Sport
Freefall
by Joseph Romanos
J17 p36-37 Sport Website
Freefall
Spectators once applauded his brilliant strokeplay; now they are clapping out of sympathy.
One of the most poignant
stories from the US Open golf at Shinnecock Hills was the return to tournament play after eight months of 32-year-old David Duval. His comeback didn’t last long – he shot 83-82 for a total of 165, and was 155th in the field of 156 starters.
Duval’s story is hard to believe. From 1997-99 he played 34 tournaments, winning 11. Playing at Palm Springs during the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, he joined the rare group of players who have shot 59 in a professional tournament and he took over from Tiger Woods that year as the world’s No 1-ranked golfer.
In 2001 he completed a piece of unfinished business by winning the British Open, meaning he was no longer “the best player in the world not to have won a Major”.
With his metronomic consistency and phlegmatic temperament, Duval looked destined for a long spell at the top. There were days when he seemed to play every stroke perfectly. Hidden behind ever-present sunglasses, he appeared immune to pressure.
Then it all changed. Duval last won a tournament, the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan, in 2001. Since then his career has been in freefall.
Many reasons have been cited – back and wrist injuries, a lingering virus, a break-up with his long-time girlfriend, an attack of vertigo in 2003. In the end, it all became too much. To miss the cut week after week became too galling to tolerate.
He left the tour last year and returned only to play the US Open, where he showed just how far he had slipped. Spectators once applauded his brilliant strokeplay; now they clapped out of sympathy.
Duval’s slide is not unheard of. Australian Ian Baker-Finch won the British Open in 1991 and almost overnight turned into a nervous wreck who doubted his ability and was unable to make pressure shots. Six years after his Open triumph, he shot a 92 at the same tournament.
The popular Aussie made some
abortive attempts at comebacks, with dismal results, and then turned to fulltime television golf commentaries.
Chip Beck was a bright American golf hope in the 1980s. From 1988-92, he won four events. In 1991 he shot a 59 during the Las Vegas Invitational. In 1993 he made the US Ryder Cup team and was runner-up at the Masters.
Suddenly his technique and confidence vanished. In 1997 he missed the cut 29 times from 32 starts. These days Beck, 47, earns money selling insurance. He makes occasional forays on to the second-tier Nationwide Tour, generally unsuccessfully, and is waiting till he turns 50 and can join the lucrative Champions Tour.
More recently, Lee Westwood, once touted as a future star of English golf, has been through a horror spell of missed cuts and sliding world
rankings.
People say Tiger Woods is in a slump, and he is by his standards, but it’s worth mentioning that Woods has made the cut in his last 124 tournaments. Baker-Finch, Beck, Duval and Westwood wouldn’t have minded that sort of slump.
Woods has been ranked the world’s No 1 golfer for a total of 327 weeks, the last 257 consecutively. On August 9 he will equal Greg Norman’s record of 331 weeks at the top. The Australian had 11 spells in the No 1 position, from September 14, 1986, to January 4, 1998.
Woods’s reign may end shortly – during the US Open, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh could have overtaken him if they’d won – but his achievement in terms of consistency and performance should not be underestimated.
Retief Goosen’s win in the US Open disappointed the thousands of spectators gathered to salute new American golf idol Phil Mickelson, but confirmed Goosen’s standing as one of the world’s best.
For years Goosen has played in the shadow of fellow South African Ernie Els. Even after winning the US Open in 2001, Goosen was still rated a notch below Els. But by his fabulous play at Shinnecock Hills, Goosen showed he is a wonderful golfer in his own right. I’ve never seen better putting under such extreme pressure.
The crowd response to Mickelson on the final day was amazing. Golf fans will recall Arnie’s Army, the hordes of people who followed Arnold Palmer about the world, cheering his every move. But even Arnie’s Army was never as exuberant or vocal for such a sustained time as was Mickelson’s Mob.
Winning the Masters in April has transformed Mickelson from a semi-tragic figure as a golfer who could not win a big one to a national hero. He has outstripped even Tiger Woods in terms of popularity. Who’d have thought that a year ago?
Wa
s New Zealand the first country to hold a national championship swimming meeting? It appears so. Indefatigable swimming historian Norma Williams, while reading an old programme from the 1940 New Zealand championships, held at the Riddiford Baths, Lower Hutt, came upon an article written by Baxter O’Neill, who was for 42 years the national association’s secretary.
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