The Year of Duval grows bigger than ever today when the first round of the 63rd Masters Tournament tees off at the Augusta National Golf Club.

David Duval's story has swamped that of Tiger Woods this year. The 27-year-old Jacksonville, Fla., native is golf's money leader (a record $2,598,300 this year), the game's winningest player (a record-tying four wins entering the Masters), its hottest (two straight wins entering Augusta), its top ranked player (No. 1 in World Ranking for the second straight week) and the latest Mr. 59 (a record-tying 59 at the Bob Hope).

This week's issue of Sports Illustrated features Duval on the cover blowing on a smoking iron with the headline, ``David Duval is on fire.'' A long feature, by Gary Smith, chronicles Duval's difficult childhood and his low-key personality. There have been comparisons made to Jeff Gordon in NASCAR.

``Well Jeff Gordon, they don't really like him a whole lot, do they?'' Duval said Tuesday. ``You see races and everybody's pulling against him. I don't want that to happen to me.''

As Duval tees it up at 1:23 p.m. today, with Nick Price and Bob Tway, the bettors and spectators will be rooting for the favorite.

``The thing is, if you ask big gamblers, they say don't bet against streaks,'' said Duval, who was a four-time All-American at Georgia Tech. ``You might change what you are going to do. Don't bet against streaks.''