Duval tries again for first major

Even with second-degree burns on his right hand, David Duval has no trouble lugging around the burden of being the best player without a major victory to his name.

Sure, the world's top-ranked golfer would like to discard that unwanted title in this week's U.S. Open. Obviously, there will be a void in his career until he wins one of the Big Four.

But time is on Duval's side. Only 27, there wasn't even a tinge of panic in his voice as he discussed major issues Tuesday following a practice round at Pinehurst No. 2.

"I don't see it as something I want to get out of the way," said Duval, who has four victories and three other top-10 finishes this year. "As players look back when they're coming to the end of their careers, they feel a lot better if they have won a major or two.

"But as a competitor, if I won this week, well, I'm not going to be satisfied with it. I'm going to be wanting to win the next one, as well."

Duval has been on the verge of breaking through since 1996, when he was 18th in the Masters and 14th in the British Open in just his second full year on the tour. He followed with a 13th-place showing in the 1997 PGA Championship.

Over the past year and a half, Duval has been tantalizingly close to a major title -- second at Augusta, seventh in the U.S. Open, 11th in the British, sixth in this year's Masters. The only slip-up was missing the cut in the most recent PGA Championship at Sahalee.

"Say I win here at Pinehurst," Duval said. ``All right, I've won a major, and now I don't have to worry about them anymore. I've done that. But that's not how I think of it. I think of it as something that's going to be a challenge for the next 15, 20 years."

For now, Duval's most pressing challenge is dealing with the burns on his right thumb and forefinger, self-inflicted Friday when he tried to remove a coffee pot from the gas stove in his new house at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Heeding a doctor's advice, Duval punctured the wounds with a knife after finding it difficult to grip his clubs while chipping and putting Monday. He returned to the course Tuesday for an 18-hole practice round with small bandages on both fingers.

"They seem to be fine," Duval said. ``It hasn't hampered anything, it hasn't prevented me from playing and it doesn't seem like it's going to prevent me from performing as I would like this week. It wasn't exactly the greatest of timing, but it looks like it's going to be OK."

His hand may be a concern, but Duval's psyche is feeling much better.

Clearly, he was worn down by his remarkable stretch during the first three months of the year. After winning four of his eight tournaments leading into the Masters and finishing no lower than 18th in the others, he arrived at Augusta as the clear favorite.

But Duval wasn't in contention until the front nine on Sunday, when he charged to a spot on the leader board before finishing five shots behind winner Jose Maria Olazabal.

After Augusta, Duval played only twice over the next two months, tying for 64th in the Houston Open and failing to make the cut in the Compaq Classic at New Orleans.

"I put in a lot of hard work on and off the golf course, getting ready for the (three-week) run from The Players Championship to Augusta," Duval remembered. "I just wasn't as ready to play as I would like when I got to Houston. Maybe I was more drained from those three weeks than I expected."

Now that he's refreshed, maybe this will be the week when Duval finally goes head-to-head with his most serious challenger for the title of greatest golfer in the world.

Tiger Woods won two straight tournaments prior to Pinehurst, putting him in the favorite position that Duval occupied before the Masters.

"Either he's played great and I haven't played so good, or it's vice-versa. We haven't done it together in the same tournament," Woods said. "It will happen one day. The odds are in our favor."

So are the odds that Duval will win a major tournament one of these days.

AP