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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDEJune 1, 2016Davis Love IIIDublin, Ohio THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Davis Love III making his 24th start here at the Memorial Tournament. Davis, let's talk a little bit about maybe why this event is so special, especially this year for you. DAVIS LOVE III: Obviously, always enjoy coming to Jack's home course, his home tournament. And everything here is nice. It's hard to imagine a better facility for a golf tournament -- the clubhouse, our gym, our food, our buffet. Everything is just first class here, including -- you know, I remember coming here for the first time. This always had the reputation of being the best conditioned golf course on Tour, and it still is right there at the top. It seems like a major championship. Jack does everything he can to make it feel like, look like a major. It's always a big week here, and obviously now enhanced status, a huge purse, and a great week. So I'm excited to be back. THE MODERATOR: Is our host this week a better host in Ohio or a better host in Florida? DAVIS LOVE III: Well, yeah, I haven't actually seen Jack. I've seen Jackie and Steve and his grandson Bobby. I've seen everybody but Jack. Just wanted to thank him again for hosting us and Barbara hosting us at their house. We had a great kind of team kickoff party during the Honda, and guys are still talking about it, to get to hang out with Jack Nicklaus for an evening, to go to his house and see all his memorabilia and his trophies. Not just golf trophies, but everything he has on his walls is incredible, and to get a tour of the house, it was a lot of fun. He got us off to a great start with some great words for our players and kind of motivated us to get prepared for this Ryder Cup. Another big thank you to Jack and excited to be at his home course again. THE MODERATOR: Speaking of Ryder Cup, a lot of activity going on this week down in one of the cottages, correct? DAVIS LOVE III: And we take over one of Jack's cottages for the Ryder Cup clothes fittings yesterday and today. The staff and all the suppliers are down there. We're getting caddies and players fit for their clothes, and that's always exciting because really reality hits in for some of them that they may be wearing those clothes. This is a big week. It's always a good kickoff for talking to guys as well for me. I'm out there on the range reminding them to go get fit, but it also starts a conversation about details of the Ryder Cup rather than just -- it brings it a little closer to home. That's big right now. Obviously, the points list, Jordan made another big pile of points last week, but we've had a lot of guys jump up, like Brian Stuard, James Hahn, Kevin Chappell, Brooks, and then Matt Kuchar is consistently making points. It's fun to watch the points. I think it's getting more serious. I always said, until after the U.S. Open, you don't really lock a whole lot of things in, but it's starting to firm up a little bit for us, which is exciting. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Captain. Q. Since you mentioned the fittings, how many guys did get sent down for fitting, and how did you figure out where to draw the line on who should get fit? DAVIS LOVE III: Well, top 25 is where we drew the line. I think we had 20 in the field or 21 of those guys in the field. So we're -- I think hopefully, Susan, we're halfway there today. Close to halfway there. I know when I played I was one of the last ones down there on Tuesday afternoon. So I can't really go yell at guys. But my caddie's out there right now reminding the caddies. If you remind the caddie, they'll take their player with them sometimes. But it's -- you want to go a little bit farther than that sometimes. You pick out a few names, but 25 is a good number, and then when we really start to firm up, then we can start cherry picking a few guys and picking them off at other events. Q. Do you remember what it was like to not be included in that group and be left off the list, going back to the early '90s? DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, it's fun to get invited to get your clothes fit, but if you're outside the bubble, it motivates you a little bit. It's disappointing if you're not in that good a position, but it also motivates you. I think some of the guys that have been around for a while, like maybe have played one or two teams but they're not quite on the points list on this team, they know they'll get their clothes if they play well, but it is nice to guess to go down to the Hagen Villa and see it all and be a part of it. Q. Was there a year you were left off the team early on that you thought maybe you should have been on or could have been on? DAVIS LOVE III: No, Stockton included me a lot in '91, had me play practice rounds. I don't remember if I got fit for clothes or not, but he talked to me a lot about it. And then after he didn't pick me, he talked to me a lot about it and explained why. So I felt like I was included in '91. Then when Tom Lehman was captain, we talked a lot about -- you know, I wasn't feeling that well physically, and I didn't really feel like I was one of his guys that he needed to be picking. But, no, I never felt like I was left out. I felt like I played bad and didn't give the captain a reason to pick me or to include me. Q. Davis, I hope I'm not changing the subject too early here. When you went from the Open in '94 at Oakmont and then back there in 2007, how dramatic was the change for you? Do you remember what you were thinking when you saw it when you went back in '07? DAVIS LOVE III: It was obviously set up a lot harder. I hear it's very, very similar this time. It's really, really deep rough. Always at the U.S. Open it's a mental game. They try to play the game