At the 2009 Open, Duval worked his career out of a decade-long bunker (photo: Doug Mills, NY Times)

Yesterday Lucas Glover won the 2009 US Open, conquering the Black course at Bethpage and calmly claiming the shimmering, silver trophy as his own. But the bigger news came courtesy of the guy Glover beat, a guy many (though not Game 6) thought would never be seen atop a major golf leaderboard again. Rare though it may be, the story of this Open was written by the guy who came in second:

David Duval.

Sure, it was a slightly pudgier, slightly older version of the David Duval formerly known to the world as a No. 1 golfer and a legitimate rival to Tiger Woods, but it was David Duval nonetheless. And, boy was it good to see him. It’s been a long time.

The journey of David Duval is long, complex, and vaguely sad – as sad, at least, as the story of a man who has made upwards of $17 million as a professional athlete can be. But money can’t buy happiness, as the old cliche goes, and it certainly hasn’t brought peace to Duval’s life. No, few multi-millionaires can offer a story like that of Duval’s, one of blinding success but also of tragic, numbing failure.

Failure, for instance, to save an older brother, Brent, from cancer’s deadly clutch, even after 9 year-old David donated his own bone marrow for a transplant as a last resort . Failure to understand, after Brent died of an infection following the surgery, that his death wasn’t David’s fault. Failure to avoid walling himself off from the outside world after Brent’s death in order to retreat from the sadness, and failure to realize that doing so would alienate almost everybody in his life.

Duval’s early failures pushed him toward his father, Bob, a former PGA Tour player, and thus toward his father’s passion for golf. He submerged himself in the game, pounding ball after ball on the range, thinking only of his swing, and the ball, and the hole.

Not of Brent.

And his game blossomed and grew into a thing of beauty, and then came success. Wild, roaring success. A 1989 US Junior Amateur win. A #1 spot on the Georgia Tech golf team. Four first-team All-American awards. The National Player of the Year crown in 1993. Endorsements, Nike Tour wins, a PGA Tour card.

Instant stardom.

But the boy never changed. Never opened up, never let anyone in. Duval was still just Brent’s brother – still reeling from his past – but now he was a huge golf star, winning millions of dollars on the PGA Tour, labeled the “next big thing” by industry experts. The media wanted interviews and sit-downs, feature stories and sound bites – people were clammering to know all about this golf phenom who would take on Tiger Woods. But Duval would only mumble, offering sharp, monotone answers to a public desperate for a colorful response. So they killed him for it, calling him cold and aloof, just another spoiled athlete.  All the while, Duval strolled right on by, hidden from a world he didn’t want by his trademark M-frame Oakleys.

Duval was a member of the legendary '99 US Ryder Cup team

But, boy was he ever good. Duval won 13 PGA Tour events in between 1997 and 2001.  In the final round of the 1999 Bob Hope Classic, he submitted a 59, only the 3rd player in history ever to accomplish such a feat during a tournament. Low 60′s were routine. He torched the Tour in the late 90′s, dominating tournaments and helping the ’99 Ryder Cup team win in dramatic fashion at the Country Club in Brookline. His game was the stuff of legend. It was supposed to be he and Tiger battling over the golf throne for the next decade, maybe more, and Duval cemented his elite position with a win at the 2001 British Open, at Royal Latham & St. Anne’s.

And then it all fell apart.

More failure. Injuries to his wrist, shoulder and back, swing difficulties, a painful break-up with his longtime fiance. Suddenly, gone were the scores of 64 and 65, replaced with high-70′s, even 80′s. Gone, too, was his deadly accuracy off the tee and on the green. By 2003, Duval was out of the game on a self-induced sabbatical, only to return at the 2004 US Open where he shot 25 over-par and missed the cut. More embarassing scores and missed cuts followed. The whispers started. What happened to David Duval? Where has he gone? But then the whispers faded as people stopped caring, and finally they disappeared altogether. As far as the public was concerned, the nail had been driven into the coffin of Duval’s career. He quickly slid off the money list, out of contention, and all the way to 882nd in the world golf rankings, down from No. 1 overall. Rarely have American professional sports seen such a steep and rapid decline.

