Duval happy coming off Father/Son, looking ahead to '13

• By Rex Hoggard
• Dec 20, 2012 12:12 PM ET

Fresh off a tie for fourth place at last Sunday’s PNC Father/Son Challenge David Duval struggled to contain his excitement, but the good vibes weren’t necessarily directed at his own game.

“You start to glow when you see them excel and play well. It’s pretty special,” said Duval, who teamed with his stepson Nick Karavites at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. “It’s pretty cool for them to be exposed to something like this after not really growing up around it. It makes you feel good. It makes you feel proud.”

Despite his recent struggles with various injuries and poor play, Duval was also looking forward to 2013 and his own prospects. Although he has finished inside the top 125 in earnings once in the last ten seasons and made the cut in just three of 17 events in 2012, the former world No. 1 has a different plan for next season.

Duval estimates he will get into about a dozen Tour events in 2013, the byproduct of a limited schedule as the circuit transitions to a split-calendar season.

“Maybe it’s a good thing, because of that I’m looking at different avenues and kind of like using this year (2013) to get healthy again and just get status back,” he said. “I’m not trying to go out there and force something and trying to win a golf tournament. Let’s get status back. Use the year for that.”

Duval said he will also likely play the Web.com Tour, which he last played in 1994, with an eye toward the Tour’s new qualifying system, a four-event series that will feature the top 75 off the secondary circuit money list and Nos. 126-200 in Tour earnings.

“A couple of good weeks on Tour or out on the Web.com puts you in that four-week series,” said Duval, who has been slowed in recent seasons with an assortment of knee and foot injuries. “That’s a great avenue as a veteran to have those four weeks to play. It’s not a six-round sprint (Q-School finals) which can be so difficult.”