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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 24, 2004

Davis Love III

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Davis Love III, thank you for joining us. Have you got some opening comments about defending your title here this year?

DAVIS LOVE III: It's obviously nice to be back in a place where I played well, and where the fans and the marshals and everybody around the tournament is so supportive. I didn't get in until noon yesterday, but I had a very busy day and a half, and I had a great Past Champions dinner.

The golf course is in great shape. I had good time and a half around it. I'm excited, like everybody else, ready to go, and looking forward to it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about your season this year so far. Pretty much every time out you had a good opportunity to win, and four top-10's so far.

DAVIS LOVE III: I obviously haven't won, which would be nice. I am on the right track. I played good. Even when I was a little bit off last week, Mr. Lumpkin, Jack Lumpkin, is here, and 20 minutes yesterday afternoon, he had me back confident and hitting the ball good again. I feel like I'm close to playing great. You just never know what week it's going to be. I'm happy with my progress so far this year.

Q. How did Cubby do on 17?

DAVIS LOVE III: Water.

Q. Did anybody hit land today?

DAVIS LOVE III: I think --

Q. Besides you?

DAVIS LOVE III: Andy Martinez hit it on the green. I think Jimmy, Nick's caddy, hit it on the green, too.

Q. (Inaudible.)

DAVIS LOVE III: He thought about it all day. He worried about it, talked about it, just over-anxious.

Q. Is there any sense that in this season so far no one's really set the pace, it's kind of a wide open race for things?

DAVIS LOVE III: I don't know, I hadn't thought about it like that. You know, I think last year a couple of guys, like Ernie started so fast that there was a pace kind of set. And Vijay took over and blazed through the end of the year. But I'm more just thinking about my game, and I got behind last year behind Ernie and it was a long way to catch up, and I never caught up with Vijay. I had been concentrating on getting a good start and giving it my best every week.

Seems like some guys have had a lot of time off, maybe because Furyk is hurt, and Tiger took four or five weeks off, and David Duval is not playing. But I think a lot of the top players seem to be playing very, very well, and a lot of other guys are playing good, too.

Q. You mentioned on the conference call about how you've done a good job of getting your game to peak in this month's span and it hasn't happened at Augusta. But are there specific things you can do so that your game peaks on a certain week, or is it just dumb luck?

DAVIS LOVE III: That's exactly the thing I asked Bob Rotella down the first fairway today. I asked, how am I doing, how do I get ready for this week and not have expectations and not have expectations at the Masters and then go back and defend again at Hilton Head, and there's going to be a lot going on for me and everybody else for me the next three weeks, four weeks. I don't know. I'm ready to play. And I think you have to be patient with it and let it happen.

Obviously I have prepared well for this time of year, better probably than any other time of year. And I've had two seconds at The Masters and I guess seven wins on either side of it. I'm hitting the right area, but I've just got to try -- I think the secret is to not try so hard, let it happen and play your game. And enjoy the competition and get lost in what you're doing and not think about that it is THE PLAYERS Championship or it is The Masters.

Q. Is winning The Masters becoming a rather urgent factor in your life?

DAVIS LOVE III: No, I don't think it's urgent. I think if I sat back and in the late '80s and said I've got to learn how to play this golf course, I've got to be more experienced, I've got to win golf tournaments before I can probably win The Masters, I think now I'm at that point, where I've won a lot of golf tournaments and been in competition enough and in the lead enough and played enough majors where now I can win. So now I think if you ask me that in five years and I haven't won, yeah, I'll be panicked, but not now. I think this next five to, you know, seven years is probably my time to be able to use my experience and just play and enjoy playing in the golf tournament and trying to win rather than forcing myself to win.

Q. Obviously we're not coming at it from a player's perspective, but we've had 12 tournaments and 12 different winners. We're heading into a pretty good stretch of golf right now. Could this be a week that kind of maybe not so much separates somebody but defines who is the guy heading into here but also into The Masters?

DAVIS LOVE III: I hope there's 13 different winners, and I'm the one.

Q. But what are you on the money list, even having not won, you're still --

DAVIS LOVE III: I'm not quite sure where I am. But like I said, there's a lot of guys playing, Chad Campbell, I don't know where he is on the money list, but add a million last week. But there's a lot of guys playing very, very good golf. But that's what we continue to see out here. Last year was more of the top names, and the year before was more of a year of first-time winners.

