Double D works wonders

Okay, it may not be the lowest score of the day and he won’t be right at the very top of the leaderboard at day’s end, but for me, David Duval’s 73 was one of the rounds of the day and certainly one of his rounds of the year...

The 2002 champ s stroke average on the PGA Tour this year is a shade under 75; he s made a paltry $13,000; and in 12 starts has made just one cut. With that kind of record, most fans would probably have been expecting some kind of scorecard carnage out there from the Jacksonville man as he set off at 9.53 this morning with Simon Khan and David Frost in the worst of the weather.

But how wrong they were to be. Three bogeys on both sides were offset by three birdies leaving him 3-over at the end of his round, currently in a tie for 35th place as I write. I waited by the 11th green to see him play his approach, having watched countless others fail to get up in two on this 436-yarder. Notorious tortoise, Simon Khan, was first to play (uncharacteristically quickly as it happens), but Double D deliberated for ages, swapping clubs several times before finally deciding on the perfect weapon. He then struck a low, drawing iron to the heart of the green before two-putting for par comfortably the best shot into that green while I was watching. And the pre-shot deliberation suggested he wasn t just going through the motions, and wasn't here to merely make up the numbers as a former champion with a long-lost golf game.

Afterwards, Duval revealed he wasn t as surprised as everyone else to put together a decent score, as, in recent weeks, he felt he d been hitting the ball well but ending up with just about the highest score possible given the quality of his ball-striking.

Asked how he rated the round, he was at first reluctant to rank it, before finally assessing it in this way: I guess the best way to put it is that when I got here, had they said, 73 and you can go back to sleep , I d have said, I ll see you tomorrow!

Good work David a strong contender for GM s round of the day.

Jeremy Ellwood
Contributing Editor

Jeremy Ellwood has worked in the golf industry since 1993 and for Golf Monthly since 2002 when he started out as equipment editor. He is now a freelance journalist writing mainly for Golf Monthly. He is an expert on the Rules of Golf having qualified through an R&A course to become a golf referee. He is a senior panelist for Golf Monthly's Top 100 UK & Ireland Course Rankings and has played all of the Top 100 plus 91 of the Next 100, making him well-qualified when it comes to assessing and comparing our premier golf courses. He has now played 1,000 golf courses worldwide in 35 countries, from the humblest of nine-holers in the Scottish Highlands to the very grandest of international golf resorts. He reached the 1,000 mark on his 60th birthday in October 2023 on Vale do Lobo's Ocean course. Put him on a links course anywhere and he will be blissfully content.

Jezz can be contacted via Twitter - @JezzEllwoodGolf


Jeremy is currently playing...

Driver: Ping G425 LST 10.5˚ (draw setting), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 S shaft

3 wood: Ping G425 Max 15˚ (set to flat +1), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 S shaft

Hybrid: Ping G425 17˚, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 S shaft

Irons 3-PW: Ping i525, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 50˚ and 54˚, 12˚ bounce, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Putter: Ping Fetch 2021 model, 33in shaft (set flat 2)

Ball: Varies but mostly now TaylorMade Tour Response