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Duval fires 59 to steal Classic Sunday's tally ties lowest effort in PGA Tour history By THOMAS BONK Los Angeles Times LA QUINTA, Calif. -- It is golf's magic number -- 59. It's the ultimate lowdown, the most of the least, the sum total of greatness when the only thing suitable for writing it down on your scorecard is a gold pen. For David Duval, it was his final-round score Sunday, the one that won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, an almost numbingly routine-looking 59 that moved him past the 12 players who began the day in front of him, allowed him to collect a $540,000 winner's check and let him walk straight into golf history. The taciturn 27-year-old with the wraparound sunglasses left everybody else in the shadows once again. Duval, normally as emotional as granola, double-pumped his fist the moment his six-foot eagle putt disappeared into the hole at No. 18, the 59th and last of his shots, worth a two-shot lead over Steve Pate. Four groups ahead of the lead group that included Pate, Duval waited to see if he would be caught. His lead over Pate was only one shot when Duval stood off to the side of the grandstand at No. 18 and chewed on an apple. Then he heard the groans when Pate's last chance, an 18-foot birdie putt, spun out of the hole to end it. Of course, that's when Duval let it all hang out. He smiled. For Duval, that's an eruption of emotion, but then again, shooting a 59 on the last day to win a tournament isn't your typical day, is it? "It's like pitching a perfect game," Duval said. And so it was. Pate deserved better since he didn't exactly roll over in a bunker and cover himself with sand. He closed with a 66 to finish at 25-under par and only lost because somebody dropped a 59 on him. This is golf's equivalent to being struck by lightning. "I played better than everybody but one guy," Pate said. "I guess you could say I was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Meanwhile, Duval kept up his uncanny knack of finding himself in the right place at the right time. Add it up and it's sort of monotonous. Two victories in his only two starts this year. More than $1 million in his two weeks this year ($1,008,000). Nine victories in his last 28 tournaments. Nearly $4.9 million in prize money in the last 15 months. So how good is this guy playing? "I'm playing quite well," Duval said. Yes, and desert sand is a little dry. Duval's 59 was only the third in PGA Tour history and the first in eight years. He needed it all to win this time. Duval, who began the day tied for 13th, was seven shots behind Fred Funk. Duval was 13 under par for the first 72 holes and 13 under par the last 18 holes. He birdied No. 1 at the Palmer Course on Sunday, the same hole he double-bogeyed on Saturday. He shot a 28 on the back nine -- which Duval also did it last year at Tucson. He had 11 birdies and an eagle to go with six pars. He even had playing partner Jeff Maggert convinced he was playing a different course. "I didn't know we were playing par 2s today," said Maggert. Pate's second-place finish was worth $324,000, and John Huston won $204,000 after his closing 66 brought him in at 24-under 336. Funk and Bob Estes tied for fourth and Skip Kendall was sixth. Duval produced rounds of 70-71-64-70-59 for a 26-under total of 335. It's the 59 that sort of stands out. "What more can you say?" Pate asked. "If he doesn't jump to No. 1 in the world rankings, there's something seriously wrong." In the meantime, there's something seriously right with Duval. He isn't particularly long and he isn't particularly big, but he is particularly successful. But Duval doesn't like to be drawn into discussions about his streak. "I don't consider it a streak," Duval said. "Sure, I may be nine of 29 or whatever, but I'm nine for probably 120 total or something in my career. So the percentage isn't quite as baffling if you look it at that way. I prefer to look at it that way." As for being the best player in the world, well, Duval played along to make a point. "All right, let's say I'm the best player in the world. Great. Congratulations to me. That doesn't help me get better. It doesn't help me shoot a better score on Sunday. It doesn't do anything for me. Improving does." No one in professional golf has ever done any better than what Duval did Sunday. He birdied the first three holes, a nice start that included three-footers on the second and third. He tapped in for par at No. 4, then birdied the par-3 5th from five feet. He parred the next three holes, but birdied No. 9 after an eight-iron left him eight feet away. Duval began the back with three more birdie putts, the first two from four feet and the third, at the par-3 12th, from two feet. He tapped in for par at No. 13, then birdied three more in a row. He hit a sand wedge to 10 feet on the par-5 14th, hit an 8-iron to a foot and a half of the hole at the par-3 15th and made a putt from six feet at No. 16. He two-putted from 20 feet at the par-5 17th and then started thinking about a possible eagle at the 543-yard par-5 18th -- with a 59 staring him in the face. After his drive, Duval had 177 yards to the front of the green and 218 yards to the hole. So full of emotion, he chose a 5-iron and let it go. "Obviously, I'm a little juiced at the time," he said. "My main thought was to knock it on and have a decent putt. I wasn't positive I could get it all the way back to the hole. But it looked good all the way. I was just screaming for it to get there, and it did." The ball stopped rolling six feet to the left of the hole. Duval read the putt, stood over the ball and rolled it in. He had his magic number. Duval had to admit he was thinking 59 all the way, but he wasn't going to get all excited or anything. That's just isn't his style. "I took a couple of deep breaths and hit it and you just see what happens." What happens is another entry into the record books. Afterward, Duval had a hard time expressing his feelings about his 59. "It is kind of terrible thing because I am sitting here and I don't know what to tell you. I just don't. It's something that you just don't think about. "Those kind of rounds you just couldn't go out and do. Things have to go your way." Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford,