We respect people for different reasons – we admired Tiger for his greatness; we marvel at Rory McIlroy for his potential; we love Phil because of his swashbuckling style; we enjoy Ian Poulter for his flair.
When you’re talking David Duval though – you have to admire his willingness to set aside ego and pride. If you’re not following Q-School, you wouldn’t know that Duval recently moved on from Q-School stage 2 to the hellish week that is Q-school stage 1. Duval is a world former one player who had to take up his clubs against journeyman pros, young upstarts and guys who will never actually sniff the tour for real.
Most guys who have had the success Duval did would never willingly go to Q-School 2. They’d choose to beg for exemptions and try to sneak in the backdoors of tournaments. They’d live of the past and their previous accomplishments. That route was there for Duval – but he chose the harder road.
Let’s be honest, if the guy believes he belongs on the world’s greatest golf stages – then why not Q-School? If you can’t win it there, you don’t belong to play with the big boys.
Duval is moving forward and hopefully back toward success on the Tour. His inexplicable fall from awesomeness and dominance is a bizarre story. It’s enough to send a man into hiding – not back to the roots of the game to start over.
Next year, at some point, you’ll see Duval’s name on a leader board and maybe you’ll remember his decision to head to Q-School. Credit the guy for swallowing his pride and doing what every golfer should…
Play it where it lies.
