Coloradans David and Brady Duval finish runner-up at PNC Championship, giving David his 3rd top-2 showing at the team event
By Gary Baines – 12/17/2023
Cherry Hills Village resident David Duval has been an “also-ran,” to use a horse-racing term, the last few years at the PNC Championship, with a best showing of 12th place out of 20 teams in his last three appearances.
But the former top-ranked golfer in the world is no stranger to contending in the nationally televised scramble event that features teams including fathers and sons, mothers and kids, grandfathers and grandkids and variations thereof.
Duval, a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour, captured the tournament title in 2016 with stepson Nick Karavites, and also came into this year with a runner-up and a couple of fourth-place finishes.
And on Sunday, Duval made a return to contender status in the tournament at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. — in this case with son Brady, a freshman on the Coastal Carolina golf team.
Though Bernhard Langer and son Jason took much of the drama out of the back nine of the final round on Sunday, the Duvals claimed solo second place out of the 20-team field.
The PNC Championship “is the best golfing week of the year,” David Duval said afterward. “You’re on pins and needles, hoping to see that (invitation arrive). I think certainly with the majority of folks who play at our age, it’s the most coveted invite in golf, and I think you could argue it’s the hardest field to get into. To be asked to come back and participate, it’s a dream come true every year it happens.”
Added Brady: “It was an absolute blast out there. If we got it a little closer on a few holes and gave ourselves a couple better chances, we would have had a pretty good chance at winning this year.”
Brady capped the day off in spectacular fashion on Sunday by making an eagle putt from inside 18 inches on the par-5 18th after a stellar second shot with a 6-iron from 205 yards.
“We needed it to go in but I’ll take it,” Brady said.
It was the Duvals’ second eagle of the round as they carded a 3 on the par-5 third hole for the second straight day. They backed up their first-round 60 with an 11-under-par 61 on a breezy Sunday that left them at 23 under par, two back of the Langers.
David Duval watches Brady drain a putt over the weekend in Orlando.
In addition to their two eagles on Sunday, the Duvals recorded seven birdies, including a 40-footer by David on the 17th hole. Their eagle on 18 put them one back of the Langers, but the latter team had several holes to play and expanded their margin with a final-round 59 that included birdies on their first seven holes.
David Duval and Nick Karavites aren’t the only golfers with strong Colorado connections to have won the PNC Challenge, which debuted in 1995. Craig and Kevin Stadler claimed the title in 2002 and Hale and Steve Irwin in 2003.
This year, also competing in the tournament were Justin Leonard and son Luke, who lived in Aspen from 2015 until moving to Florida in 2022. The Leonards finished in 15th place at 13 under par for two days.
To compete in the PNC Challenge, a member of each team must have won at least one major (on the PGA Tour, LPGA or PGA Tour Champions) or the Players Championship, while the partner must not hold any playing status on a professional Tour.
For all the scores from the PNC Championship, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. He was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com