Duval still believes
Former Open champion David Duval remains confident he can still compete at the highest level, 11 years after his only major title.
Last Updated: 18/07/12 4:31pm
Former Open champion David Duval remains confident he can still compete at the highest level, 11 years after his only major title.
The American admits he returns to Royal Lytham, the scene of his one major triumph, an entirely different person and player.
Having slumped from world number one at the height of his game to 882nd, he is currently 775th despite a brief spike to 142 thanks to a runners-up spot in the 2009 US Open.
But that does not mean, after years troubled by injury, he has given up on ever winning again.
"I believe in what I do. I believe in myself as a person, as a golfer and I know I can play as well as anybody," said the 40-year-old.
"Everything just needs to fall into place a little bit. I need to feel a little better. You hit a couple of golf shots, you build confidence and you're off.
"In the midst of my struggles I nearly won the US Open so it's in there. It's just I haven't been consistently healthy enough to probably work as much as I need to and secondly feel consistent enough on a day-to-day basis to let it all come out."
Duval refers to a "laundry list" of problems but remains unbowed by the injuries which have blighted his game for almost a decade.
He is, though, tired of talking about it and would much rather focus on his game.
"Unfortunately for me I've had tendonitis in both shoulders, I've got it in my elbows, I have bone bruises in my knees right now, I have a back problem that's well documented, I've had tendonitis in my wrist and I've had vertigo," he said.
"I have an arm brace right now and my knee is still hurting. I don't feel the greatest.
"But my life in general has blown up exponentially in a wonderful way with meeting my wife, having an instant family with stepchildren, having a couple kids of my own biologically.
Blessed
"It's kind of funny, I think I'm incredibly blessed in life: I'm an incredibly wealthy man, I've got a wife that loves me, I love her, the kids are wonderful."
Duval admits that when his career began to spiral downwards at a rapid rate because of injuries he should have recognised the need to take a break. He chose to stubbornly soldier on and accepts he paid for it.
"That stuff frankly wrecks your golf game," he said. "Sometimes we're not smart enough to stop. Our egos think that we can just play and get through it.
"I continued to play and work through it and all it did was get worse and worse and wreck my golf game and my confidence.
"In hindsight the big mistake I made was not stopping some time in early 2002 and probably not playing again until '04.
"I should have made sure everything got healed, protected my confidence and my golf game and moved on and just given away a year and a half, not give away eight years I did."
