Ice-cool Duval delivers first major

David Duval produced a supreme example of pressure golf on Sunday, 22nd July, to win an engrossing British Open by three shots and finally secure his first major championship.

With Tiger Woods for once out of the picture, Duval moved to the centre of a very crowded stage on an extraordinary day at Royal Lytham, carding a four-under 67 for a 10-under-par total of 274.

The 29-year-old former world number one played controlled golf throughout a tense final day, showing nerves of steel over the tough run-in that ended the hopes of several players who had come within striking range.

Duval, the sixth American winner of the Open in the last seven years, collected 600,000 pounds ($858,500), with surprise runner-up Niclas Fasth of Sweden taking home 360,000 pounds and a passport to the European Ryder Cup team.

"The major championships are so pressure-packed and on a course like this where any minor mistake is magnified you just can't let up and I didn't today," said Duval, twice a Masters runner-up.

"It feels great, and kind of a big relief after what happened last year," he added in reference to the 2000 Open when he took a last-round eight at the 17th hole to tumble from second to 11th.

Duval, who with his ubiquitous dark glasses rarely betrays his emotions, was passionate in his appraisal of the course, the fans and playing partner Bernhard Langer.

"It was great out there and as he (Langer) was one of my favourite players when I was growing up it was neat for it to be that way," he said.

Langer was one of six players who finished in a tie for third on six-under, with only two shots separating the next 12.

Another of the six, overnight joint leader Ian Woosnam, will for ever wonder what might have been after an amazing blunder that scuppered his chances after one hole.

The Welshman almost aced the first, but his smile quickly disappeared when his caddie sheepishly informed him that he had 15 clubs in his bag -- one more than the legal maximum and punishable by a two-shot penalty.

The shocked former Masters champion proceeded to drop two shots at the next three holes, and though he mounted a spirited fightback to card a level-par 71, the unprecedented mistake was impossible to shake off.

CRUEL BLOW
"It was a bit of a shock, I felt like I had been kicked in the teeth and I'm very, very disappointed," he said. "It took me about five holes to get over it."

Defending champion Woods managed just level-par on the day to finish on one-under, but he would have seen something of himself in the way Duval went about his work.

The world number seven began the day sharing the lead at six-under with Woosnam, Langer and Alex Cejka.

He picked up three shots on the front nine and reached 10-under after 11 holes.

Although he dropped one on the 12th -- only his second bogey of the entire weekend -- he got it back at the next hole.

He briefly held a three-shot lead but it was whittled down to one as the pack closed in.

As Woosnam, Langer, Darren Clarke, Miguel Angel Jimenez and others all dropped shots on the later holes, however, Duval produced some great saves and the gap reopened.

A remarkable long iron from the rough enabled him to par the brutal 15th and he closed with three more pars to finish the tournament having dropped only two shots over Lytham's infamous four-hole run-in.

Langer and Ernie Els, who had both struggled to overcome back injuries to play in the tournament, ended joint-third on six-under alongside Woosnam, American Billy Mayfair, Jimenez and Clarke, whose hopes ended with a double-bogey six on the 17th.

TRIPLE BOGEY
Fasth, enjoying a dream first Open, was out early and his four-under par 67 gave him the clubhouse lead which was good enough for anything from first to sixth place over the following hours.

Woods, seeking his sixth victory in his last eight major championships, was again way below his best and his finishing position of tied-25th represented his second-worst performance as a professional in a major.

Needing a good start to have any chance, he bogeyed the first and though he hit back with three successive birdies it was all over when he carded a triple-bogey six on the 12th.

"My mechanics were just a bit off today but I still enjoyed it," he said. "You are not going to play well every week and if a few more putts had gone in you never know."

Britain's Colin Montgomerie, one off the pace at the start of play, was also unable to satisfy the huge galleries willing him towards his first major as his putting let him down on the way to a one-over 72 and a share of 13th place.