy physically and a bigger boy in golfing status back to being a "big boy" again without the status. He has had some major weight fluctuations over the years, which is a complicating factor in a game that is based so fundamentally on balance.

As a major and multiple tournament winner, it is very difficult to throw in the towel at the game that has given you so much joy and success. Because of the exemptions that go with major territory, the system is not going to tell you when enough is enough. Unlike the average player, for whom the system is designed to shout it loud and clear in your ear that you are not quite up to the mark and its time to move on. As a major winner you get a free go at the tour for the following five years. Duval's reprieve clock is ticking away: this is his last year exempt, and next year he can draw on the "all-time money earners" exemption. Before next year is out his comeback will have to be made.

Given the talent of top golfers it is hard to accept that a once world beater has turned into an also-ran. The overall picture of the scores they produce are what they are judged by, but if you examine the small-print of this fickle game it usually has some hope hidden deep within. Having played with Duval, it seems like there is plenty of game left in him, it is just a question of how much desire there is to bring that talent back to where it once was and how much the injuries are going to hamper that quest to recapture esteemed status.

Despite missing the cut last week in Bay Hill, he did show all the trademarks of being a serious golfer.

There have been some spectacular demises in golf over the past two decades. Australian Ian Baker-Finch shot a stunning third round 64 on a treacherous Birkdale links in the early 1990s to set up an British Open Championship victory and esteemed golfing status, only to end up in the commentary booth a few years later due to a total lack of form. Bill Rodgers, faded into the abyss after his Open victory in the early eighties. Ben Curtis, although still competing on tour, has not recaptured any of the stunning form he showed to win the Open in 2003. My ex-boss Lawrie, despite some success in the years after his Open victory, never reached those heights again.

Nick Faldo was playing last week in Bay Hill, hanging on to a place in professional golf very much at a level that he probably knows himself is too low for him to respectfully sustain, although his fall is more to do with age than a premature lack of form.

Golf is a game of habit. There are certain routines we all adhere to that distinguish us from our playing partners. Our pre-shot ritual, the coin we mark our ball with on the green, the height at which we tee up our ball. All these idiosyncrasies separate us from the others.

There is another way to tell the great players from the average and that is through their scoring trend. Just as golf is a game of habit, scoring in that game under the pressure of competition is equally habitual. It is easy to slip into the bad habit of scoring badly, and when you do, as a once world beater, it is even more difficult to recapture those days of golfing "wine and roses". Duval seems to have lost the expectancy of scoring well, but he still has the artistry to do so.

When today's top golfers don their spikes they have an agenda and that is to shoot low. This is how David Duval's script used to be, or "Double D" as the expectant crowd at Bay Hill called the once world number one last week. "It's great to see you back" and "welcome back DD" greeted Duval on many holes. The Americans don't, as a tradition, warm to a loser. But Duval is certainly not a loser, he of course has very much been a winner and there is a strong sense he could well be in the winner's enclosure again and this is why the fans are still encouraging.

David Robert Duval, at the relatively young age of 34, really should not have reached his golfing prime yet, he just needs to get back in the habit of expecting to score in the 60s again.

Judging by what I saw last week there is no reason why he cannot. Every aspect of his former game seems to be present and accounted for. If he can draw on the edge he has over the majority of his fellow competitors, that of being a multiple winner and a mammoth of the modern game, then there is no reason why he cannot regain at least some of the status he commanded back at the turn of the millennium. If the sports fans in America have their vocal way, they will elevate Double D back to his golfing pedestal with just a few more made cuts.