Davis Love III - Part 1 (The Early Years and Tour Wins)

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin. Let's let our listeners know that this is historic day on the calendar. This calendar today is unique. It features the numbers two, two, two, two, two, two. But our guest, yeah, two, another two, but our guest has decided to one up the twos today, hasn't he?

Bruce Devlin 0:37

Well, I gotta tell you, our guest today, uh, I'll give you a little bit of background. He's had 21 victories on the PGA tour. Uh he was the uh two-time winner of the Players Championship, which a lot of people think is a major two. And then he added the 1997 PGA Championship to it. And I gotta tell you, it's a great pleasure and an honor to have Davis Love III with us today. Davis, welcome and thanks for joining us.

Davis Love III 1:07

Thank you, Bruce and Mike. I'm looking forward to this. And um, twos are good on the scorecard too, aren't they? So hopefully I can I can get some twos and spread them out over this next year. There you go. Great idea.

Mike Gonzalez 1:22

Speaking of twos, uh, my podcast partner had one of four twos on a par five during the Masters way back when, didn't you?

Bruce Devlin 1:30

Oh, that's right. Yeah, only only four guys ever did that. They did it all at a different hole. No, well, let me see. It was one was 35, one was 67, one was 93, and the other was 2002. Uh you can name them Davis, can't you? No. Uh I know Mike can. He'll tell you what the four are.

Mike Gonzalez 1:56

Well, I certainly remember this. Is the Sar Sarazen one, that was the most famous one, right?

Davis Love III 2:01

Right.

Bruce Devlin 2:02

Yeah. I've heard around the world. Yeah, Sarazen, myself, our friend from the woodlands, Jeff Maggot. Maggot. And then Ustazen did it at number two in I guess 2012, I think, was it? Pretty, pretty recent.

Davis Love III 2:18

That's about and and he made a hole in one at 16 as well, didn't he? One year. I think so.

Bruce Devlin 2:24

I think so, yeah.

Davis Love III 2:26

Well, anyhow, he's come come close a lot there.

Mike Gonzalez 2:31

Thanks for joining us today. And and uh as we've talked, we want to tell your story. And to do that, of course, we'll go back to the beginning, you growing up as a young man. But uh before we get going, uh, this is sort of unusual for us because you know, we're talking to a lot of older guys typically, so you're a fairly young guy and still active on uh on actually two tours. I think you're trying to play a little bit on on both, I think. And uh unfortunately you were scheduled to compete this week, but uh kind of down for the count temporarily, aren't you?

Davis Love III 3:02

Yeah, my um my doctor shut me down a little bit. Um and at almost 58, that's not unusual for to have some something get um out of whack and then uh the doctor shut you down. But um, I am trying to play a little bit on both tours. I had my hip replaced last summer and tried to bounce back from it real quick and um probably played a little too much golf and not enough working out after I started back. So uh a little bit of a restart on the rehab, but yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to playing hopefully um a pretty full schedule this year and and next year.

Mike Gonzalez 3:38

Well, good. And this, of course, this affords us a uh an opportunity to spend some time with you because you found yourself with some downtime this week. And uh Bruce, we've heard from a lot of guys, uh particularly guys that are that are older than Davis. Uh, nobody escapes the injury man, do they? Sometime in their career, you're gonna run into some something that's gonna set you down for a while.

Bruce Devlin 3:58

I know he he's complaining about uh the problems he has at 58. I'm gonna ask him uh to to find a way to give me uh some information when he gets to my age at 84 or nearly 85. I gotta tell you. We're we're we're at our age, we're happy to sort of get up and be able to talk to a guy like Davis Love. It's been uh it's been a pleasure watching him play. And uh uh he won't remember it, but I remember when his daddy was uh the head pro at the I think it was Atlanta Golf Club where we played the uh Atlanta Open years and years and years and years ago. And I remember this young boy coming in there with this magnificent swing, and the f and the the one comment I remember more than anything else, Davis, was some guru golf teacher said that Davis Love is the only player that extends the arc from the top of his golf swing.

Davis Love III 4:59

Yep.

Bruce Devlin 5:00

Do you remember anybody saying that?

Davis Love III 5:02

Yeah, and they put it on the cover of a magazine, too.

Bruce Devlin 5:06

So so you know how far I'd go back with you. You were just a you were just a young boy then.

