David Duval has 11 wins in the past 22 months, but no majors to his credit.

Perhaps that reputation was unwarranted.

Any more, Duval can't say anything without controversy following him. While winning four times before The Masters gave him the No. 1 ranking in the world, it also came with some baggage Duval could have done without.

An audience.

He spoke Tuesday before a full house at Medinah Country Club, a larger gathering that turned up to listen to Tiger Woods about an hour later. That's not to say Woods no longer has enough electricity to light up Chicago, only that Duval has become something of a lightning rod.

"Maybe it's a bit of a transition just in that more people are listening," Duval said about his recent fame, which he enjoys as much as a double bogey.

"The problem is that when I went to No. 1, all of a sudden I had to know a lot more than I knew the day before. And I became an authority on stuff that I'm not an authority on."

Exhibit 1: Carnoustie Golf Links.

Not everyone was terribly fond of the pinched fairways and bloated rough of the British Open. Phil Mickelson suggested placing red hazard stakes down the fairway. Payne Stewart wasn't sure if the short grass could be called a fairway.

Duval joined the chorus and struck the loudest chords.

"I heard several players and past Open champions talk about how absurd and ridiculous it was, and unfair," Duval said. "For some reason, I was picked out. Do I regret that? No. I don't have any control over that."

Exhibit 2: The Ryder Cup.

Never mind that Duval has never played in the matches. He referred to them as an "exhibition" the week after the Buick Classic in New York, a word that makes the European press and players bite their lips.

Turns out he was just warming up.

Mark O'Meara first raised the compensation issue nearly a year ago, and that was before the Golf Digest report that estimated $63 million in gross revenue from the Ryder Cup, with a net profit of about $17 million for the PGA of America.

O'Meara asked why the players should not get a piece of the pie since they were the filling. Woods chimed in later, referring to pre-tournament parties as "pros on parade."

But it was Duval who supplied the real dynamite.

In interviews with Golf Digest, he said the Ryder Cup has become "a little overcooked, but it's probably going to stay that way until players choose not to play."

Could that happen?

"I think it could," Duval said.

He did not say for certain he would be among those who chose not to play. He also said such a boycott wasn't "imminent."

Only he never said boycott, even if that's what it sounded like.

"I answered the question about what it would take to change things," he said. "I said it would take players not playing. I have a hard time, as a person, figuring out where that's saying it's a boycott. I never said I wanted to be paid. I said I think that we should have money to go back to our local communities.

"Some words were put in my mouth that probably shouldn't have been."

The words he produces on his own don't flow as freely from his mouth as they did for Woods, although they share the same point of view on the Ryder Cup.

Duval squirms in his seat. He stammers. He can look disinterested. He rarely apologizes.

"I don't have to think about ... which untruth did I tell, or what did I sugarcoat," he said. "I don't have to do that because I say what I think, and I answer honestly. As much as anything, I guess more people seem to pay attention."

The key now is for Duval to bring the attention back to his golf.

He hasn't won since the BellSouth Classic the week before The Masters, and the PGA Championship is his last chance of the year to win his first major.

Duval played the U.S. Open at Medinah as an 18-year-old amateur and still remembers getting to within five shots of the lead on Sunday before he fell apart on the back nine.