Duval's career tailspin was epic

But Duval wasn’t giving up. He wasn’t ready to let his success give way back to failure, back to tragedy. So he grabbed his clubs and he went to work. And he worked and worked, sparking comebacks, failing, and trying again. Finally, he enlisted the help of his old Georgia Tech golf coach, Puggy Blackmon, one of the only people Duval had been close to back in his earlier years. Blackmon cued up some old video of Duval and the two went to work retooling his swing and trying to recapture some of its natural efficiency. He showed flashes of potential in tournaments, but remained spotty, inconsistent, and was plagued by confidence issues. But he kept after it and then suddenly, the momentum began to shift. Duval’s game started turning around, slowly but surely. He got married in 2004 to a divorced mother of 3 and, boom, he had an instant family. He started opening up, little by little, and with his newfound clan came a touch of ease, happiness and, bit by bit,  peace. The changes manifested themselves in Duval’s golf game, as he started off strong in 2006, making his first two cuts and finishing T-16th at the Open at Winged Foot. He still struggled with consistency, but maintained to a comeback-hungry media that his swing was there, that his scores weren’t reflective of the strength of his game. He kept chopping away at it, kept pushing, kept hoping.

And then Bethpage happened.

Out of nowhere, here was David Duval surging up the leaderboard at the 2009 US Open. By the time the rain-soaked tournament reached its final round, Duval stood at 3-under par, poised to make a serious run at the championship. Then he promptly triple-bogeyed his first hole on Monday and immediately vanished from the leaderboard and from NBC’s coverage. His brief emergence was quickly written off as just another flash of past greatness in an otherwise doomed career.

But Duval wasn’t going anywhere. Not this time.

Back he came, holing a 60 foot birdie putt on the par-3 8th and stringing together 3 consecutive birdies on the back nine. Suddenly the cameras were back on Duval, as Glover and playing partner Ricky Barnes were busy fashioning epic collapses. Suddenly the whispers were starting again. Duval’s finally back! The New York galleries went wild after Duval shot – modern crowds easily identifying with his downtrodden tale. NBC trained the camera on him and, in the unlikeliest of turnarounds, the whole world was watching David Duval, once again.

And, had it not been for a lip-out par putt on 17 and a Glover birdie on 16, Duval very well might have won the whole thing. As it happened, he came in a very respectable second and thusly announced his re-remergence on a PGA Tour badly in need of another star who can stand next to Tiger and Phil.

There’s no way to know if David Duval is back for good. We must remember, he’s shown flashes before. But this is a guy who has known the heights of success and the empty depths of failure and, if we can take him at his word, he has no plans of disappearing again. “It may be arrogance,” he said after Monday’s final round, “but [this is] where I feel like I belong.”

For now at least, Duval is back at the top and I, for one, am hoping this is where he remains – at peace in life’s fairway, with the memory of a grateful brother guiding his swing.

Lucas Glover, the unlikely US Open champ

Lucas Glover held on to win yesterday at Bethpage, making the 29 year-old the 2009 US Open Champion to the excitement of….well, nobody, really.

The comeback of David Duval and Phil Mickelson’s late surge ruled the day as far as storylines went, leaving Glover to fly under the radar on his way to a 73 and his first major championship. While the US Open dreams of his playing partner, Ricky Barnes, came crashing down all around him, Glover was able to dodge the shrapnel and deliver a final round that, while certainly not spectacular, was just good enough to seal the win. A clutch birdie on 16 put the trophy out of reach for both Mickelson and the rejuvenated Duval and, after Barnes missed a cardiac birdie putt on 18, Glover stood over a par putt for the US Open win. He sunk it and promptly reacted with the type of enthusiasm usually reserved for funerals or public speaking.

I mean, the guy barely even smiled! No Tiger-esque fist pumps, no riding of the putter a la Boo Weekley, not even a Mickelson 2-inch celebratory leap. He simply raised his hand in anti-climactic triumph and plodded off to find his wife Jennifer for a hug.

Many – me included – exploded, calling Glover a boring champion, a one-hit-wonder, a party pooper. This was the US Open, for crying out loud – where was the great story? Where was the drama??

But then I stopped and thought for a second. Wait a minute, I said to myself. What’s more exciting than a qualifier coming out of nowhere to win the US Open? Wasn’t I just wondering the other day if anyone would emerge as this year’s upset winner?

Well, we found him. World, meet Lucas Glover – a real life Tin Cup.

Glover, we learned yesterday, is just an unassuming Southerner from South Carolina; merely a quiet golfer trying to do his best as a little fish in a big sea. He’s stoic in defeat and, it appears, humble in victory, though the sample size – 2 PGA Tour wins – remains insufficient. “It’s an honor to be on the trophy,” he said in a post-win interview. “I just hope I don’t downgrade it it or anything with my name on there.” Ultimately, the picture that emerged of Glover in the wake of his Open win was that of a regular guy. And really, isn’t that the whole point of the event? It’s an Open – anyone can catch fire over a weekend and win the thing. But many – and again, I’m including myself here – shake their fists and decry such an outcome. Nobodies aren’t supposed to win major championships, we’ll say. The Tiger’s, the Phil’s, the Furyk’s – those are the guys who’s names belong on the Cup.

