Many would just do anything to have David Duval back on the golf course than on the golf tour where he currently works as a studio analyst. Duval’s path to fame began in 1995 when he received his first PGA card, after winning the ACC Player of the Year Award twice, playing on the Nike Tour for two years, winning twice and also being named National Player of the Year in 1993.
His career has been packed with so many victories and great achievements, including becoming the world’s number one golf player. Between two years (1997 and 1999) David Duval won a total of eleven out of thirty-four tournaments. These victories include a 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in which he scored a total of fifty-nine points.
By 2001 he had won a total of thirteen PGA tournaments. He also won his only major title at the Open Championships that year. At this point, Duval’s career began to take a downward turn. After a series of injuries and health problems, he lost his tour ticket in 2011, and his numerous attempts at a comeback have since failed to produce the expected results, and to keep himself relevant, he took the job of studio analyst and commentator for Golf Channel and NBC. Here is the story of the former number one golfer in the world, David Duval.
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David Duval Biography
Duval was born David Robert Duval on November 9, 1971, in Jacksonville, Florida. His father Bob Duval was a golf instructor and club professional, and his mother Diane Poole Duval was a college member of the FSU Flying High Circus.
David is not an only child; he had two siblings – an older brother (Brent), who died of blood poisoning at the age of twelve, and a younger sister named Deirdre. Brent had developed aplastic anemia at the age of nine, his condition worsened over time and he needed a bone marrow transplant, which David donated, but the transplant was not successful, resulting in his (Brent’s) death.
Brent’s death would change the course of the family forever. Unable to bear the death of his son, Bob moved out of the family home for nearly a year, but through counseling, he returned to the house in 1982 and would leave it permanently in 1993, just as David was beginning his golf career.
Career
Duval had the privilege of learning the basics and rudiments of golf from his father, who was a golf instructor, so he owes his career successes in part to his father. He attended Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, which he graduated from in 1989. In the same year, he won the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. He did not stop there but continued his amateur career on the men’s golf team of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and in no time at all, he won the first All-American team not just once or twice, but four times in a row.
David also won the title of ACC Player of the Year twice and the 1993 National Player of the Year award. During his college years, he led an official PGA Tour event (BellSouth Classic), which he won as a professional after 3 rounds.
In his career, he began to rise quickly. Duval was on the Nike Tour for two years, and at that time he won twice. In 1995, he purchased his PGA Tour ticket, which gave him a ticket to a whole range of endless opportunities and victories. Between 1995 and 1997, he finished second on the Tour seven times, but that soon changed.
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Before the year (2007) ended, David Duval won both the Michelob Championship and the Tour Championship in 1997, and the following year (1998) he led the PGA Tour money list, winning both the Byron Nelson Award for the lowest scoring average and the Vardon Trophy. By 2001, he had won a total of thirteen PGA tournaments and his only major Open Championship title.
After winning the Open Championships, his career began to take a downward turn, and many reasons were given for this, including a number of injuries and illnesses. His several attempts at a comeback were in vain. In 2013, he announced that the season would be the last in which he would ask for sponsor exceptions to get onto the tournament field, and it was indeed his last. In 2015 he took a job as a studio analyst and commentator for Golf Channel and NBC.
David Duval’s Family: Wife, Son
The golfer is married to Susan Persichitte since 2004. The couple met at a restaurant in Denver in 2003 while Duval was in town for an international tournament. Three months later they got engaged and married the following year.
They have two children together (Brady and Sienna). Brady was born in 2005 and Sienna in 2008. David Duval is also the stepfather of Susan’s three children (Deano, Nick, and Shalene Karavites) from her previous marriage. The couple lives with their children in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, a suburb in southern Denver.
David Duval Height, Weight, Body Stats
The former World No. 1 golfer stands at a height of 6’0″ (1.83 m) and weighs 82 kg (181 pounds). His other body statistics are not confirmed at the moment, but he seems to be in good shape.