Davis Love III 5:11

Right. And my dad said, well, he really doesn't get wider coming down, but he keeps his width better than anybody we've seen in a long time. So that's right. I think that's what um what Jack Nicholas did too. You know, his swing was big and wide and stayed wide. And then Tom Wisecoff, guys like that that um were the early long hitters, they kept that width really well.

Mike Gonzalez 5:33

Yeah. So, Davis, let's just go to the beginning, if we can. Uh growing up as a young man uh in uh in Georgia, and and uh I guess you were born in Charlotte, so you can take us through the earlier years, but tell us a little bit about that.

Davis Love III 5:47

Well, um, when I was born, I was um my dad was a pro at Charlotte Country Club. And before I uh turned a year old, he was the pro at Atlanta Country Club, as Bruce said. So I grew up um my early golf years at Atlanta Country Club and um and watching um professional golf in my backyard. In fact, uh the very first players' championship was at Atlanta Country Club, won by Jack Nicholas. So I had a lot of inspiration, not only from traveling around with my dad to professional golf tournaments, including some majors, um, but also watching the pros play in my backyard and seeing Bruce Devlin come through my pro shop and my golf course. And I was just inspired um as a kid by my dad and and by watching golf tournaments, that's what I wanted to do. And then we moved um when I was uh right at 15, moved down to Sea Island, and then I was kind of starting over with no friends and uh my dad to play golf with, which was a blessing. And um, I just poured myself into golf from 15 to really when I hit the tour, I didn't do anything other than play golf. Now my mom or my wife would tell you that that I found too many other hobbies now, but for that period, probably from 12 to 20, I didn't do anything other than try to prepare to play on the PGA tour. And obviously was blessed with a great teacher in my house.

Bruce Devlin 7:10

Yeah, what a what a great way to start in the game with he your dad was quite a player as well. Not only was he a great teacher, but he was a pretty good player too. I believe he played in the at Augus or I think it's '64, would it be? Something like that.

Davis Love III 7:27

Right. He played in 64, and I was born the day after, the Monday after the Monday after the Masters. And he played as an amateur. He made it into the whatever quarterfinals of the of the amateur, whatever it was back then. So he played as a very young kid, like a teenager, um, played in the Masters, and then one other time as a pro and had some good finishes. And he would get in, he played the PGA Club Pro and he'd get in the PGA championship. Then he'd finish in the top 20 or something, then he'd get in uh the open championship. And one year he finished fifth or sixth in the open championship, and that got him in everything the next year. So um he could parlay uh a few tournaments into um some nice trips for his kids. I went to I remember going to Tanglewood for the PGA and places like that, and it was so much fun to to go watch my dad play at an age where I was 10 or 12 years old, where I could appreciate it.

Bruce Devlin 8:22

Yeah, I think I think Tanglewood was won uh in '74 by Lee Savino. So you would have been there. That's right.

Davis Love III 8:28

I was mostly hung out in the locker room because I figured I I didn't like walking that hilly course. So I helped, I literally helped with the shoes, the guy in the locker room. Back then, you didn't have to have tickets and passes and all that kind of stuff to get around the clubhouse. So my dad would just park me in the clubhouse and he'd go play and I'd catch up with him at the turn or something. But yeah, I loved I that's how I got to know Jackie Nicholas because we were both kids following our dads around golf tournaments and ended up playing with Jackie at the University of North Carolina. So I had, you know, very early on had relationships with professionals that I saw at my club or that I saw at tournaments. And then obviously my dad with the golf digest schools, um, we kept that going with famous teachers. I got to play golf with Sam Sneed a whole bunch because he was working in the golf digest schools with my dad in the summer. So um I was very blessed growing up to be around the pros. And um, I say that about my son. If we could get him onto the tour, he'd be real comfortable because he grew up on the tour, like Bill Haas. Um I I didn't think Bill Haas was, you know, he was a really, really good player in college. I didn't know if he was going to make it to the tour, but if I knew if he made it, he'd be okay because he grew up inside the ropes, um, wearing some of my hand-me-down shirts. So uh I had that blessing of being able to hang around the pros and the teachers and be inspired, but also learn from them.

Mike Gonzalez 9:55

So you mentioned something I can relate to having moved at age 15 as well. What do you recall about that? Because that's sort of traumatic middle, you know, moving in the middle of high school for a young guy, having to make new friends. How did that affect the development of your game and just life in general?