Well, I realized something yesterday, after watching Glover win and listening to him talk afterward.

I realized that there’s something to be said for the out-of-nowhere winnner, even if he’s a shy guy who shows little emotion on the course. I realized that sometimes it’s more fun to get behind the guy no one knows who just might have a shot to be champion. I realized that, sometimes, it’s good to let go of the Big Story and just enjoy the little story for what – and who – he is.

Just ask Glover’s cousins, Todd Hendley and Billy Johnson, who bought last-minute final round tickets on ebay when it became clear that Glover had a shot at winning.

“Best day of my life,” said Johnson. “Unbelievable.” (quote courtesy of Bob Harig, espn.com)

Somewhere Roy McAvoy is smiling.

The Boston Braves are back in town this weekend

TGIF ladies and gentlemen – our weekly holiday is finally here.  There are a couple enjoyable things on tap this weekend to help you through the (seemingly permanent) wet weather and, in no particular order, here they are:

1. The Braves are coming to town

That’s right, our long lost hometown team is coming back for a little interleague matchup this weekend. The Atlanta Braves always put on an entertaining show with guys like Chipper Jones and Brian McCann, so grab some tickets if you can and head to Fenway or just post up on the couch with a cold beer and avoid the rain. Sure it’s disappointing that John Smoltz won’t be making his first appearance against his old team, but in the long run that might be better for both Smoltzie and the Sox. Anyway, we should be in for a couple of entertaining ballgames so make sure you tune in if you’re around.

2. The Golf Digest Celebrity U.S. Open Challenge, airing June 21st at Noon

MJ and JT

In what is quickly becoming a U.S. Open tradition, Golf Digest has once against orchestrated a celebrity-and-one-regular-Joe golf tournament at Bethpage which is supposed to air on NBC at noon before the final round of the Open. Now, with yesterday’s rain-out and another deluge expected tomorrow, it’s anyone’s guess when – or if – this tournament will even be aired, but if it is, it’s bound to be entertaining. This year’s field features Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Justin Timberlake and Michael Jordan, along with one lucky police officer, Larry Giebelhausen. I’ll definitely be watching, as Timberblake is always a solid addition to any televised situation and well, you know how I feel about MJ.

3. The Actual U.S. Open

If you’re a golf fan – or even if you aren’t – the 2009 Open is shaping up to be a good one, with several solid storylines starting to emerge:

- The best players in the world battling not only each other, but also the worst of what Mother Nature has to offer

- The performance of Phil Mickelson, playing in his first tournament since learning his wife Amy has breast cancer

- US amateur and Virginia Tech alum Drew Weaver hanging around the lead

- David Duval creeping up the leaderboard and poised for a comeback

As a matter of fact, that last one sounds kind of familiar….where have I heard that before?

Ohhhh, now I remember.

It was right here on Game Six.

Stallworth in court on June 16, 2009

You may have heard this already, but Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth just began serving a 30 day jail sentence following a DUI Manslaughter conviction for a March 14th incident that resulted in the death of 59 year-old Mario Reyes.

Yes, you read that right: On the night of March 14th, Donte Stallworth stumbled into his car with a .126 BAC, took off from the parking lot of the Foutainebleau Hotel, and proceeded to drive his 2005 Bentley directly through a construction crane operator who was running to catch a bus after finishing up his shift at 7:15 AM.

Reyes was killed instantly, and as punishment, Stallworth has to spend the next 24 days in prison after being given credit for 1 day already served and 5 free days as part of a Florida state statute stating that any person sentenced to 30 days in jail automatically gets 5 credit days.

So, let me be clear here: Professional athlete Donte Stallworth gets 24 days of jail time for drunkenly killing someone, while construction worker Mario Reyes gets infinity days of death for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Doesn’t really seem fair, does it? And don’t even get me started on the “Get out of jail free” cards they are throwing around down there in Florida.