There's a lot of guys playing great golf out here. And it is hard to separate yourself. Tiger was Player-of-the-Year and didn't win the money title. There's a lot of good players. And it's hard to -- it's hard to play the first 12 and win three. But I think we're at a time now where there's more good golf going on out there than ever before, more great golf being played every week. We had -- we didn't have PLAYERS Championship fields the last three weeks, but look at the three tournaments. We had great finishes, we had great competition, we had big leads, guys getting caught, guys finishing in the clubhouse and getting beat by two birdies. It doesn't matter the names, every week the golf is good, and it's hard to win.

Q. Is it harder to win now than it was ten years ago for you?

DAVIS LOVE III: Oh, definitely. I think every five to ten years it just gets exponentially harder to win. Again, you keep bringing up Tiger, that's why we say you don't understand what he was doing in 2000, 2001, when he was winning so many golf tournaments. To win three or four or five like Tiger or Phil, guys that have done that recently, it's very, very hard to do.

Q. You're a staple now at the majors, but it took you ten years to even make an appearance, really, in the majors. When you were winning big tournaments, why did it take you so long to arrive at the majors?

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I think one, the experience, playing enough of them to get comfortable, and certainly winning, what, after six years on Tour, winning THE PLAYERS Championship, coming off of that was a big boost. I felt like after that I started playing better in the majors. And you get in a couple of them and get a taste of it coming down the stretch and you say, wait a minute, it's still golf the last nine holes of a major, I can do this.

The hardest thing about them is there's only four a year. You only get those four chances, and I think if we're at Honda, Bay Hill and Atlanta and Hilton Head, and there's another one the next week, you say I'm real close, I'm going to win the next one, I'm going to be patient, it's hard to be patient, when you've got The Masters and you have the U.S. Open, and you say, dang, I have to wait until April again. So your anxiety is higher, and you have to learn to deal with it. It takes some guys longer. The guys that get to No. 1 in the world figure it out faster.

Q. You mentioned David Duval not being here. Have you talked to him recently and do you have a sense of where his game is and what he's waiting for, what he's still working on?

DAVIS LOVE III: I have talked to him. I do have a sense that he's very happy and that he's had obviously several life-changing experiences over the last couple of years. He's very happy and he's excited about working on his game. I think he's taken some advice from a lot of guys, that he's not going to play until he feels like he's ready to play. David's more of a guy that's willing to wait.

I wouldn't have enough nerve to miss THE PLAYERS Championship or even consider missing The Masters. I'd feel like I had to play. He knows that he's going to play when he's ready. But all accounts are that he's hitting the ball really good and playing a lot of golf. I can't wait to see him. Selfishly I'm saying you ought to play Bay Hill, because I want him to come out and play, I want to see him, I want to watch him play. I'm pulling for him. So I want him back out. He's determined. He's going to be ready to play, and he's going to play good when he comes back, so I hope he does that.

Q. We're taking you back, we're doing a special on the Sunnyham Amateur, it's the 50th anniversary. Any recollection of your play there, back in '82 through '85?

DAVIS LOVE III: I won the long drive is about all I did there. But it was an honor for me to get invited at 16 or 17 years old. And it was fun, a lot of fun to play there. And I wish I had learned to play big tournaments better back then and would have won some of those. It was fun to play.

Q. Assuming '97 at Winged Foot is at the top of the mantle, can you talk about last year, where that ranks for you?

DAVIS LOVE III: Given the years separating the two, it's up there real close. But I played very similar. I had some great rounds there. I had three very low rounds on a very hard golf course. I played very similar style golf, where I just eventually wore everybody down and won by a lot, so I think very similar type weeks. But where do you rank them? Tiger and I have discussed them, his '97 Masters versus my '97 at Winged Foot, which was the best tournament that year. And it's fun to talk about that, but I don't know if you can ever really say.

But I certainly -- the last round here last year was probably the best round I probably ever played here in a big tournament, certainly not the lowest score I shot or even the lowest score I shot on Sunday to win. But it was -- given the size of the tournament and the conditions, the field, the golf course, it certainly was the best round I've ever played.

Q. When you look back on '03, such a good year on the course and all the things that happened off the course, is it any more or less difficult for you to enjoy what you do out there inside the ropes?

DAVIS LOVE III: No, as I said last year, inside the ropes is a lot of fun. It is a job, but it's what I look forward to doing. It's the golf that I enjoy doing. Freddie Couples and I were joking the other day about Darren Clarke moving to either Santa Barbara or Sea Island and saying don't expect us to play golf with you because we don't play that much away from the Tour. I enjoy playing competitive golf.