Davis Love III 10:12

Well, it was, it was, again, I've had so many blessings in my life. It was perfect timing. Um, you know, you're about to go into high school, um, you're in a new place, um, your dad's at the golf course every day at a at a five-star, five diamond resort. And I just went out to the golf course every day with him and and practiced and played. Obviously, got on the golf team and made made friends to play golf with. But I said if somebody had taken me surfing when I moved to Sea Island, I'd have been in trouble because that's all I would have done. So thank goodness. Um, I got out to the golf course and uh and hung out. So um, and then great weather, um, a lot of places to compete. Um, so it was uh it was perfect timing for obviously for my family to get to be able to move um to the beach. Uh we used to come to Sea Island on vacations, but um that we got to come to to live at the beach and great golf courses. And obviously back then they were great. Now it's just unbelievable what Sea Island has: golf performance centers and great teachers and um great, even more great golf courses. So we have I don't I don't even know the number, 15 guys living here with PGA tour cards, and a bunch of Corn Ferry guys and a bunch of Drew Loves that are trying to make the tour. So it's um it's an incredible place for pros and for kids to learn how to play the game.

Mike Gonzalez 11:38

It sure is a beautiful spot you've got there. And then Bruce, uh you can remember this perhaps better than I, but as you look back on the 30 plus major championship winners we've talked to, we always talk about how they developed, learned the game, and so forth. It's generally from their father, but other than maybe uh Dave Stockton, I'm not sure I recall another pro we've talked to who grew up with a father that was a professional.

Bruce Devlin 12:03

That's right, that's true. And uh, well, uh like we said before, uh Davis's daddy was uh was a was a very good player and and had a fabulous reputation as a teacher. And that uh a lot of people say, boy, it's unfair that Davis Love could have all that attention when he was so young. But uh he's he's turned into a uh a man who is respected by everybody that's ever played the game, too, Mike. I can tell you that for sure. Davis Love's got a great personality. He's a great player, but he's a good gentleman too.

Davis Love III 12:39

Well, thank you. That um my dad didn't demand that I play golf or play good golf, but he demanded that I listen to my mom and use my manners and um be honest and straightforward and and look out for other people. So um my mom my mom would say I should have made a few more putts, but I sure was polite. She um she certainly uh took over from my dad when he passed away as my motivation. You know, she um was a great player, she was a single-digit handicap for over 40 years and shot her age for um from 73 or 4 to 89. She shot her age. So she was really the best player in the family, but she certainly um was a we had to beat my mom before we could even take on my dad. So she was a great uh influence on my game as well.

Mike Gonzalez 13:36

So, Davis, as a young man learning under your father, maybe you can take us through some of the step changes that your game experienced as you aged from a very, very young boy to you know, teenager approaching the college years. Were there certain step changes that you can look back on?

Davis Love III 13:54

Well, I when I was a kid, we were just out there playing and having fun. And I think that's one thing um I tell parents when they ask me, what should I do with my kids? I said, You better make sure it's fun, or they're not gonna want to go to the golf course and they're not gonna want to practice and play. So our dad let us drive the cart and get the rake and go fish balls out of the creek and um go fishing if we wanted to go fishing. But as I had goals and started planning tournaments, you know, at 10 or 12, he said, Well, if you're gonna work at it, you have to do what I tell you. And then at about 14 or 15, he said, What's your goal? And I said, I want to be a pro like you. I want to play on the tour. And he said, Well, now there's gonna be some rules and there's gonna be practice plans, and I get a vote and you get a vote, but your body gets a vote on the instruction, but you have to follow the rules of practice. And um, then it became um a coaching, um, parenting, um, sports psychologist, teacher relationship that just got us closer and closer together. Sure, we had an argument every once in a while, um, but mostly over school work, but uh sometimes over golf. But I had a just a great relationship and trust with my dad that whatever he told me was going to make me a better player. So uh I just remember um serious swing instruction, um, you know, way before I had a driver's license or uh knew that it was fun to chase girls. I was working on my swing plane doing drills that I saw in the golf digest schools. Or um, I always say I I've had a lot of surgeries, but probably a lot of them are from doing left-hand only's and hitting balls off my knees and pushing my body. You know, Tiger, Brooks, Dustin, um, those guys are pushing their bodies now like nobody was doing back when I was a kid. But I hit a lot of golf balls and I hit a lot of left-hand only's and did a lot of right hand off after impact drills and things like that that my dad was setting me up to build a big golf swing to be able to compete on the tour. Interesting.

Mike Gonzalez 16:04

And you learned then how to practice productively at an early age.

