The indignity of taking four strokes to escape from the Road Hole Bunker in the final round of the British Open in July, would have seemed a lot less painful for David Duval after the events of last weekend. With a final round of 65, Duval marked a comeback to tournament golf by winning the Buick Challenge at Callaway Gardens, Georgia on Sunday.

"It's surprising to come back this way," said the enigmatic Floridian with classic understatement. "To do this after everything that happened to me on the golf course this year, is an absolute dream. It takes a little bit of weight off my shoulders."

Though he sustained a back injury during the US Open at Pebble Beach in June, there was no indication that Duval would be out of action for 10 weeks, as he walked up the 18th at St Andrews, being comforted by his playing partner Tiger Woods. The problem certainly didn't seem sufficiently acute to explain a closing 75 and a share of 11th place.

So, on his return to the US, the seriousness of his plight came as a shock. As it happened, he was on the flat of his back for six weeks, missing the USPGA Championship and the WGC/NEC Invitational at Firestone. During that period, even the player himself was uncertain when he would be fit to return.

Now, after a comeback victory, he is set to play in the Michelob Championship starting at Kingsmill on Thursday. But the biggest endorsement of all has come from Woods, who has invited him to be his partner in the World Cup in Argentina in December, under a new, foursomes format. "I feel a lot better about Tiger asking me to play," said Duval, pointedly.

At 29, Sunday's win was his first in 18 months, during which time he played 29 tournaments. And it was the 12th of his career, making him only the third, currently active player with that many wins in his twenties. The others are Woods (24) and Phil Mickelson, who won 16 times before turning 30 last June.

Duval certainly won in some style. Trailing by two strokes with three holes to play, he hit a wedge to two feet to birdie the 17th and then used the same club to get within four feet of the 18th flag for another birdie and, as things turned out, a cheque for $414,000.

Second place was shared by Nick Price and Jeff Maggert. While the winning putt was on its way into the hole, Maggert stood with his arms folded and stared at the ground, painfully aware of having let yet another tournament slip from his grasp.

Though he has amassed more than $8.6 million in career earnings, the 36-year-old Texan has only one strokeplay title to his credit - the 1993 Disney Tournament. He has won in Malaysia and Australia and twice on the Buy.Com Tour in his native country, but the only other significant victory by Maggert was in the inaugural Andersen Consulting World Matchplay at La Costa in 1999.

Meanwhile, a measure of Duval's consistency during the first six months of the year, is that he has now moved into sixth position in the US money list with earnings of $2,247,746 for the season so far.

The top-10 in the US money list are (US unless stated): 1, Tiger Woods $8,286,821; 2, Phil Mickelson $3,387,457; 3, Ernie Els (RSA) $3,207,739; 4, Hal Sutton $2,976,444; 5, Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) $2,322,345; 6, David Duval $2,247,746; 7, Davis Love III $2,117,604; 8, Vijay Singh (Fiji) $1,987,368; 9, Tom Lehman $1,970,499; 10, Jim Furyk $1,845,919. Other placing - 228, Keith Nolan (Ireland) $17,841.

Christy O'Connor Jnr shot rounds of 72, 71 and 73 for a six-over-par aggregate of 216 in the 2000 Vantage Championship at Tanglewood Park last weekend. It left the Galwayman 18 strokes behind the winner, Larry Nelson who beat Gil Morgan and Jim Dent in a sudden-death play-off. O'Connor's reward of $3,375 brings his earnings for the season (20 tournaments) to $282,464 for 56th place in the Seniors' Money List. Nelson is the leader with $2,496,555 from 27 tournaments.