Can you imagine being the best in the world in your profession and then your talent is taken away. This person is a professional golfer and was the number one golfer in the world. Tiger Woods was chasing his tail. He won 13 PGA tournaments before he was 30. He is one of a handful of players to score a 59 in a tournament round His last tournament win was the 2001 British Open and he hasn't won since. Luckily he won over $18 Million in prize money without including endorsements.
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I am talking about David Duval and it is sad to see him struggling the way he is today. He was Mr Boring when he played as he was like a robot. He had a great swing and would often out drive his competitors and play just great consistent golf week in and week out. He hasn't given up though and I don't know how it must be killing him inside.
David burst onto the scene in 1997 and dominated until 2001. He played in 117 tournaments and won 14 of them and was the runner up in 8 of them as well. These were his golden years and had sponsors flocking for his signature and crowds buzzing. He was better than good, he was just brilliant. He was Mr Reliable and would make golf look so simple. Possessing a great swing and hitting the ball down the middle of the fairway on every occasion he was Tiger Woods main rival.
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The best place for him today.
In 2004 just 3 years after winning a major he had slipped form the number one spot all the way down to 434 and of the 20 tournaments he played in he only earned $7630 for the only tournament he made the cut in. For those of you that don't follow golf the cut is the halfway point in a tournament and everyone over a certain score normally 10 shots from the lead or the top 42 players is then discarded from that tournament.
What makes it worse is he has done it all before and now the magic isn't there at all. How bad is it then? This year at the British Open David carded 91 and 78 for a 27 over par and he missed the cut by a long way and came last. He has earned the right to play in this tournament as he was a previous winner and there is always hope that he will find his lost swing.
David has suffered from numerous back injuries and suffers from Vertigo which doesn't help matters. Losing a swing over night must be frustrating and depressing. How can someone be so good and become so bad. This year he hasn't made the cut once and it doesn't look like he will either.
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On fire 10 birdies and an eagle for a round of 59.
There is always hope and belief though as Tiger Woods won recently after a drought and back issues. I think this is different though and 18 years since his last win must have taken a toll mentally. Youtube is full of videos highlighting his swing and it was a textbook swing for students to learn from. Looking at his stats today he isn't ranked in driving or fairways found. He has a world ranking of 2071 and has improved 5 places over the last month.