Davis Love III 16:10

Yeah, he was big on um, and obviously this is before sports psychology. He was big on um, all right, we're gonna hit 300 putts um from three, four, and five feet. And then that's your that's your short putting drill for today. Or we're gonna hit this whole basket of balls left hand only, or we're gonna park the cart on the edge of the green, we're gonna hit over the cart, through the cart, under the cart with chip shots until you get them all on the green. There was always a a goal and a purpose and uh a drill. Um, you know, I worked with some great teachers since my dad passed away, you know, Butch Harmon and Jack Lumpkin. And they were always giving me the same kind of simple Harvey Panic, just a simple drill or a simple thought. But here's what how you're gonna work on it, here's how long you should do it, here's what it should feel like, and then um we're gonna try to transfer that to the golf course. So I I was just very lucky that I had I had not just lessons, I had coaching on how to play golf at a very young age. Um, and so did my brother, you know, to Bruce's point. Yeah, well, you should be a great player because you grew up in a house with a pro. Well, my brother didn't play on the tour. Um he's a really good athlete, probably a better athlete than me, and a really good golfer. But um, you know, I dug it out of the ground a little bit harder than he did, and I wanted it a little bit better than than he did. And um sure I hit it a little bit longer than him, too. But um, you know, I was given the opportunity, just like a lot of these kids now. You can take them to the Sea Island Golf Performance Center and get them great lessons, but they have to work hard at it um to get good at it.

Bruce Devlin 18:00

So after after you uh you you went to high school, you you then went to uh UNC uh uh on a college uh did you go there's uh on a scholarship?

Davis Love III 18:12

I did. I had it was it was strange. The places that I that I really thought I wanted to go to as a kid, University of Texas, where my dad played for Harvey Peanut and Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite and the whole thing, um they didn't even talk to me. And then some schools like Oklahoma um recruited me and Oklahoma State didn't. So um I didn't have a great junior record. I wasn't I wasn't Scott Verplank, you know, or um Billy Andrade, you know, these hot shot junior players. Um I was just a good player from South Georgia, but um Coach Browse at UNC uh and a few others saw that I had some potential. Obviously, I was I was long even in high school, um, raw, raw talent. But um I I wanted to go to Carolina. I was born in Charlotte. I loved Tar Hill basketball my whole life. So I say I went to North Carolina to watch basketball and then second play golf and third go to school. And that's probably why I was only there three years. It was a hard school for a guy that wasn't uh wasn't trying very hard.

Mike Gonzalez 19:14

But you had a pretty good career, didn't you? Three-time All-American. You won uh several titles, individual titles there and uh and won a few important tournaments, participated in the Walker Cup. Just take us through a little bit of those experiences.

Davis Love III 19:27

Well, college golf was so much fun. We had five freshmen come in um all at the same time. We had a great, great class of guys. I had John Inman, you know, Joe Inman was on the tour. John Inman was one of the best college players um every year that I was the two years we played together. And um I was just lucky to have a guy like that to um to chase. You know, John won the NCAAs while we were there. Um, he was a first team All-American, probably every year. And um we had a great team and and it was a lot of fun. But I saw the writing on the wall um academically. And what my dad did every year, kind of like Jack Grout did for Jack Nicholas, is he would assess me and the winner. Here's what we need to work on, and here's where where you're gonna be next year. And so after a few years of school, when he said, Well, I think you could make it out on the tour and you'd probably win in your second year, I said, Well, then I'm leaving school. And he was dead right. I made it to the tour, first time through Q school. In my April of my second year on tour, I won a tournament. And that is exactly what he told me I could do. Um, he believed he believed a lot in um in my game. Um, he he gave me not only swing instruction, but he gave me great confidence. Uh, you know, when I didn't play well or when I did play well, he was really good at he called it the blow blah blow. We go over every shot of the of the round or of the tournament. And um, you know, I went in I went into competition um, you know, maybe a little bit ahead of sports psychology that I was very confident in my ability. And if my dad told me I could do it, I knew I could do it. Um one time I hit it in the woods, we were playing family golf, and I hit it in the woods uh on a par five at home, and I slashed a four-iron up on the green over a lake, and he goes, the two most exciting players to watch in the game right now are Sevi Balesteros and Trip Love. That's what he called me. And I said, If you if you're a kid watching Sevi and your dad is a world-class instructor, and he says, I like watching you play just as much as Sevi Balesteros, it gives you a lot of confidence. I guess. Like Tiger did for his dad, he didn't give him a whole lot of golf lessons, I don't think, but he made him mentally tough and mentally confident. And that's that's another thing my dad did. And he was uh Bruce, you know, I mean he was a very clever guy. Um when sports psychology came out, he went and got Bob Rotella and said, Tell me about this sport psychology stuff. And then he let Bob write a chapter in his book when um my dad really didn't even understand what he really what he was talking about. My dad was like, I have two towels, one's for the clean the clubs and one's to wipe the blood off my hands because I'm hitting so many balls. He saw that Bob Rotella had a better way to maybe to do it. And um, and he put me, he told me two things when you go to the tour. You do whatever Tom Kite tells you and go work with Bob Rotella. So he didn't send me out there saying, I have all the answers for you, go play golf. He said, You need to learn from Tom Kite and you need to learn from Bob Rotella how to play the game and how to play the tour. And um again, um, I I just followed the rules. So many people, you know, obviously Jack Lumpkin just passed away recently. I'm gonna have to find a new teacher. And people always say to me, You still need golf lessons. And you know, Bruce, we we all have bad habits, and somebody's got to remind us to get out of them.

