Tiger Woods' former rival dismisses 'complex relationship' theory: "We were friends"
Tiger Woods former professional rival David Duval has insisted he was one of his closest friends during the early days of his PGA Tour career.
Tiger Woods' former rival David Duval says he was one of the hall of famer's closest friends during his early PGA Tour days.
Woods was on everyone's radar long before he made his debut at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open when he was 20 years old.
The late 90s and early noughties coincided with Duval's pomp, where he won 11 PGA Tour titles and the 2001 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
During the early years of Woods' career, the golfer claimed that Duval was one of the players he was 'most concerned with' in regards to battling for titles.
Woods, of course, had no reason to be worried as he essentially dominated the sport and bludgeoned all in his path for 13 years.
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"We were friends," Duval told the most recent edition of the No Laying Up podcast.
"I don't know what the word is or adjective to describe him as the icon, but, you know, obviously he came out and turned pro and had success and started to win a little bit and started to win some more.
"Tiger Woods today, I believe he's 47 now, [that was a] generational time period where he became that icon.
"Back then when he turned pro, it's not like he turned pro and became the best player in the world.
"Everybody knew him. Everybody knew who he was and expected a lot, but it took time for the aura of it to continue to build.
"For me, we were...I was probably one of his more closer, better friends along with Mark [O'Meara].
"I think as much as anything he trusted us and, you know, knew that we were just his friends and didn't really give a crap about the other stuff.
"But when you have somebody like that, as it just grows and grows and grows then that circle has to tighten and tighten and tighten.
"And that's just how it played out."
Duval's career declined sharply after he reached the pinnacle of the sport.
Back and wrist injuries hampered his performances, as well as health issues such as vertigo.
He also became more focussed on family life.
Duval was asked about whether it was true he had a feeling of 'Is this it?' after he won The Open.
He confirmed he had feelings of being underwhelmed with the reward, adding: "Yeah there was a bit of, 'Is this all there is?'"
Duval explained how he believed he could have won every Masters Tournament from 1998-2001.
"The Open I won was the worst I hit the golf ball," he said.
"I'm not saying I hit it poorly, and I'm not saying I hit it bad, but of them [all my wins] it's the worst I hit it.
"And it's kind of like, after all these other chances after all these other misses it's the week that you don't even hit it as good as you can or expect to and you win that week?
"It's like, are you serious?! So it was [the feeling] kinda something along those lines."
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