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Before there was Tiger Woods, David Duval was the envy of the golfing world. He was the world's No. 1 ranked player, he had the big Nike contract and the Tour Championship. Then he crashed and burned like no one else has before on the PGA Tour.Woods' storming into the spotlight in 1997 has damaged a lot of golfers careers, but none more than Duval, who wasn't mentally prepared to the frustration that accompanied playing great golf, but still finishing eight strokes behind this new prodigy.
The last time we saw Duval playing good golf was the 2001 British Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes where he went on to win his first, and last, major tournament. In the two years that follow, Duval plummeted to 80th in the world rankings in 2002, then way down to 221st in 2003 and an inevitable respite from the sport.
The reasons for his decline are many: bad back, vertigo, Tiger Woods, shoulder, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods.
Duval returned to competitive golf in 2006, making 11 cuts on tour and earning $318,000.
Coincidentally, his return to relevance comes at the first major, and British Open, Tiger has missed since joining the PGA Tour. Duval is just two behind clubhouse lead K.J. Choi, sitting comfortably at 1-over with a few holes left to play in Round 2 at Royal Birkdale.
As we continue to search for compelling stories, Duval adds another name next to Norman that we will have little trouble routing for over the weekend. We all love a good comeback story, his would epic.
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