Bruce Devlin 22:57

They always sneak back the same way, too. You need somebody from the outside looking in because you can't see yourself from outside.

Mike Gonzalez 23:07

Yeah, we had a recent guest uh whose name escapes me now. Bruce, you can help me if this was uh Stadler, who uh mentioned that uh, you know, every time I went back to my teacher, uh invariably I'd come back on tour and do really well for a while.

Bruce Devlin 23:25

It was Stads. It was, yeah. It was Craig Stadler said that uh it and he didn't even have to he said he didn't even have to hit balls, uh Davis, after he after he'd been with his coach, he said, you know, I might take 30 days off and then go play in a golf tournament and damn near win it or win it. He said, one time I took 45 days off, and the first time that I played in, I won. So I don't know. It's like Bruce Litsky.

Davis Love III 23:53

Yeah, Bruce Litsky would put him away for weeks and just come right back out and never no like he never let up.

Bruce Devlin 24:00

And of course, Stadler mentioned Litsky's name quite often, too, because he said he was the he was like the second uh Litsky the way he practiced.

Davis Love III 24:11

Bruce hit balls to warm up at the tournaments, that was about it. Yeah. Amazing, really.

Mike Gonzalez 24:17

You you mentioned uh advice from your father about listening to what Tom Kite tells you. What did you learn from Tom Kite?

Davis Love III 24:23

Well, so my dad asked Tom if he would play some practice rounds with me on tour, and Tom said, sure, but it they're not gonna be hitting giggles, it's not gonna be playing for money every time we go out there. We're gonna we're gonna work. And you better have a yardage book in your pocket and not goof off. So I went out there a little scared, but um I put a yardage book in my pocket every day. Um, I still to this day, I don't play a round of golf. I don't rely on my caddy to get the yardages. I don't, you know, if he screws up, I feel like it's my fault because I have the I have a yardage book in my pocket too. Um and and we worked, you know, he he didn't just play one ball um and think about what he was gonna have for dinner. He he hit extra chips, extra putts. Um, where do you his caddy might carry? Where do you think we might need to chip from? Um, he had a strategy to his practice round that got him prepared. And I think great players like Tom and Jack Nicholas and um Greg Norman, um they were excellent at getting prepared to play a golf tournament. So I was lucky to get to hang around with Kite, which meant I got to hang around with Crenshaw a lot too and go out to a lot of dinners. Um, the old line go to dinner with with good putters. Um, I was hanging around players that that were playing well and that were working hard. Um, and yeah, if Tom Kite was sitting here, he'd say, Yeah, but Davis helped me a lot with my swing. You know, he watched Peter Costas or somebody give me a lesson and he would help me. I remember one year at Bay Hill, I spent more time watching him hit balls than than me hitting. And sure enough, getting to the end, he beats me in a playoff, and then the next week he wins the players' championship. And um I'm like, golly, if I hadn't helped him, I I could have I could have won Bahill and uh and maybe uh maybe done better at the players. And that year I missed the Masters just by uh I think barely. I missed the top whatever it was, 50 or 30 or whatever, just barely, and missed getting in the Masters um in 80, when was that 88, 89, somewhere in there? But anyway, um I loved hanging around with him. Um it there was no no doubt in in my mind who was going to introduce me at the Hall of Fame. It was Tom Kite because he he meant so much to my career. He was my connection, like my dad, to Harvey Peanick. Um, you know, Tom really didn't realize what he had done for me when until I asked him to introduce me at the Hall of Fame. He said, There's so many other people that could introduce you. You know, and I said, Yeah, but you're the guy that's gonna do it because you had the biggest influence, other than my dad, um really the biggest influence on my professional golf. You know, I lost my dad when I was 24. I was just barely on tour. So it was um I needed guys like Tom Kite, Raymond Floyd, Fred Couples around me to keep me going. Well, I certainly did do that.