When you're a little kid, as you're saying, you dreamed of playing the PGA TOUR, and I enjoy that. Do I enjoy everything that it takes to get there as much as I used to? Probably not, but I'm learning to deal with it better and manage my time better. But I sure enjoy the competition and getting out there. So it's been kind of my escape from several things that have been distractions in the last year.

Q. You went to -- I'm thinking you had a three- or four-shot lead on the 17th hole at Winged Foot and had a four- or five-shot lead on the 17th hole here last year. Which one made you feel more safe?

DAVIS LOVE III: I'd say at Winged Foot, because it was raining, it was playing hard. But I think there were a lot of similarities in that, hey, this is a big tournament, and if I can keep doing what I'm doing and keep getting a bigger and bigger lead, if I can get way ahead of this guy or all these guys, the last few holes are going to be a lot easier. And I see that in the guys that win a lot, because when they get going, they don't stop. They don't kind of level out. And so that's to me what's the best thing about both of those tournaments is I didn't get, oh, now I'm one stroke ahead and just kind of level out. I've done that in some tournaments and you don't know why it happens, and maybe it's lack of focus or concentration.

But I found that at Honda, I kind of patiently caught those guys, but then I never really did anything once I got caught up. And it's a lot of fun to keep that -- keep the hammer down and birdie five holes in a row when you finally get close to the lead and get ahead and relax. You hit the green on 16 and hit the green on 17, rather than squeezing one in there and trying to stay one stroke ahead. It gives you a much more comfortable feeling in a big tournament. Sure, chasing down the leader is fun, but it's a lot more fun to be ahead.

Q. How much easier was the tee shot on 17 with the size of your lead?

DAVIS LOVE III: After I made the putt on 16, I breathed a big sigh of relief, now all I have to do is make a shot and it will go on the green and I can get out of here. It was a whole lot easier. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it was two hours before I got to 17, when it was playing really, really hard. But it was still enough wind to make you think and choose a club. It made it a lot easier.

Q. 140 shot as you're walking from the 16 green to the 17 tee, do you look at that as saying this is a birdie hole?

DAVIS LOVE III: Maybe I should look at it that way. I've never -- you know, I've always looked at it as I've got to pick a target somewhere in the middle of the green and hit it there. Sure, if it's dead calm and the pin is on the front and the tee is up and it's 124 or whatever the short yardage is, you think, if I hit it off that hill, I can get it really close, but most times, no, I'm trying to hit a shot into the middle of the green, and if it rolls off to the right of the hole or if it rolls off to the left of the hole, more the better. But I'm just really trying to hit the middle, dead center of the green, and not take any chances.

Q. How has your approach changed from last year? Did you really take anything away from last year's tournament here?

DAVIS LOVE III: I wouldn't say my approach has changed. Certainly when I get back to THE PLAYERS Championship I have a little bit of a feeling of confidence and excitement. And after winning a tournament like that and playing a great round, sure, for the rest of the year I feel I'm playing great, you take that confidence and run with it. You can certainly build on it.

We say what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Where does confidence come from? But when you find that, you can certainly -- if you win or you play good, you can certainly build on it, and I certainly built on this tournament and that last round for the rest of the year, and I'm still doing it.

Q. Is this course setup the best one out there on Tour for examining every facet of a player's game?

DAVIS LOVE III: I think it is. We talked about that with Pete Dye last night that this course has had some little changes, maybe more rough and different things, but we really haven't added length on this golf course. It challenges every shot. It gives you a chance to hit every club and do all kinds of strange different chips and pitches and bunker shots. And now, as I said, dig it out of the rough every once in a while or chip-and-run up the hill. I think it tests all aspects of the game and all aspects mentally, because it's --

Q. Along that line, do you think that if the 17th hole here were remodeled or if it were a different hole, say similar to

No. 12 at Augusta, that this tournament would come near being another major?

DAVIS LOVE: You know, we've talked about that, like what's keeping it, how does it change to a major. 17 created the excitement and the atmosphere and helped bring this tournament up. If I were Commissioner for a day, what would I do with it? I don't know, I might paint a red stripe around it rather than a yellow one. I don't know, that's a good question to debate. I don't know, if you change the hole, the fans wouldn't like it, but some of the players certainly would, I think. That's a good question. Can it be a major championship with an island green?

