Tiger's shadow man ready to shed his bridesmaid's outfit

Behind every genius is a frustrated understudy. Cast in the role as golf's Dr Watson, the mystery of David Duval's missing major is one of the longest-running stories on the fairways. It is not so much the Baskervilles the American has been hounded by as a Tiger. For the last four majors, Duval has gone into the final round in contention and three times he has watched Tiger Woods pick up the titles. The bridesmaid's dress is starting to look the perfect fit.

The world number seven's 65 yesterday, however, which put him five shots clear of his nemesis and into a four-way tie for the lead, proved that Duval is determined to catch the bridal bouquet. His putter is so hot this week that it is surprising he can grip it. This was what enabled him to make the cut with an opening 69 coupled with an untidy 73.

"You know, the thing I feel good about right now, that I have not had for quite some time, is that I know I am putting great again," he said. "I am comfortable standing over the ball. There has been quite some time since I've had that feeling."

If his putting display in the first two rounds was good, when he took 30 and 32 putts respectively, then yesterday's figure of 25 was sensational. Quite simply, he was the Green Machine.

What was the reason for this? Well, when most would have been putting the putter under lock and key, Duval decided to stick it in a vice. "I've been trying to get back in a proper position in my stance, trying to get my hands set up properly. I have two putters fairly identical and I swapped the shafts earlier in the week. I worked really hard on it and finally got it to where I wanted it to be. Then I actually made a bit of an adjustment to it this morning, bent the putter a little bit.

"Before I teed off, when I went to the range, I thought I could make a little adjustment, moving it upright a little bit. The guys in the trailer helped me out."

The adjustment might just have bent the Open towards him. Duval single-putted 11 greens as he conjured a round containing seven birdies, just one stroke outside Tom Lehman's course record. If there was a shot that stood out, and there were plenty, then it was his chip on the 17th when he put the ball dead from an impossible lie, 60ft from the flag in the left rough. "As you like to say, 'brilliant'," he replied when he was asked by a British journalist just how good the shot was. "It was that good. I shouldn't have been there in the first place, such a nice shot off the tee to get on the fairway. I was aiming left, just did not release it. I was dead. The grass is roughly a foot long. And it is trampled down. I was kinda in it. Also the ball was off the ground a little bit. I did not really feel like I could hit a high shot. I just decided that the best option was to try and chip and pop it up there to make a pretty easy five. I chipped it up and did not have to mark. It was only eight or 10 inches away."

With such an armoury in his bag, Duval's time must be nigh. "I believe I can handle the pressure involved coming down the stretch in majors. If you look back I have been fairly, or unfairly, criticised for Augusta," said Duval about finishing second in the Masters to, you guessed it, Tiger.

"Whether you want to say that I blew it this year; I shot the low round of the day still. The other year I shot 67. Apparently I blew it that day too. I feel like I've been there and I can play under those conditions." It is a fair point, especially when you consider that he has had such a poor run on the US Tour this year. His best finishes have been in the majors and he is emerging as a prime-time player.

If it does not end as Duval's day, however, he will not feel as though he failed ­ unless he has not played well. "My end goal is to win. But when you go out there and do what you can and play well and you make putts and you don't make stupid mistakes, mental mistakes, I just don't see that as failing. You might say I don't have a killer instinct. I don't think finishing second at something you have done really well in is failing.

"When you walk away and you look at it and, like this year, I shot the lowest score of the day and I had a chance to win; when you do your best, that is not failing. I did everything I could and it did not quite work out. Somebody played better. If I shoot 65 tomorrow and I get beat, I guess in some people's minds I failed again, but I just don't see how that can be the case."