Philip Reidon Ken Duke who is on course for a career-defining season that is testimony to his perseverance
The mercurial nature of life as a golf professional is, these days, best exemplified by Ken Duke. Who? Well, up to this year, only the most devoted golf anorak may have heard of Duke, who plied his trade on the lesser tours up until this season. But that's all changed, changed utterly, in the past few weeks as the 38-year-old American has made the most of his long-time-coming chance in golf's big-time.
Duke, who won the Nationwide Tour's order of merit last season to finally claim his tour card, will make his debut in this week's Players Championship on the back of a hot streak that has seen him secure four consecutive top-10 finishes up to last week's Wachovia tournament.
For a guy who turned professional back in 1994, this season so far has been a revelation and a far cry from the days when he played the mini-tours, including stints on the Canadian, Asian and South American tours in a vain attempt to make a breakthrough.
Duke's first experience of life on the PGA Tour in 2004 wasn't a particularly good one. In 30 tournaments, he missed the cut on 16 occasions and eventually finished the year in 166th place on the money list, with $301,309 in prize money. But he persevered, seeking to win back his card and, rather than having to go through the tour school, Duke achieved the aim with an order of merit winning season on the Nationwide Tour last year, which earned him an invite to the Players.
And, although his form in the early part of the season didn't have many people sitting up to take notice of him, containing as it did a run of four missed cuts in seven tournaments, Duke has been a transformed player in recent weeks in a run of four successive top-10s that includes a runner-up finish in the Classic of New Orleans. Already, with $1.25 million in prize money, he is on course for a career-defining season that is testimony to his perseverance.
This is Duke's fifth straight week on the road, and he has contended on each of the past four events. In an attempt to stay alert, he has cut back on his practice. "I'm really just trying to back off, just turning up (at tournaments) and seeing what I've got.
"It's just that my confidence is really high right now . . . I'm treating this like it's a major. I look on it as a US Open because US Open rough is always high and the greens are always fast and that's the way this place is set up. You have to get the ball on the greens in a certain spot and if you don't, you're going to be penalised."
Duke has, in the past, shown an ability to win. He was a two-time winner on the Canadian Tour in 1999 and won once on the Nationwide Tour last season, where he had eight other top-10 finishes in earning his spurs for the full tour and, with it, an invite to the Players.
He intends to make the most of it. "It's great to have been in contention the last four weeks. You know, if you can get that one good round on Sunday, and if guys come back, you might just step in there and get one."
Who knows? Stranger things have happened on this stadium course at Sawgrass.
