Duval Misses Cut, Becomes a Real Cut-Up

PEBBLE BEACH —  And now, here’s something you probably didn’t expect: David Duval is showing a sense of humor.

The truly unexpected part isn’t that Duval is semi-funny, it’s that his good mood comes after he missed the cut last week at Phoenix. It was the first missed cut for Duval since the New Orleans event the week before the 1999 Masters.

Instead of playing over the weekend at Phoenix, Duval ran a few errands, worked out in the gym, chose not to watch the Super Bowl and tried not to hold a grudge against his putter.

“This thing didn’t work last week,” Duval said of the putter. “I sent it up here on its own. I didn’t want it to come with me.”

This is new ground that Duval is covering, this sunny disposition. Usually, Duval is so intense around the golf course, frost forms on the bill of his cap.

Duval’s playing schedule leading up to the Masters is the same as always, meaning it’s Pebble Beach, the Hope, the Nissan Open, the Genuity (formerly the Doral), then the Players Championship and the BellSouth. At the Hope, the host course is the Palmer Course at PGA West, where Duval shot a 59 two years ago.

Duval isn’t sentimental about the course.

“That’s no big deal,” he said.

His growing friendship with Tiger Woods is also no big deal, Duval said. They play practice rounds together when they can and Duval travels on Woods’ jet when they’re heading in the same direction. Duval says no cash changes hands when he plays practice rounds with Woods.

Why?

“He’s scared of me,” Duval said.

He was joking.

IT WAS THE BALL’S FAULT

Duval missed the cut last week at Phoenix, but he says it’s not because of his new equipment--Nike balls and irons.

“Had absolutely nothing to do with it,” Duval said.

He blamed his putting.

CASEY UPDATE

Casey Martin is waiting for the Supreme Court decision on the PGA Tour’s appeal of his cart case. But until that happens, he’s loading up on his sponsor’s exemptions. Martin is playing Pebble Beach.

“I never played cart golf until I had to, but now I am needing to 24/7,” Martin said.

Mark Calcavecchia said Martin’s stance on the cart issue is correct.

“No question he should be allowed to ride,” Calcavecchia said. “Most guys are in his corner.”

COVER UP

The LPGA needed to reprint its media guides to airbrush the Izod Club logo off Karrie Webb’s shirts in its cover photo. Izod Club doesn’t represent Webb anymore.

THAT’S A GOOD GOAL

From Roger Maltbie, 49, on whether he is looking forward to playing the Senior PGA Tour: “Hell, I’m just trying to reach 50.”

MORE MALTBIE

He stopped smoking seven months ago, but Maltbie has experienced some side effects, such as gaining weight. He said he tried nicotine patches, but they didn’t work.

Said Maltbie: “I couldn’t keep them lit.”

WOULD IT CONFORM?

Ely Callaway was once a winemaker, before he started in the golf club business, but he still keeps up with the news on grapes. He said he knows all about the new threat to California grapes, a pest called the grassy winged sharpshooter.

“That would be a good name for the next golf club we make,” Callaway said.

DALY UPDATE

John Daly’s tie for ninth at the Phoenix Open was his first top 10 in three years. Daly hasn’t won since the 1995 British Open, but he picked a good one to win because no matter how he plays, he remains exempt and keeps his PGA Tour playing privileges until 2005.

INFLATION UPDATE

Calcavecchia’s record-breaking 28-under victory at Phoenix meant a $720,000 payday. That’s almost twice as much as Calcavecchia made ($324,000) for his last tournament victory, the 1998 Honda Classic.

SHE HAD WITNESSES, RIGHT?

You figure it out. Michelle Estill didn’t have a hole in one in 11 years and then made two in 10 days.

AND HE’S NOT STARTING NOW

Jack Nicklaus could have won the Senior Skins last weekend, if he had somehow missed a four-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.

All Nicklaus had to do was steer that putt to the right and Gary Player would have won the $180,000 skin. Instead, Nicklaus made the putt, the hole was halved and the money carried over to the next hole, which Hale Irwin won with a birdie.

Irwin added the $180,000 to his total and finished with $320,000. Nicklaus had $260,000.

Said Nicklaus: “I would never miss a putt on purpose.”

PICTURE THIS

MacDonald Smith, who won the Los Angeles Open four times, will be the past champion honoree at the Nissan Open in three weeks. This means he will be the subject of a special portrait that is commissioned to honor a great tournament champion each year.

Defending champion Kirk Triplett noted that it’s the 75th anniversary of the tournament. Said Triplett: “I hope they have one of me in 2076.”

That will be the 150th anniversary of the tournament. Note to Triplett: That Gilligan’s Island cap of yours looks 150 years old already.

KEY: WAKING UP

News item: Paul Gow of Australia shoots a 12-under 60 in the first round of last week’s Canon Challenge in Sydney, on the Australasian Tour. Says Gow: “When I woke up, I knew something was going to happen.”

Reaction: How many times have we heard this before? You wake up, something happens. Every time. Amazing.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

Larry Nelson and Bruce Fleisher have entered the SBC Senior Classic, March 9-11 at Valencia Country Club. Joe Inman is the defending champion of the tournament, which has moved from Wilshire.

Tom Watson has entered the Toshiba Senior Classic, March 2-4 at Newport Beach Country Club.

The latest Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings have USC’s women’s team No. 3 behind Duke and Arizona. USC’s Candie Kung is ranked No. 2 behind Lorena Ochoa of Arizona, Katherine Hull of Pepperdine is No. 5 and the Trojans’ Leila Chartrand is No. 6. Pepperdine is No. 8 and UCLA No. 16. In the men’s rankings, USC is No. 10 and Pepperdine is No. 28. Alex Kuyumjian of USC is No. 2 behind Bryce Molder of Georgia Tech. Hunter Mahan of USC is No. 13.

A study by the Monterey Institute of International Studies estimates the 2000 AT&T; Pebble Beach tournament had an overall economic impact of $55 million on Monterey County.

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The Top 5

This week’s category: the top five tidbits about Spyglass Hill, one of three courses played at the AT&T;, along with Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills:

1. Spyglass Hill was taken from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel “Treasure Island.”

2. Local legend maintains that Stevenson used to wander the Spyglass area to come up with ideas for his novels.

3. The holes are named for characters in “Treasure Island.”

4. Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the course, which opened in 1966.

5. Robert Louis Stevenson died in 1894.