Before Vijay Singh became number one, Duval was the only player to knock Tiger Woods out of the number one ranked spot, back in 1999. For a part of '98 and '99 he was almost unbeatable and remained one of the top three players in the world until after winning the British Open in '01.
Duval seemed to be as mentally tough as anyone, as cool and steely as can be. He has also been different in some ways as well, from some very tragic events occurring in his family growing up to seeming to want to avoid the media spotlight. He marched to a different drummer, but unlike those flaky white athletes of the '70s who didn't seem to care how well they did Duvalwas fanatical in his single-minded concentration.
His dramatic decline is one of the great mysteries in sports of recent years, but the media certainly hasn't shown a lot of interest in it. If Tiger had done the same it would be the cover story for years on end in everything from Sports Illustrated to Sports Center to Newsweek to Psychology Today!