Mike Gonzalez 27:25

So, Davis, you won the North and South Amateur at Pinehurst in '84, and in in 1984, you also won the Middle Atlantic Amateur, and then in '85 you qualified for the Walker Cup uh team, which competed at Pine Valley. Jay Siegel was the captain. You had some great teammates. Tell us a little bit about that experience.

Davis Love III 27:44

Yeah, that was a dream of mine, was to play on the Walker Cup team. And at the time, the Walker Cup team qualified for to play in the Masters. Jay Siegel was the captain and playing it at Pine Valley to play it, you know, staying right there on site. You had guys like Scott Verpank and Sam Randolph and um uh Bob Lewis, um Duffy Waldorf. We had an incredible team. Um fun to play. It was a highlight of my amateur career for sure. I I never made it very far in the U.S. amateur, but um Walker Cup was awesome, and I'll I'll always remember that Walker Cup team.

Mike Gonzalez 28:27

So, as Bruce did at the top of the show, let's just recap for our listeners. Davis loves professional career, turning pro in 85 at age 21. Uh 37 professional wins, including 21 PGA tour victories, which by the way ties him for 31st on the all-time list currently. His highest ranking in the world, ranking second in 1998. He was top 10 for over 450 weeks. Obviously, the highlight is the 1997 PGA championship win at Wing Foot, which we will certainly talk about. But Bruce, what a record.

Bruce Devlin 29:03

Wonderful record. And uh, like uh we mentioned at the top of the show, uh Davis's dad uh convinced him after he decided to turn pro that it would take him a couple of years. So after turning pro in uh '85, guess what happened? First victory, MCI Heritage Classic, and uh Davis won his first tournament nearly two years to the day. Pretty pretty profound of your dad.

Davis Love III 29:32

Well, he yeah, he was ahead of his time on a lot of stuff, but um he was really good at um setting goals, telling me what to work on, and what I could expect if I accomplished uh his his laundry list of uh things to work on in my game. So uh unfortunately he wasn't there um for that win. He was uh on the lesson tee as he always was, doing some golf digest schools, but kept up with me during the week. And um he had sent me on a great path, and I'm I'm thrilled that even though we lost him in '88, he got to see me uh win a couple tournaments and and get off to a good start on the tour.

Mike Gonzalez 30:11

So what was it about that event, Davis? I mean, it probably felt like a home uh sort of a home venue for you being so close to your home there at in Hilton Head. But you won the event five times. So there had to be something about the vibe you got during that week coming off to the Masters uh winning five times. You must have been comfortable just being there the golf course. Something suited you.

Davis Love III 30:35

Well, I think you hit the nail on the head the week after the Masters. You know, obviously that's the first major of the year, and we're gearing up for that. Um, and then uh of course later on, um you know, players' championship was moving dates, but the spring is time to be ready to play. And I think I was just ready to play in the spring. And then I grew up on Bermuda Greens, overseeded Bermuda Greens. Um, I was comfortable with reading the grain. Um, you know, back then obviously the greens weren't as pure a condition year-round as we see on the tour now. And I'd get to Hilton Head or Andy Bean would get to Florida, and we felt like we had a little bit of an advance. We grew up grew up on grain and it wasn't confusing. Maybe I had a little bit of immunity to the sand gnats that pop out when the weather's nice at Hilton Head or Sea Island. So um, I think all things just aligned, and and then you have to get lucky. I was luckier at at Hilton Head than anywhere else. You know, I'd win a playoff or um I'd hole a shot or a chip when I needed it. Um I had kind of the same luck as at Pebble Beach, not as not as great as Marco Mira. For some reason at Pebble, I got comfortable and and the ball bounced my way more than I think if you have a good attitude, you seem to get get better breaks and you're a little bit more patient. And I was just always comfortable at Seapines.

Bruce Devlin 31:53

So after the uh Seapine victory, uh a little bit of a little bit of a gap there without winning on the tour. Uh did you find that you had more commitments after winning at MCI or what just struggled a little bit with the game?

