David Duval stood on the putting green -- chatting with old friends, introducing his new wife, catching up on what's happened the last seven months.
Through it all, he couldn't stop smiling.
Welcome back, David.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Duval makes his return to competitive golf in the toughest test of all, teeing off early Thursday morning in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
A curious decision, for sure, considering his last tournament was in November. And he didn't even finish.
To Duval, an often-enigmatic figure who was the last player not named Tiger Woods to be ranked No. 1 in the world, it all seemed right.
"I just wanted to go play," said Duval, who made his decision Saturday night. "For no other reason than I just felt like I was going to go have some fun and enjoy it again. Up to that point, I hadn't wanted to play."
Always a man of mystery in those wraparound glasses, Duval opened up his soul for all to see Wednesday, revealing the inner workings of a complex figure who once stood on top of the golfing world, then let it all slip away.
"You know, the life out on this tour is long. It's hard. It's lonely. And I've been doing this for a long, long time," Duval said. "In some sense, to be honest with you, I haven't missed it. I haven't missed being away.
"But I just wanted to play this week."
So play he will, with no expectations, just a renewed desire to knock around that little white ball. The ranking that was once No. 1 has plunged to 434. Just making the cut in the 156-player field would be a major accomplishment.
That was apparent during his first practice round at Shinnecock. He opened with a 3-wood that hooked into the gallery, took a hop and hit a man in the back of the head. Not to worry. He couldn't stop smiling.
"I came to play and have fun, just simply be out here and enjoy it," Duval said.
Others are playing for a lot more. Start with Tiger Woods, who has gone seven majors without winning after a dominating 7-of-11 run in golf's biggest events.
He is under more scrutiny than ever because of his engagement to a Swedish nanny, his divorce from high-profile coach Butch Harmon and shots that don't always go where he's aiming.
Woods' slump -- if you can call it that -- has given South Africa's Ernie Els and Vijay Singh of Fiji a chance to move up to No. 1 in the world, a position Woods claimed from Duval on Aug. 16, 1999, and has held ever since.
"I'm playing as good as I've ever played," Singh said. "I can't do any more than just go out there and try to win the golf tournament."
Duval isn't the only player making a comeback this week. Jim Furyk, the defending Open champion, had surgery on his wrist three months ago and counted himself out. Lo and behold, he played two full rounds last week and decided Friday to give it a shot.
Can he win? Put him in the same league with Duval.
"My expectations are high," Furyk said. "They're not that high."
He's already part of history, one of six straight first-time major winners. The streak began with Rich Beem in the 2002 PGA Championship and stayed alive with Phil Mickelson in the Masters two months ago.
Certainly, it's not out of the question that another neophyte will hoist the trophy Sunday as the sun sets on Long Island.
That list starts with Spaniard Sergio Garcia, the consensus choice to inherit Mickelson's former title of Best Player Never to Win a Major.
Garcia is hardly unknown, finishing second to Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship and fourth in the US Open two years ago.
The 24-year-old Spaniard is peaking at just the right time. He's won twice in the past five weeks, taking the Byron Nelson and the Buick Classic just last week.
"I'm pretty comfortable with my game," Garcia said. "I've been getting quite consistent throughout these past years. I really feel like I have a bit more confidence in myself to try to do something here."
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB