“I’ve been expecting to play quite well for some time,” he said. “There’s nothing that’s made it click this week. What’s made it click is what’s been going on for the last year and a half and the work I’ve been putting in and the time I’ve been using to practice.”

To anyone who would listen, Duval kept insisting it was all coming together: the swing, the mental approach, everything he needed to get back to the top.

But first he needed some results to justify his confidence. That was the one thing sorely lacking.

So maybe this is the start of what his coach, Puggy Blackmon, said is “going to be one of the greatest comebacks in history.” Or maybe it’s just another tantalizing glimpse of what might have been.

But make no mistake: Duval won’t be fulfilled as just another guy on the Tour, someone who makes cuts and a comfortable living and wins a tournament every now and then. He wants to get back to where he was.

No. 1.

“I probably don’t live it and die it like I may have back then,” he said, referring to that era when he was an imposing, aloof golfer in the wraparound shades, staring down anyone who got in his way — Tiger Woods included.

“But I also haven’t sought a return to be mediocre,” Duval went on. “I know what greatness is about, and I know what it takes to have greatness. I won’t settle for mediocrity.”

Blackmon said the breakthrough is closer than anyone can see, even after the last two days at Birkdale.

“He’s back,” the coach said. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. He’s got that stare back.”

If Blackmon’s prognostication comes to pass this weekend, it will be a more well-rounded person holding the claret jug. Duval didn’t have a family of his own when he won at Lytham, which made the achievement feel a bit hollow. That might have planted the seeds of his downfall, revealing to him that other things were more important than just how far and straight he could hit a golf ball.

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Duval found himself but lost his game.

Of course, there’s no reason he can’t have both.

“He’s got a super family,” Blackmon said, pointing to Nick and Deano, standing along a railing behind the 18th hole. “I’ve never seen him happier. He’s playing because he wants to play. He’s a total human being now.”

Duval has already planned out what he’ll do after the next triumph, the one he’s been waiting for since a victory in Japan at the end of 2001. In fact, he knows what he’ll do after the next two.

“I’ve told my wife,” Duval said, “that she’ll get the first trophy — and the kids will get the second.”

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