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• David Duval shoots 67 in first Open third round since 2008
• The American hasn’t won a professional event since 2001
• Says working in television has changed his mindset on the course

DAVID DUVAL | THE OPEN

On Saturday evening, David Duval birdied the 18th hole to make the cut on level par for the first time in an Open Championship since 2008.

Less than 24 hours later, the 43-year-old, who lifted the Claret Jug in his only major success back in 2001, had made a significant move up the leaderboard after a five-under-par 67.

Ranked No.1,268 in the world, Duval hasn’t won a professional event since the year of his Open triumph at Royal Lytham & St Annes – a year which ended a fruitful four-season spell of 13 PGA Tour wins and saw him claim the world No.1 spot in 1999.

And he believes his string of three rounds at the Open, none of which have been over par, has been a long time coming.

“Competing against the best golfers in the world is not a fair fight” – David Duval

“I expected to play well at some point,” said David Duval. “I’ve been doing what I want to do for a long time, just not putting it together and the difficulties I face is about not getting to play.

“Competing against the best golfers in the world is not a fair fight when I haven’t played a golf tournament in three or four months and they’ve been playing constantly. If I could set a 20-22-event schedule I could regain my status and play all I want, but I’m not in that position.”

CONTINUES BELOW… 

144th Open Championship - Day One

Duval lost his tour card in 2012 as a result of his nosedive in form and started to dabble in television work while trying to earn his way back on tour. Earlier this year, he joined Golf Channel as a studio analyst and thinks that his move into the media has helped in changing his mindset when he goes out to play.

“When you’re playing well, you immediately forget about bad shots,” David Duval explained. “But when you’re not playing well and you’re struggling, you feel like everybody else is hitting it beautifully and perfect all the time, so you’re sitting up there when you’re announcing and recapping tournaments, realising that guys out there do hit ugly shots.

“Seeing that, it’s like, oh yeah, everybody screws up and does bad things, and so it removes a little bit of pressure that I have to go out and play perfectly.”

David Duval ::  First made Open cut since ‘08

What have you made of David Duval’s efforts at the Open so far? Leave your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below.

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