Duval still a believer as he rolls back the years

David Duval says he is still a great golfer and, he insists, going into the second round of the Open Championship just four shots off the overnight lead proves the point.

Yet the 73 carded by the 2001 title winner during the worst of the weather at Royal Birkdale yesterday, while brilliantly executed, hardly stacks up against the evidence that suggests Duval is in denial.

"I feel very good about the work I've done over the last many months, not to talk about the preceding years," he said "I probably stand here with a lot more confidence than you maybe think I should if you simply look at results.

"But I'm the one holding the golf club. I'm the one hitting the shots, so I know how I'm truly swinging the golf club and how I'm playing. And I feel good about it."

This, it should be pointed out, comes from the player ranked 1,087th in the world. How has the former No1 sunk so low? A glance at his results this season offers a clue.

In 12 starts on the US PGA Tour, the 36-year-old has made just one cut. From 27 rounds of golf, he has an abysmal scoring average of 74.93 and he is a combined 95 over par. Oh, how are the mighty fallen.

From October 1997 to July 2001, Duval won 13 Tour tournaments plus the 2001 Dunlop Phoenix Open in Japan and the 2000 World Cup with Tiger Woods. He also tied for second in both the 1998 and 2001 Masters.

In April 1999, Duval topped the world rankings and not long afterwards he shot a magic 59 in the final round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He was also a member of America's victorious Ryder Cup team at the infamous Battle of Brookline in 1999.

Duval's dramatic demise came in the wake of his Open triumph at Royal Lytham. The cause has been variously attributed to injuries to his back, wrist and shoulder, a strange bout of vertigo and upheaval in his private life.

Whatever the truth - and the American is an intensely private individual who rarely speaks about matters other than those pertaining to golf - he had been written off until yesterday's performance.

"I've been expecting glimpses of greatness for a while," he said. "I just feel like I'm playing well, I'm hitting the ball solid."

He hit it magnificently at the par-three 184-yards 12th. Duval said: "I don't remember the yardage, maybe 162 yards to the front of the green, wind blowing hard from the right, and I just cut a four iron.

"You know, getting the ball on the green in those conditions was a success but hitting it within 10 or 12 feet for a birdie was obviously a great golf shot."

What Duval needs is a few more of those over the next three days and then maybe we can agree he is on the road back.