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Sunday, Apr. 11 8:04pm ET Duval's charge comes up short Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- No need to measure David Duval for a green jacket just yet.
The world's top-ranked player came to The Masters on a major roll, having already won four tournaments and almost $2.6 million this year. But his first major title is still an
unfulfilled goal, scuttled at Augusta National by an erratic wedge.
Duval had the best round of anyone Sunday, a 2-under-par 70 in
ruthless conditions, but it was only good enough to tie for sixth.
The 3-under 285 left him five shots behind winner Jose Maria
Olazabal.
"I came in playing well. I came in thinking well," said Duval,
one of only seven players to break par amid the swirling winds and
slick greens. "But I failed to quite put it all together."
Duval's scorecard looked more like a Christmas tree, filled with
the red and green numbers that Augusta uses to note the non-par
scores. The man who prides himself on calm, consistent excellence
endured a roller-coaster of a round that included an eagle, six
birdies, six pars, four bogeys and a double-bogey.
"I would certainly not expect to do that normally," he said
with a sigh.
Duval, who began the day six shots back at 1-under, moved onto
the leaderboard with an eagle at No. 2 and birdies at 7 and 8. The
gallery began to swell when he rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt at
10 to move 5-under -- only two shots off the pace.
"I felt I was in very good position heading into the back
nine," Duval said. "But some poor shots and some untimely
mistakes really hurt me in the end."
Duval's first miscue came at 11, the lead hole in Amen Corner.
He cut his tee shot and landed wide of the fairway
on the right, 200 yards away. The flag was placed in a perilous
position -- the back, left corner of the green, just a short roll
from the pond -- so he pulled out of a 4-iron and tried to play the
safe shot to the right.
Instead, the ball sailed left, bouncing a couple of times before
it rolled off in the water. Duval took a penalty, followed with a
poor chip past the hole and two-putted for a double-bogey.
"I just failed to pull off the shot I was trying to hit," he
said. "Then, with the wind coming from the right, there was only
one place the ball was going to go, and that was the water."
Duval redeemed himself with a brilliant 3-iron at the par-5 13th
after his tee shot sailed into the tree, lodging against a pine
cone. From that awkward position, he knocked his second shot on the
green and two-putted for birdie, pulling back into contention.
Then, his wedge let him down, contributing to bogeys on three of
the next four holes. His second shot at 14 sailed to the far
reaches of the green, leading to a three-putt from 50 feet. At 17,
he plopped down short of the green, was forced to chip on and
two-putted for another bogey.
"I pride myself on being a good wedge player," he said. "But
I failed to perform with those in a big way this week."
Duval managed only one par on the back nine, his erratic card
looking like it belonged to someone like John Daly: birdie,
double-bogey, par, birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey, bogey, birdie.
Duval had played the two previous weekends prior to Augusta,
winning both The Players Championship and the BellSouth Classic. As
it turned out, that may have zapped his strength at The Masters.
"It's tough to think you're going to win that much," he said.
"As we all know, winning takes more out of you than finishing 25th
or 30th. But I felt my preparation was what it needed to be. I came
in here obviously playing well. It just didn't quite happen."
After finishing tied for second at the 1998 Masters, Duval was
the clear favorite to win this time. It was a role he knew was
deserved but accepted with trepidation.
"It's sometimes unfair to say one player should win an event,"
Duval told a reporter. "You can pick whoever you want every week,
and I'd take the field and bet you everything you want every week.
Odds are, you're going to lose."
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