Davis Love III 32:10

Uh I think, you know, uh still a rookie, you know, there for a couple years. I I had not played a whole lot of amateur golf um through only three years in college. You know, I wasn't um like Scott Verplank or some of those guys that came out, they played just hundreds and hundreds of big tournaments. Um so I was still learning the ropes, and it took me until um 90, I guess, to win again. But um obviously the end of 88, it was a big adjustment. Losing my dad, losing my coach, losing my my friend, um everything I'd done in golf. So I I won't say that that um you know slowed me down exclusively, but a lot of things kind of piled up. Like you said, your first win and having babies and uh growing up a little bit. Uh I was a little bit rocky there for a while. And then when uh Butch Harmon kind of took me under his wing for a while and then handed me off to Jack Lumpkin, I got more and more momentum um as I got farther into my career. And obviously uh the 90s and 2000s were really good to me for a long stretch.

Mike Gonzalez 33:14

So 1990, we're talking about that next victory. That was in the international. Uh, I don't think they have that anymore, but uh that was at Castle Pines. Different sort of format people might remember. That was a modified Stableford uh format, as I recall. Jack Vickers was sort of the patriarch of Castle Pines at the time, always famous for their milkshakes. What do you remember about that win? Because that's a it's a different format. You guys just don't play that very often.

Davis Love III 33:41

Well, yeah, the Stableford format at altitude. I remember playing a lot of rounds with Greg Norman, um VJ Singh, Ernie Ells, guys that hit it a long way, um, could beat up the par fives out there. It set up really nice for me. I wanted in a format where um you had to make a cut every day. We played five days, and I just kept advancing through and advancing through and then got hot on Sunday. And then I also won it when they decided to accumulate stable for points for four days. And um, I even like that better because I got I got really rolling and got so far ahead going into Sunday that um I really I really could play free and easy um knowing that I had a lot a big points lead. But um yeah, altitude out there was was always good to me. There's a great club, and um I always tended to play well on Jack's courses because I played a little bit similar game. I hit it a long way and and brought it in high. So that that suited that golf course for sure.

Bruce Devlin 34:40

So then we go back to uh we go back to uh MCI again then in 1991, and you beat a fellow Australian of mine, Ian Baker Finch.

Davis Love III 34:53

Well, yeah, I'd been working um alongside um Ian Baker Finch with Bob Rotella. We we both kind of worked on the same things in our putting, and um you better putt really well to beat IBF for a few years in there. And um, you know, again, I got lucky and and made a few more putts than him. Um, but you know, their Greensboro places that I was having success at, I was always looking forward to getting back and playing that golf course and and keeping the momentum going. I who knows why um the shortest golf course we probably play on the tour um suited the longest hitter at that time. But um I was lucky with caddies as well. My dad hooked me up with the great Herman Mitchell um for my first win. Um I learned the ropes a little bit from him and learned how to play all different kinds of courses. But um, again, I just go back to I was ready in the spring. I won the players a couple times. Um I won all around the Masters, but didn't win the Masters. But uh I was I was always ready in the spring.

Mike Gonzalez 35:55

Yeah, you went on then in 1992 to win the players' championship at uh TPC Sawcrest by four over again. IBF and uh Phil Blackmar, Nick Faldo, and Tom Watson. You had your brother Mark on the bag.

Davis Love III 36:10

Yeah, Mark um caddied, you know, he he was uh at North Carolina with me as well, and then graduated from a college in Georgia, Valdasta State. So he was still playing some golf um early in my career. But um, once I got a little bit established and he had some time, I started dragging him out there. And again, missing my dad, my brother knew I swing better than anybody. And he could remind me of just simple things like, hey, your practice swings, um, they're not looking really good. Let's get dialed in on them. Or um, you know, Dr. Rotella said, let's get into the target. Growing up playing as kids, he could say things to me on the golf course that um maybe a caddy would hesitate to say. Um, he'd seen me in every situation, knew my golf swing. So it was a great partnership for a long time. Um, you know, he had other things he wanted to do, but I kept dragging him out there. And, you know, what better like Stuart Sink with his son now to have a family member out there that you can trust um in a pressure situation was great. And then obviously we went all the way and um he won a major championship caddy for me and um got to do a whole lot of cool things through golf, um hanging out with me and and traveling with me.

Mike Gonzalez 37:25

Take us back to that win, Davis. Um, you were one back after 36, three back after 54 with a great final round. Just what are some of the memories of that uh that round?

