The 1998 Tucson Chrysler Classic just about had it all.
Well, aside from Tiger Woods. The then-22-year-old waffled on a commitment to the tournament before ultimately deciding against it.
The desert stop—sandwiched in between the United Airlines Hawaiian Open and the Nissan Open (remember those?)—did have a field of Phil Mickelson, Nick Faldo, John Daly, David Duval, Justin Leonard, David Toms, Tom Lehman and Andrew Magee. It also had some weather, a 62 and a blown seven-shot lead.
Duval was still about a year away from reaching World No. 1 but he arrived in Tucson having won three of his last eight starts. By that Sunday night, he was leaving town with another, giving him four wins in nine outings — the best in professional golf since Nick Price won four out of six PGA Tour events in 1994.
Along the way there was some bad weather. The back half of Friday’s second round was hit by a rainstorm but Duval was out early and posted a second-round 62 that featured two hole-outs from the fairway for eagle.
Duval is back in Tucson, Arizona, this week as a rookie on the PGA Tour Champions, with some recollections of that wild week 24 years ago. He will tee it up in the Cologuard Classic starting Friday on Omni Tucson National.
“I played in the morning on Friday and shot 62. Basically, as I putted out on 18, all hell broke loose with the weather, with wind and cold and the temperature dropped,” he recalled during a media session on Wednesday at the Omni Tucson National. “So I had a sizeable lead because of conditions.”
His 62 was aided by some serious flag-hunting.
“I remember thinking to myself in the ninth fairway, I hadn’t really paid close attention to it, I guess, but I was like, ‘Oh, man, I’m 6 under after eight holes. If make birdie here, I shoot 29. That’s always cool.’ I holed out a 5-iron for a 2, so I shot 28.”
Friday’s weather led to some late starts Saturday and the third round didn’t get done before darkness set in. On Sunday, by the time Duval completed 54 holes, he was sitting on a seven-shot lead. By the time he got to the 15th tee box, however, Justin Leonard had tracked him down and the two were tied with four to go.
Duval made a birdie on 16 after he chipped one in, and did so again on 18 after he drained a 30-footer. Leonard, meanwhile, bogeyed both holes, leading to a rollercoaster four-shot victory for Duval.
There was no title defense for Duval. The PGA Tour returned to Tucson in 1999 but with the newly created World Match Play Championship, relegating the “regular” Tucson event to second-tier status. Duval later played in those events in 2005 and 2006, missing the cut both times.
What would it mean to win this weekend?
“That would be spectacular, especially having won here before. That would be a real dream come true,” he said.
Duval is committed to a mostly full playing schedule as a rookie on the senior circuit in 2022. That means he’s cutting back on his TV work.
“This year I’m not going to be doing any Live Froms this year,” he said, referring to the popular Golf Channel segments before and after golf tournaments. “I just can’t fit it into if I’m going to try to play a full schedule of whatever it may be, call it 22 weeks.
“I can’t add in six more weeks of leaving my family and my daughter, who lives at home—my son is at a boarding school—and be that selfish. I still have to be a husband and a father along with being a professional golfer.”