Stallworth’s 30 day sentence looks even more ridiculous when viewed in light of the fact that Michael Vick was just released from prison this spring after serving two years for overseeing a dog fighting ring. Let me say that again: Vick was circuitously responsible for the death of dogs, and he received a sentence that was 24 times longer than the one given to a guy who was directly responsible for the death of a human being. How does that make any sense? Hell, Michael Vick could have strangled the judge’s poodle in the middle of the damn courtroom and he still should have received a lesser sentence than Stallworth’s. Furthermore, when Vick was convicted, he was – and probably still is – bombarded by PETA protesters clutching signs featuring slogans such as “Neuter Number 7!” and “Kick Vick!”

Where are all the Stallworth protestors?

Oh wait, I think I get it – because Mario Reyes had the disadvantage of being a fellow, hard-working human being rather than a cute, furry puppy, no one feels the need to get out the Sharpies and draw up a funny sign. Is that it?

The hypocrisy is intolerable. Guys like Vick and former NBA official Tim Donaghy do hard, lengthy jail time for minor stuff like dog fighting and fixing NBA games while the drunken, murdering Stallworths of the world get off easy. I guess if the crime doesn’t hit the average American in his wallet or his dog house, he simply can’t be bothered to care too much about it.

Many in the law field are offering up excuses today for why Stallworth faced such a light sentence. He acted like a man by immediately owning up to the crime and calling the police, they say. Plus, he never meant to kill anybody. It was just an accident.

An accident? A drunk driving fatality is an accident the same way playing with a loaded gun and mistakenly shooting someone is an accident. Sure, Stallworth didn’t really mean to kill anybody, but the minute he finished his last drink and sat down behind the wheel of his Bentley, ol’ Donte pulled tight the last knot on Mario Reyes’ noose.

For some reason, in this country celebrity drunk drivers are let off the hook time and time again. Kiefer Sutherland celebrated his third DUI arrest in 2007 with a mere 48 days in jail, and Charles Barkley was given 3 days after being cited for drunk driving in late 2008. The married Barkley’s excuse – that he was in a rush to receive oral sex from his female passenger – soon became a national joke, and Barkley was back on TNT in no time. What the court system apparently fails to realize is that driving drunk is tantamount to waving around a loaded gun in a supermarket. It might not go off, but everyone around you is still in pretty serious danger. Drunk driving is definitely more dangerous than say, orchestrating a dog fight or shaving points in an NBA game. Yet for some reason the penalties for those crimes are significantly lighter. Especially if the defendant in question happens to be a high-profile professional athlete or a famous actor and can afford round-the-clock coverage by the best lawyers money can buy.

Somewhere, Johnnie is smiling today.

Unfortunately , the rest of us Joe Shmoes can’t pay for the finest lawyers or settle out of court for millions of dollars with the family of the man we just mistakenly killed, like Stallworth did. We have to take our lumps as they come, facing actual jail time and steeper fines. That is a fundamental flaw in the American judicial system and it’s one that doesn’t get nearly enough attention. Judges and lawyers can thump their copies of the Constitution all day long and exclaim that money doesn’t rule the day when it comes to our esteemed court system. And maybe they are right. Wealth can’t buy freedom, just look at Stallworth – he has to go away for 24 whole days! But just think what would have happened if it had been the blue-collar Reyes who had hit and killed Stallworth. He’d scrape together a little money to hire a lawyer, pack his bags, and wait for the inevitable lengthy sentence. The media would paint him as the bad guy – as opposed to Stallworth, who is being commended for not leaving the crime scene – and when the gavel finally hit, some judge would send Reyes away for 10 years, maybe more. And the American public would applaud because, hey, that’s what should happen when you kill someone.

So sure, maybe money can’t actually buy a lighter sentence but not even the late Johnnie Cochran could argue against the fact that, in this country, dollars dilute justice. We see it play out every day in courtrooms across America. Until that changes, guys like Mario Reyes will continue to die while celebrities like Donte Stallworth dodge hard time by pulling out their checkbook. It’s sickening and it’s wrong, but until something is done, the old adage will remain:

If the dollars fit, you must acquit.

Who is this year's Cup?

Thursday marks the start of the 2009 US Open at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York. The thing on everyone’s mind heading into this year’s Open is, obviously, Tiger Woods’ heralded 2008 victory over Rocco Mediate and a bum left knee. Now, on the heels of his win earlier this month at The Memorial, many are predicting another helping of Woods domination this week at Bethpage.

Here at Game Six, we’re taking a different approach.