But then you go back and say would it have grown as fast if it didn't have that recognizable hole? And it's probably the one hole in golf that more people want to play to see if they can do it.

Q. Sort of like a carnival hole where you hit the green you win a fuzzy doll?

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, as long as the wind is not blowing, you don't have a problem with it. Then the wind is blowing and we call it Mickey Mouse or carnival. But you know what, comparing it to 12 at Augusta is a very good comparison, because if the wind is blowing hard it's the same crap shoot on that hole. You're in bushes and you make double, rather than you're in water and make double. So it might be the same thing, and maybe Pete realizes that, that hey, I can put anything over the green, but it's just like hitting it in -- what do you call that -- is it jasmine on the hill? You go in that and you might as well hit another one. I don't know, it's a good question.

Q. I'm curious, you played last Sunday at Bay Hill. How good was that performance by Chad Campbell?

DAVIS LOVE III: I didn't get to see it, but he played great golf, and that course is hard. It wasn't as hard as the last couple of years, but everybody has been saying it, he's a great talent and he plays very smoothly. That's what I was saying before. The last three tournaments have just been great finishes. We felt Stuart Appleby in the lead is pretty safe. But Chad played a great round. He's a very solid player. I don't know enough about how he played. I just saw him get the award in the end. He's an incredibly talented player.

Q. You played the course today and the way the course was playing, the fact we haven't had a lot of rain here in Jacksonville. How do you approach the weekend, and what kind of scores will it take to defend your title?

DAVIS LOVE III: Somebody shot a low score and it made them mad. The whole south is dry for March, and they're way down in rain. That's what Fred Klauk wanted, something he could work with and prepare the golf course the way he wanted. I think it's just right. They're watering the hot spots on the greens. I keep telling him when I see him not to water the rough. I don't know why they're watering that. They're doing a great job. Today it's right where they wanted it. Tim has been stressing it that they're not going to let it get away from him. It's very testing right now.

If it firms up a little bit, it's going to be extremely tough to score, which is what you want. You want it right on the edge of being unfair. You want it to be fair and difficult and testing, and I think that's about where they have it.

Q. Last year your catch phrase was "chase your own potential." Do you have a key phrase this year?

DAVIS LOVE III: I'm obviously still trying to feel that I haven't reached the best I can play. Certainly I still have some big goals that I need to accomplish. But right now this next month I'm just trying to get lost in the process of golf and not think about those goals, not think about results, not think about what I've heard for the last three weeks, no one has ever won the championship back-to-back. I've won twice, I just have to put the years together. You try to put those things out of your mind and downplay them and go out and play.

I'm trying to get here tomorrow morning at 8:10 and I'm back into -- I'm just going to play golf and play methodically, and as Tim said at the meeting last night, try to smile more, play methodical, boring golf, and not get wrapped up in trying to win THE PLAYERS Championship.

When I teed off Thursday last year I didn't say, all right, I'm going to win, you know, I've got to not screw this up. I was just trying to play the golf tournament because I knew I was playing very well. And sure enough, I had two stretches where I made five birdies in a row on this golf course, and that won this golf tournament. I think that hot streak was on Friday and Sunday, I got the two five-birdie streaks. I'm still doing the same thing that I was doing last year, I'm just trying to downplay expectations and goals and just play and enjoy the fact that I'm hitting it good and playing it good and trying to get out of my own way.

Q. A lot of talk about 17 and its merits on this golf course. I was wondering if you could talk about 18 as a finishing hole. How difficult is it compared to other tournaments and compared to Augusta, too?

DAVIS LOVE: It's very difficult, especially if the wind is blowing. I had a rule early in my career that I would never hit anything other than a 1-iron off the tee. I find myself hitting 3-wood, because it's a tiny bit longer and it seems like the fairway down there, the trees have opened up just a tad on the right. They lost a tree, I think, a few years back. But it's the greatest stage really in golf, 16, 17, 18. What a spot where you've got a risk-reward hole, a carnival hole, anything can happen hole. And then you've got a long, tough, classic, water all the way down the edge of the hole, Pebble Beach type, strong par-4 to finish. I don't think there's a finish like that. Sure, Amen Corner is great, but I don't think there's a finish like that. 17 and 18 at Pebble, but not three straight holes where everything is happening and so much can change.

18 is a great hole, and like we were saying earlier, it was sure nice to have a big lead with that big lake coming on the last hole. The two times I won I've had a big lead, and it sure looks a lot easier when you have a big lead.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thanks, Davis.

End of FastScripts.

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