AUGUSTA — David Duval planned to lift weights after leaving Augusta National yesterday evening. After that, maybe he’d run a mile or two before dinner, “to get the blood flowing,” he said.
In a sport where lifting weights is largely viewed as taboo and walking is preferred to running, Duval has turned into the Jack LaLanne of the PGA Tour.
Look at him these days and Duval looks like he could run a marathon. His body fat is almost non-existent, his muscles ripped. He could be on the cover of Men’s Health as easily as Golf Digest.
“I enjoy the things I’m doing off the golf course with fitness,” Duval said in explaining his new fascination with working out. “That seems to help with the stresses that you get through everyday life.”
Duval certainly didn’t appear very stressed yesterday while shooting a 7-under-par 65 that put him atop an impressive leader board entering today’s third round of the 64th Masters. Playing in the group behind legends Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer, Duval roared to 6-under for the tournament with a 30 on the usually difficult back nine. Four birdies, plus an eagle on the par-5 15th, gave Duval a one-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson, 1998 PGA champion Vijay Singh and two-time U.S. Open winner Ernie Els.
If Duval keeps this up, pumping iron could become the latest fad on the PGA Tour.
“I think that it is nothing but beneficial to me,” Duval said. “I believe that come Sunday afternoon, the fact that I believe I’m in good shape can pay off. I’ll be more refreshed than other people and my strength will still be high.”
Considering he is the second-ranked player in the world, Duval leading the Masters shouldn’t be a surprise. But somehow it is. He was supposed to win this tournament last year, entering a heavy favorite after posting four wins over the first three months of the season. The spotlight was on him, the way it was on Tiger Woods this year. But Duval never was in serious contention before finishing tied for sixth. He didn’t win again the rest of the season.
Scheduling was the problem, Duval now says. Too much travel. Too many tournaments. Too much stress. Too much media. And too many expectations.
Golf is difficult enough without having everyone in the world expecting you to win. Woods is finding that out this weekend as he struggles at 3-over par after 36 holes.
Duval simply wasn’t good with the spotlight on him last year. The more intense it got, the more uncomfortable he appeared. Clearly, Duval is more relaxed when the attention is on someone else, the way it was on Woods all week and on the 60-year-old Nicklaus yesterday.
The Golden Bear was stealing the show again, standing three strokes off the lead through 15 holes. Augusta National always goes berserk when Nicklaus is in contention, the galleries overflow, the roars are magnified.
All this was taking place in front of Duval, who despite being in the midst of his own splendid round, became part afterthought, part spectator. “It was a neat place to be,” he said.
As Nicklaus was hitting his tee shot on the par-3 16th, Duval was in the 15th fairway, cocking back a 5-iron that sent his second shot within 10 feet of the pin. As Nicklaus got up and down out of the sand on 16 to a thunderous applause, Duval drained the eagle to go 4-under and tie for the lead. Two more birdies over his last three holes put in at 6-under. “It was a very good day for me,” Duval said.
Ask him if he feels less pressure than he did a year ago, and Duval will shrug and insist he puts more pressure on himself than anyone else could.
“I have some high expectations for this week,” he said. “I still had to do the media [press conferences] and I still had to do other things at different times. It’s not like I was left alone and didn’t have to do any of that. Certainly, the talk wasn’t as much of me, if any of me, but that was fine. I just wanted to play.”
Truth is, Duval had to talk himself up more than the pre-tournament prognosticators did. He insisted he was playing well, despite not having won a tournament since last May and went so far as to suggest he wasn’t into preparing for the Masters more than winning.
“I made it known all year that I was looking forward to this stretch,” he said. “So here we are and I’m happy to have played well.”
Now we’ll see how Duval holds up this weekend. He has been this far before. He led after two rounds in 1998 and had a chance to win on the back on Sunday before losing when Mark O’Meara birdied the final two holes.
If you believe him, his edge this year could be his iron will and the iron he’s been pumping.