As I’ve mentioned before, Game Six has long been tired of the Tiger Show, so this year we’re dedicated to bringing you a list of other guys to watch for through the weekend. Guys who could, with the right conditions and a couple fortunate bounces from the little white ball, unseat The King himself:

1. Bubba Watson

Bubba is one of my all-time favorites. The southpaw heavy-hitter finished tied for 5th in the 2007 Open at Oakmont, and the outrageous length of Bethpage Black plays right into his skill set – namely, his ability to absolutely punish the ball off the tee (A few years ago while playing on the Nationwide Tour, Watson recorded a 422 yard drive). Bubba routinely out-drives the field at tournaments and he leads the PGA Tour in driving distance this year with a 313.2 average. This is the bottom line:

Bethpage plays long. Bubba can hit it 4oo-plus off the tee.

What else you need to know?

2. Hunter Mahan

The 27-year old Mahan, while enormously talented, has recorded only two professional wins and just one PGA Tour victory (the 2007 Travelers Championship). And that’s absolutely no reason to count him out this weekend at Bethpage. Why? Because Mahan has shown serious flashes of potential recently, finishing tied for 10th at the this year’s Masters and 14th overall at the Memorial last week. Mahan has finally broken into the PGA Top-50 (he’s at 43) and he brings a lot of momentum and a wealth of skill into tomorrow’s first round.

3. J.B. Holmes

A former Kentucky Wildcat, Holmes is another big hitter who’s distance off the tee should come in handy at Bethpage. Holmes is a “grip-it-and-rip-it” style player in the John Daly vein, which lends his game an unconventional – and often inconsistent – edge. But if JB is firing on all cylinders this weekend, he has a legitimate chance to compete for his first major championship.

4. Anthony Kim

AK-47 is always a threat to win any tournament he enters, simply because he genuinely believes he’s that good. When asked which major will be his first win, the 23 year-old Kim answered, “The next one.” The kid’s confidence is off the charts, and that in itself is an intangible that cannot be ignored. It takes swagger and guts to win major championships and Kim is all set in that department. And, as he’s proven before, AK is also a helluva good golfer. Don’t be surprised to see him hanging around on Sunday.

5. David Duval

Yes, that David Duval.

The former World No. 1 who’s game took a devastating nosedive soon after his 2001 British Open win; the current 882nd-ranked player in the world who looked all but done with golf just a few years ago; the guy everyone thought had faded from the spotlight for good.

Well, Duval has quietly put together a bit of a resurgence of late, submitting a couple great rounds in sectional qualifiers in order to have the privilege of lacing ‘em up in the ’09 Open at all. Nobody is saying he’s back in top form, but I for one am hoping to see him below 70 and on the leaderboard tomorrow. Who doesn’t love a comeback story?

Last but not least, here are a couple authentic Tin Cups to watch for over the weekend:

New Beford native Kevin Silva and Quincy’s Mike Welch – two local guys who Game Six would love to see make a run.

Silva is a veteran of last year’s Open at Torrey Pines and is coming off a second straight medal performance (70-67) at the Open qualifier in Purchase, NY. If Silva can clean it up around the greens, he’ll have an underdog’s shot to make some noise. Silva’s practice partner is the 27 year-old Welch, who goes into tomorrow hoping to build on some recent high-level experience and hang around through the weekend (an Open cut made gives you a bye through the first stage of Q School). Make sure to keep your eye on both these guys as you tune in to this weekend’s golf action.

If we’re lucky, we’ll hear a couple Boston natives dropping their R’s all over the course come Sunday.

Uh oh. Better call the WAAAMBULANCE!

Artie is the only reason anyone will ever remember this loser had a show. It was a total snoozefest from the start. They should have named it Sports stars asses, meet Joe Bucks lips. Artie did the show a favor and got dildos like yourself writing about that Titanic of a show. Hope your not looking forward to episode 2. Kick em in the nuts Artie!

- Ta Ta Toothy

Hug it out guys

Interesting news out of Los Angeles today. Kobe Bryant, on the heels of his fourth NBA championship, is facing criticism from the media about the legitimacy of his legacy.

“The guy can’t win without Derek Fisher,” one unnamed (and completely made-up) source said. “Until Kobe Bryant wins a title without D-Fish, he’ll never be one of the NBA’s all-time greats. Look at Michael Jordan. Sure, MJ had Scottie Pippen, but he could have beaten teams playing one-on-five, wearing Birkenstocks and snow pants. Without Fish and Phil Jackson, Kobe would be nothing. Just another adulterous 2 guard with a jump shot and some hops.”

When asked what Kobe would have to do in order to climb into the Best Player Ever discussion, the reporter paused, and then answered:

“Win another one with Shaq.”