Masters rookie David Duval, a four-time first team All-American at Georgia Tech, is sharing his thoughts with staff writer David Westin for a daily diary this week. Duval, a fourth-year professional, earned his Masters invitation by finishing among the top 30 money winners on the PGA Tour in 1995. He was 11th with $881,436. This year, Duval is 22nd on the money list with $226,066. He has finished fourth and third in his last two tournaments.

I had my best round of the week on Saturday, a 3-under-par 69. That puts me at 2-under-par 214 through 54 holes. I shot 73-72 in the first two rounds.

I made an 8-footer for birdie on No. 18 Saturday, but I wasn't really thinking that I needed to make it to break 70.

I might have got lucky on my approach shot to 18. I had 118 yards, but I was in between clubs. I didn't want to hit a pitching wedge because I wouldn't have been able to stop the ball, so I hit a sand wedge and it kicked off just right. It was just real nice to make that one.

The 69 was a pretty good score. I played real nice. I decided after Friday that I wasn't picking enough spots to be aggressive. I was playing a little too cautiously everywhere. On Saturday, I wanted to give it a bit more of a whirl, especially at the 5 pars. I birdied three of the four so I played them a lot better than I did the first two days.

My round just worked out. I started out good and that can only help you build onto a good round. I birdied No. 1 with a 14-foot putt. On. 2, the par-5, I pitched on the green in three shots to about 2 feet and made that. My other birdies were on No. 13 and 15 and 18. On No. 13, I hit a 7-iron for my second shot to the par-5 to about 15 feet and 2-putted. On. 15, another par-5, I hit a 5-iron about 15 feet behind the hole and two-putted.

I made bogeys on Nos. 9, 10.

The wind was really swirling on the back nine. It was pretty constant on the front nine and then we played No. 11 and No. 12 with it really coming into us pretty hard and out of the right. And then I got to my second shot on No. 13, I was dead downwind. There was no rhyme or reason to it.

They had the pin tucked to the back-left on No. 17 Saturday. I played it a little differently off the tee and then I thought walking off the tee, man I should have looked to see where that pin was. The first two rounds I cut my drive and this time I hit it over the tree to the left side of the fairway. I would have had a lot better access to the hole if I'd cut it again. I still had a 20-footer for birdie. I had it read right but pushed it.

Any goals I had coming into the tournament were blown out the window when I woke up Tuesday morning with a flu bug. My goal then was just to start. I felt so bad. Then, I felt like just playing well and making the cut would be a pretty good goal and it worked out.

I felt a lot better when I woke up Saturday morning. It's getting there. Every day I've gotten a little bit better.

I'm not thinking about trying to make the top 24 today and get the automatic invitation back here next year. I'm learning a bit more every time I play.

It's a situation where I can play to some better spots in each round. I'm getting to know the greens a little better. Hopefully, I'll have plenty more years of it. I'm just picking up as much as I can and learning little by little.