that they're going to separate the strongest willed and the best player by making it really, really hard. So I'm sure it will be tough again. Q. What about the look without the trees? DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, there are a lot of places that have done that, Oakmont, Winged Foot, Medinah, on down the list, Chicago Golf Club. A lot of them have realized that the tree planting -- you get a new greens chairman and he plants a whole bunch of trees, and the next thing you know, in 30 years you've got a tunnel, and the grass doesn't grow as well. So I think it's great to see them going back to when the course was designed. I like old style courses. I like traditional architecture. So I like getting rid of trees that weren't natural to the course when the architect built it. Q. How often are you talking to your assistants about anything, meeting in person or talking by text or phone? DAVIS LOVE III: Just today, when I saw Jim Furyk come in the locker room, I laid on the floor by his locker to do my stretching so I can ask him a couple of questions. And Tom Lehman has been texting me the whole Pro-Am. One of the players asked me, How busy are you with the Ryder Cup? I said, Do you see the phone in my hand? I shouldn't be doing that. Tom Lehman is after me to set up dates for practice rounds and make plans. Jim and I are working on a few things. Steve's working on something different. It's just -- it's pretty busy, you know. We're talking about it all the time, and I look forward to this week Jim's here, Tabitha's not here until maybe on the weekend because the kids have exams, so Jim and I can talk. I think that's the -- really the only difference from 2012 is I've got experienced guys already working on it. We didn't wait until the month before to get assistant captains together to start talking about pairings. Tom is -- he's got a list of things that he's -- he's been a captain. He knows what I'm going through. He's got a list of things. I'm going to take this off your hands. Let me handle the practice rounds. Stricker's working on some fitness and foods and things like that that he's really interested in, that he saw in '12 and '14 as a player and as an assistant captain. So everyone's taking some pressure off of me doing a few tasks, and we've just got to find something for Tiger to do. He says he's getting bored. So we'll find him something to do if he can't come out and play. Q. How much have you talked to him? If there a scenario right now, as strange as it may seem to ask, that you can see him playing? DAVIS LOVE III: My first concern is that he just gets back to playing. I've been asking, texting him, how are you feeling? How are you feeling? How are you feeling? I'll watch like everybody else on Friday at 5:00 to see what's going to happen. He said he's making progress and feeling better. We're getting down to where there's not that many tournaments left. Hopefully, he comes out blazing when he does come out. You know, he's been so supportive from the very first day we started this December 4th or 5th, two years ago. He's been very, very supportive of the whole process and of me. So I'm relying on him, and obviously, his role will be different than Jim Furyk's role or Tom Lehman's role. We keep talking about who we needed to speak to the players different nights. Why don't we just have Tiger woods? That would be pretty good. The other team won't have one of the best players ever to speak to their team. So it's just great to know that we knew last September or October that he was going to be in the team room some way or another. That was a big commitment. When we get Jim Furyk to say, I'm all in, play or don't play, like he did for Jay Haas. He got hurt and he got on an airplane and went to Korea to be an assistant captain. These guys really are bought in and they really care, and they're really supporting me and helping me out a lot. Q. Speaking of vice captains, Darren Clarke made an announcement last week. How familiar are you with his vice captains? DAVIS LOVE III: Well, very. Darren and I did a meeting a couple of weeks ago during a media tour, and he talked about who he was going to pick. He didn't clue me in completely. But those are great guys. Padraig and Paul and Thomas have been close to him for a long, long time and have been great Ryder Cuppers and great European Tour players. He's off to a good start. He's obviously got two more slots. We knew Thomas was going to be in there. We figured Padraig would be on the bubble, making the team or being an assistant captain. Kind of like Jim and Steve, he was probably hoping he would play and probably still is. Good guys. They'll be fun to be around. Q. Davis, have you decided on the format? Is that your decision, or is that a decision you make with the PGA of America? Has that been announced yet? DAVIS LOVE III: It hasn't been announced. We just signed -- I signed the Captain's Agreement. Hopefully, Darren will sign it. That we will play the alternate shot format in the morning like we usually do in the U.S. The flow is better. Play quicker in the morning. You play alternate shot and then play the best ball in the afternoon. So not much change there. Darren and I talked a little bit about that. Little bit about course setup and things. Some at the Masters and then some at this event we did in New York. So we're all on the same page. Everything has been so agreeable. Spending time with him at the Masters and spending time in New York reminded me what a great friend he is, what a great guy he is, what a great gentleman he is. We had a lot of fun. This is going to go really smoothly for us until Sunday night, I think. Then one of us is not going to be very happy. But as he said 20 times in New York, no matter what happens, we'll leave as friends, and it will be a fun week for both of us. Q. A bit off topic, but looks like later today they'll talk about the Doral event moving to Mexico City. You've played a lot at Doral and kind of history over the years. