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ESPN NETWORK:
ESPN.COM | NFL.COM | NBA.COM | NASCAR | NHL.COM | ABCSPORTS | FANTASY | STORE | INSIDER
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Duval vs. Woods, Monday's prime time event Associated Press August 2 10:11am ET | |||||||||||||||||
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They didn't play against each other in the Masters or the
Memorial. It hasn't happened at Pinehurst or The Players
Championship.
They rarely play well in the same tournaments, which is why Tiger Woods and David Duval are never seen on the same television screen.
In the first golf event televised live in prime time by a network, Woods and Duval will play an 18 hole match tonight at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Sure, the "Motorola Showdown at Sherwood" is a fabricated, made-for-television affair. The winner will earn $1.1 million from a $1.5 million purse (each donating $200,000 to charity) for a mere 3½ hours of work. Both would gladly trade the exhibition for the back nine at Augusta National or even Medinah next week in the PGA Championship. ABC Sports, which will broadcast the event at 8 p.m. ET, is banking on the fact that no one will care about anything other than watching the best two players in the world finally go head-to-head. "It gives us an opportunity to kind of expose the game in a little different light, in a different time frame, on a different day and probably to a different crowd than would usually see the game," Duval said. For those viewers who don't know a birdie from a bogey, they will see two players who share virtually nothing in common except their skill. Woods is one of the most dynamic personalities in sports. He took golf to the front pages by winning the Masters in record fashion, becoming the youngest champion and the first one of color. His arrival is a big reason the PGA Tour landed a $136 million television contract, which made everyone around him richer. "I might be a golf star, but I think Tiger is a star," Duval said. "He transcends the game." Duval is everything Woods is not -- collected, methodical, emotionless. Behind those wraparound sunglasses are eyes that look lifeless, just like a shark before it tears into its prey. "He's very calm, very levelheaded, and it comes out when he plays," Woods said. "He is very methodical, very cool. He doesn't get excited, doesn't get frustrated. He just goes about his business." Never mind that the event is essentially no different from Shell's Wonderful World of Golf matches, except for the live television. Never mind that the two richest players in golf are about to get even richer. Or that both players are represented by IMG, the sprawling sports agency that proposed the match. What makes the match compelling is the fact they have clearly raised their game a notch above everyone else. They are the only players to be No. 1 in the world ranking this year, a position currently held by Woods. "I think that they're arguably the two best players in the game today," Nicklaus said. "I don't think there's any question about that." Duval stormed to the top of the rankings by becoming the first player in 25 years to win four times before the Masters. That included the Bob Hope Classic, where he became the first player to shoot a 59 on a Sunday. Woods came back strong. In six tournaments after his post-Masters break, he has won three times and not finished worse than seventh -- and that includes two majors, a third in the U.S. Open and a tie for seventh in the British Open. Still, both players are looking more at the potential to draw an audience that doesn't typically watch golf. And both agree that any rivalry will have to be hatched in a major championship. "People who think this will decide who is No. 1 or No. 2 are blowing it out of proportion," Duval said. "It's a one-day match, 18 holes, and that does not make it a rivalry." For now, this is as close as it will get. In 47 tournaments they have both played in their professional careers, Woods has finished ahead of Duval 27 times, with one tie. But they have never played together in a final round. "We've come close, but it hasn't happened," Woods said. "Either he has played great and I haven't, or it's been the other way around. But it's going to happen. It's going to happen for sure at Sherwood."
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