Duval, a longtime bachelor who has fast become a doting father and devoted family guy, felt similarly. Odd that their wives also have eerily similar first names, huh? Sienna Duval was born last August.
"I told them what I felt," Hart said a few weeks back at Pebble Beach, where he played in the final group Sunday. "I said, 'Whether you do it for us or not, I think you need to do it down the road.'"
The tour doesn't often change rules in the middle of the season -- this week's mid-stream alteration of the 36-hole cut policy notwithstanding -- but it felt like the right call for all the right reasons.
"From what I understand, basically every player they talked to was 100 percent behind it," Hart said. "Pretty much everybody out here has families, kids, married, whatever, and they can put themselves in our shoes. You know, hopefully not, but it can happen to anybody."
Unlike players in team sports, who have contracts with some degree of security, golfers are engaged in the ultimate meritocracy. As in, no play, no pay. So the financial whammy was already significant without facing the potential loss of their jobs, too.
The new rule grants those forced to spend at least four months at home a set number of tournaments the following season to secure their tour cards. Specifically, Duval and Hart each have to match or exceed the earnings of the player who finished No. 125 in earnings in 2007 to retain their full status.
Hart, whose two tour victories include the 2000 Honda Classic, needs to bring home $162,960 in his next 12 starts, including this week. Duval had made four starts this year and hasn't earned a dime, so he needs to make $713,235 in his next 16 tournaments to stay afloat.
When the rules tweak was announced in mid-2007, some initially worried that it might be exploited, since the nature of a family medical issue might prove to be a subjective call, or difficult to verify. The family crisis clause is invoked solely at the discretion of commissioner Tim Finchem upon a review of medical reports and related reports.
So far, there has been no known funny business. In fact, some would like the exemption to go a step further to allow players a one-time pass for family related affairs that are not medical in nature.
"What they did for Duval and those guys, I think, is very right," said Jesper Parnevik, who also shot 68 in Thursday's first round. "I think you could make a case for it being open to more guys who wanted to take some time off without losing their playing privileges straightaway."
Spending time with a newborn baby or a child who is headed off to college came to mind as examples, he said. A year ago, that notion might have seemed absurd. Now, who knows?
"We've pretty much gone our whole lives away from our families," Parnevik said.
Hart said the fact that he is working under a specific financial deadline doesn't often occur to him. Obviously, missing a cut here or there no longer creates a personal crisis.
"I don't carry bad rounds with me as long as I used to," said Hart, once known for his short temper. "You realize that a lot worse things can happen to you than playing a bad round of golf."
That's the cold truth of it, too