Davis Love III 37:38

Well, for some reason, um I had a lot of Sundays where I was I was behind a lot and several times go out there on Sunday, just let's just uh get into the game plan and shoot the lowest score you can. You're in the golf tournament. Um I did that at Greensboro. Uh I did it at Pebble. Um some some really hot rounds on Sunday. Um but again the players' championship um closest to home tournament, you know, it was an hour and a half away and Hilton Head was two hours away. Maybe sleeping in my own bed and and being around home made me comfortable. But yeah, that Sunday, I I got on a really great roll. Um, you know, even if I hit it offline somewhere, you know, I would chip in, or if I hit it in the woods, I could get it on the green. Um breaks were going my way, but I was um I was really rolling um that time of year. Um that first year I won the players and had had gotten some wins, um, had a lot of confidence, you know, was running running up against Fred Couples a bunch. And um it was a I think I just carried a lot of momentum into that Sunday and and everything clicked.

Bruce Devlin 38:49

Well, the momentum continued after that, too, because uh after winning for the third time at the MCI, you went you went uh you went back to back um at the MCI and then the K-mite at Greensboro. So uh boy, what a start to the year in 1992.

Davis Love III 39:08

Yeah, I I said I won everything around the Masters, and Fred won the Masters. So we had it all a playoff um at Riviera um that Fred won. And then what was the best part about getting on that role is we were asked, Fred and I were asked to play in the World Cup. And that that kind of cemented our um our playing relationship and our friendship. Um, we got to play that four years in a row, and um so 92 was a big jumping off point for me moving into international teams. Um, you know, obviously 93 made the Ryder Cup team. Um, I was a little bit in the mix with Dave Stockton in 91. He was considering picking me, which included me in the team talk and got me prepared for um all of a sudden in 92, 93, started playing a bunch of international teams.

Mike Gonzalez 39:59

You mentioned that World Cup participation too, four straight wins with your partner, which still stands as a record today, doesn't it?

Davis Love III 40:08

I think Arnold and Jack um won a bunch of them as well. Um you can't have a better partner in Fred Couples. One thing, if you said what smart decisions did you make in your career? I was really good at picking partners. I played with Fred Couples and then played with the great Beth Daniel, who's a friend and um was taking some lessons from my dad when I was getting started on tour. Um, you you take those three about anywhere and you can win some golf tournaments. So I was fortunate again that I was the long-hitting guy that could make a bunch of birdies. I just needed somebody to partner with. So Fred and I played a lot of President's Cup matches, um, World Cups, um, not as many Ryder Cup matches as we would have liked. Um we were on on the same team a few times and um for some reason just didn't get paired up as much in Ryder Cup. But um it was a thrill to be able to go. We went to Spain first to play the Ryder Cup, I mean the uh the World Cup, and Fred, um that's when his uh his back was starting to go out. He got off to a rough start. Um, and I held us in there the first day, and then he got on a roll in the middle, and then I made a couple birdies coming down the stretch, and we won it. And once we won it, um, I think after that, it was a big goal for us to keep rolling, to win it every year. Uh, you obviously we were the favorite team, which made it hard, but two two scores a day added up. It's it's not an easy format. You better have somebody you're having fun with and can trust when you both have to add two 72 whole scores together to win. And um, we had we cruised to a couple easy ones, but that first one was tough in Spain. And once we got that, um unfortunately, um I think it was his his mom passed away. Um, we didn't get to defend uh at Kiowa. Justin Leonard filled in and um the streak was over, but uh World Cup memories. I made some great friendships through that and got to um spend a whole bunch of time with with Freddie, so it was a lot of fun.

Mike Gonzalez 42:11

Yeah. And uh Bruce had an opportunity too with his good friend, David Graham, to uh win a World Cup. But I don't think the crowd was as well behaved at yours, Bruce, as it might have been for the ones Davis played in.

Bruce Devlin 42:25

No, uh uh Davis will get a kick out of this. We we were playing with uh DiVincenzo and his partner the last day, and uh I hit my drive down the fairway on the first toll, uh a little dog leg to the right, and uh when I got down there, I couldn't find my ball, and uh I found it was in the right rough right behind a tree. And uh that was how the last day got started. So uh it was it was a it was a pretty rough day, but David ended up uh David ended up playing great that day, and we ended up winning, which was nice as always. Like you said, it's always great to play for your country and win. For sure.

Mike Gonzalez 43:11

David said he flew down to Argentina and coach and came back in first class. Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 43:41

It went smack down the fairway. But it's about it just like just smacked off line. I had it as long as you're still in the state, you're okay. Went straight down the middle quite away.