Posted by Jason Sobel
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- If you caught our recent experts' (and I use that term loosely)
predictions for The Players Championship, you know that Bob Harig and Brian Wacker look prescient in their choice of Davis Love III; I'm up to my old tricks by apparently jinxing David Toms; and Ron Sirak ... well, Ron Sirak's a little crazy.
OK, maybe crazy is pushing it a bit, but with his selection of David Duval to win this week's event, I'm certain Sirak had a few readers spraying down the computer screen with Windex just to make sure they read it right.
In fact, I did a radio interview yesterday with NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry on KNBR in San Francisco during which he made joking allusions to Sirak's, uh, mental state because of his choice to win.
Now, Ron -- who's the executive editor of Golf World -- has more knowledge on the game of golf than just about anyone I know, but I've got to admit that even I rolled my eyes and chuckled a bit when I saw his Duval pick. After all, the guy hasn't finished inside the top-30 in six starts this season and his World Ranking has dropped to a dreadfully low 434th.
I'm not laughing anymore.
Duval shot an opening-round 1-under 71 to make his way into a share of 41st place entering Friday, just six strokes behind leaders Love and Jim Furyk.
"[My game] is the same as I've been saying for all the year," said Duval, who made three birdies and two bogeys. "I'm playing very well and just not getting anything out of it."
A Ponte Vedra Beach native, Duval won this event in 1999 and a quick check of his current stats show he's actually not playing that badly. Among the better numbers: Duval is ranked 37th in driving distance (297.6 yards), 58th in putting average (1.755) and 23rd in sand save percentage (58.3 percent).
And then there's this: Duval is ranked eighth in final-round scoring average at an even 69 per 18 Sunday holes.
Not saying Sirak's premonition is going to come true, but if Duval can tread water for the next two days, staying somewhere in the top 20 or 30, perhaps we could even see his name on the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.
Here are some other players who seemingly played beyond their means in the first round:
• Billy Andrade. True story: Andrade was disqualified from last week's Bay Hill Invitational for hitting an improper provisional tee shot. But it wasn't a fellow player or a rules official that noted the mishap; it was Andrade's own father. He shot 3-under 69 on Thursday, seeking his first top-25 finish this season.
• Joe Durant. He hasn't finished better than T-44 in six starts this season, but perhaps Durant just needed to return to a familiar place. Last year, he finished two strokes behind winner Fred Funk and he's made the cut in five of his last six starts at TPC-Sawgrass. With a first-round 3-under 69, Durant is in position to make another run.
• Rocco Mediate. Where ya been, Rocco? Always a crowd favorite, Mediate has battled back injuries over the past few years, but is finally healthy again. For those early birds who caught the leaderboard at about 7:45 a.m. ET, you would have seen Rocco in first place at 3-under through two holes. He then made par on each of the final 16 holes to remain right where he started.
• Patrick Sheehan. In two previous Players Championship starts, Sheehan hasn't made the cut. In his last four PGA Tour starts, he hasn't made the cut. So, it was a pretty safe bet to not expect much from the Rhode Island native. But he came out firing on Thursday, getting things to 4-under after an eagle on No. 4 (his 13th hole), but played the final five holes in 3-over to drop to 1-under.
