The Virginia Golfer Conversation
Love is admittedly looking forward to representing
his home country at the forefront of the 2016 Ryder
Cup Matches.
know the guys and talk to them out there. My
son is the same age as Jordan Spieth, so I know
that whole category from the 20-year-olds all
the way up to guys who can make the team at
an older age.
VG: Players know what to expect from
D
avis Love III currently ranks in
the top 10 on the PGA Tour
in total driving, which is pretty
good for a 51-year-old who has
required neck and foot surgeries on his aging
body. Next season will be his 30th as a fulltime member on the regular tour. He has
collected 20 victories, including the 1997 PGA
Championship, two Players Championships
and registered 30 runner-up finishes.
Though his last victory came in 2008, Love
still believes that he’s capable of getting that
21st career victory before eventually “retiring”
to play full time amongst his peers on the
Champions T
our. More importantly to Love,
however, is that he will complete that 30th
season by captaining the U.S. Ryder Cup team
in 2016 for the second time as the chosen
leader by the PGA of America’s Task Force.
The group is determined to turn around
America’s flailing fortunes in the biennial
matches against Europe.
Love talks about that second chance as well
as his future and legacy in connection with
the game.
VIRGINIA GOLFER: How’s your health and
recovery from foot surgery going?
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DAVIS LOVE III: I’m encouraged most days
with how much progress I’m making. I had
all kinds of bad stuff going on so I finally had
to just suck it up and get it fixed. My first
week back might actually be in Des Moines
(Champions T event June 5-7). If I wasn’t
our
hitting the ball well, was losing distance
or felt like I couldn’t compete ball striking
wise, I’d probably already be out playing the
Champions T
our. But the few events that I’ve
played I’ve realized that if I putt well enough
to win on the Champions T
our, I can win on
the regular tour. Hopefully with short game
practice coming up I can get that a little bit
better and be able to compete. I am definitely
not going to be making a farewell tour or just
hang out. When I say, ‘I have no chance,’ then
I’ll completely make a switch over.
VG: Is part of you remaining a PGA Tour
regular have to do with being able to
assess firsthand your potential Ryder
Cup players?
LOVE: A little bit of the thinking is that I’m
still connected. I’d been Ryder Cup captain,
was (Presidents Cup) assistant at Muirfield and
was going to be an assistant again for Jay Haas
this year. I’m playing out (on the PGA T
our),
VG: Talk about the Ryder Cup Task Force.
LOVE: My ultimate goal going into the Task
Force was to have somebody let me come to
the Ryder Cups and help out—drive a cart,
give input, handle the wet rainsuits. Somebody
behind the scenes. It went from me offering
whatever I could do to help all the way to me
being captain. It was the same thing Tiger said,
along with Furyk, Phil and Steve Stricker. We
told the PGA of America, ‘We will do whatever
it takes to win.’ They opened a door and we
charged through it. Their mindset was, ‘You
just tell us what we can do.’ They said, ‘You
guys can do pretty much whatever you want
if you think it’s going to work.’
VG: You and other tour players, past and
present, have been closely engaged every
step of the way.
LOVE: As a group from Raymond Floyd to
Rickie Fowler, we came up with a philosophy
that entails the thought, ‘This is what we all
think will work if we just do it year after year
after year.’ Phil likes to come up with odds and
he said, ‘Look, we’re not going to win 10 in a
row. I guarantee that. But let’s do this, run a
system, get everybody engaged and try to win
seven out of 10.’ If we do the same things over
and over, we can have some success. If we keep
changing every two years and doing something
different, we’re just spinning our wheels. I
looked to Tiger and Phil and said, ‘If you guys
w w w. v s g a . o r g
5/8/15 11:49 AM
MICHAEL COHEN/USGA PHOTO ARCHIVES
Tour veteran Davis Love III, the future leader of the
American Ryder Cup team, is already showing why
the U.S. can trus