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that move and Doral losing that event. DAVIS LOVE III: It's tough to leave places like that. I remember like Oak Hill in San Antonio, that's where I watched so many guys play and I played a little bit. It's hard to leave traditional places. Doral's changed a lot over the years. The golf course has changed a lot. It's not the Blue Monster we played for a long time. The city's grown up around -- the airport's grown up around the golf course. It's just for the sponsors, it hasn't really worked quite as well the last few years. But it's still disappointing. It's great. It's just part of the tradition of the Tour. Greg Norman always said the Tour starts at Doral, and he would go down there and win. So it's disappointing but exciting. I'm on the Board, so I kind of know what Tim's going to announce. But the Tour continues to do a great job of replacing sponsors and moving the ball forward. We've had great success in Mexico over the last ten years, and it really -- once we travel around the world a few times, it is not that far from home. They'll have a lot more information for you. I'm excited moving forward as a board member to see that the staff continues to make great strides no matter what challenges are thrown at them. This has been a big challenge, this World Golf Championship. They're going to come out looking good, I think. Q. Davis, for us Columbus golf fans, this is the best week of the year. I'm just curious, with Jordan coming off a win in his last start, Jason the same way, Rory the same way, how do you mentally and physically prepare for a week where you're competing with these guys? DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I'm used to playing against the kids, but it is a great field. It's a strong field. This is a week -- the golf course is the challenge here, you know. It doesn't matter, there's guys that have played really well here in the past, guys like Kenny Perry at a time where, gosh, how are we ever going to beat Kenny Perry around here? But you just have to play the golf course. It's very, very hard. It's challenging. It's gotten longer and longer. I can't even see the fairway back there on 18 anymore. It used to be just a 2 or 3 iron. Now you can't even see the fairway. It's long and hard, and it's just going to be a challenge mentally to just be patient, think you're supposed to make birdies, but pars are going to be good on a lot of holes unless it firms up. But a great field. I mean, it's great for Jack when you get a field like this, a bunch of hot players. It's been fun for me to watch our guys on our side making a bunch of points recently. Obviously, the most overrated slump in the history of sports. Jordan to win last week, birdied the last three holes. Our guys -- like I said before, Kuch making points consistently and new guys like Hahn winning. Just a great -- this is going to be a great week. It's going to be a lot of great stories this week. Q. And don't read anything into it, but is there any chance you're coming back for the Senior Open down at Scioto? DAVIS LOVE III: I'm not. I'm going to be playing at the John Deere that week. I've gotten that question a whole bunch today too. I loved playing over there in a couple of Open qualifiers. It's a great golf course. Q. Davis, you've obviously had a great career. You've been around for a while. When young guys come to you, maybe asking some questions, what are one or two things that you say to them? DAVIS LOVE III: Well, depends on the question. But I try to give them the advice that Tom Kite or Ben Crenshaw or those guys gave me. Tom Kite told me I could come play practice rounds with him if I put a yardage book in my pocket and I worked hard and didn't goof off. I think guys usually look to me on where do I stay and where do I eat and how's this golf course play? They're more comfortable with me just asking not really strategy of their career questions, but just more little detail things. I know swing-wise or coaching-wise, they've all got great coaches. So I just try to help point them in the right direction and make sure they end up at the right airport or play a practice round with them and help them around the golf course a little bit. It's been fun for me. There so many young kids at Sea Island, and obviously with all these Ryder Cups, Presidents Cups I've been involved in, it's great to have a relationship with them and be around them. Q. You mentioned the apparel fitting. I assume nothing looks like the '99 Polos that you guys wore. Who's doing the uniforms? DAVIS LOVE III: Ralph Lauren. We've got Ralph Lauren, New Era, Cole Hahn. We've got a big group down there fitting the guys. But Ralph Lauren's done three or four Ryder Cups for us. They're getting better and better. Q. Did they do the ones in '99 or no? DAVIS LOVE III: No, that was not Ralph Lauren. That was Ben's -- when you get up real close to that shirt, you get it because it's got pictures of all these old teams. My argument always for that shirt is it worked. I've got two of them, in fact, because Susan -- I got soaked with champagne, and for the closing ceremony, she gave me a dry one. So I've got two. People always ask me, do you still have that shirt? I say, not only do I have it, I have two of them. THE MODERATOR: New this year for the Ryder Cup, ladies and gentlemen, media will be required to wear a uniform as well. So if you can get down to the cottage and get fitted before you come. DAVIS LOVE III: Free clothes. THE MODERATOR: We'd appreciate it. Any other questions for the captain? Thanks very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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