Q. We can't let you out of here without a Michelle Wie question. Jesper said he thought -- this was Thursday night -- if she made the cut, it would be one of the great performances in sports all-time; she came within one shot. Do you agree with that assessment or is that overstating it?
DAVIS LOVE III: Well, that's a hard question to answer. I mean, she's 14 years old. Never had a male player probably ever play that good in a PGA TOUR event, modern days, for sure.
Making the cut or missing the cut, that's the whole argument when Annika played. Well, can she make the cut or miss the cut? I don't think that's a good judge, because making the cut or missing the cut -- it means something out here. But that's like at the bottom end of the tournament, you know. Missing the cut is not good. Just barely making the cut is not good either, you know. Winning is what you're out here for.
But judging by her scores against other top players, looking at the guys that had the same basic weather conditions, and you can't say, well she got the good end of the draw or they did. There's a bunch of us out there that were shooting the same scores as her.
I think that's very, very impressive. The pressure of making and missing the cut for Annika or Michelle is probably not the right way to look at it. Because that means she succeeds if she makes the cut. Guys that play well out here they don't even think there is a cut. They are playing to win.
I think she played -- she shot 68 in a PGA Tour event. That's the way you've got to look at it. It's an incredible accomplishment. And she's proven in the ladies events, the men's events, the special events she's played in that she can play at top level.
Q. Did she add to the event?
DAVIS LOVE III: Oh, it seemed boring out there today. (Laughter.) Not a whole lot of excitement.
I was watching -- the only exciting thing today I watched was Vijay hit it across 10 again. (Laughter.) I played with him yesterday, so I knew when I walked up there he was going to do it and we were on 12.
It was very exciting. I made a point of speaking to her and I was watching her play just like everybody else. It's exciting.
There was an argument whether she should be playing or not. But once she's here, I mean, we all were -- it's the talk in the locker room when I walked in there, the guys that got outhit and the guys that got beat. It's an incredible story. Just a year ago, we were wondering if an LPGA or a lady player could play out here, and here is a 14-year-old that, you know, give her ten tries and see what she does and maybe she could contend like she did at, what was it, Nabisco last year?
She's got a lot of talent. As Mark Rolfing said, sometimes the dream is better than the reality. I hope she doesn't get ahead of herself too much because, you know, Ty Tryon, we've seen it with a lot of guys, you get a little ahead of yourself. Shooting the scores is one thing, but being ready to play professional golf is another.
Q. Should she get ten tries at it?
DAVIS LOVE III: I don't know. That's the question is what do other tournaments that don't have a Tiger Woods or an Ernie Els or somebody in their field; what do they do.
This is different. It's a local thing. But when she starts popping up other places, guys that are looking for exemptions or late in the year. But I think it was great, if she plays two or three professional events a year, until she gets her driver's license.
You can't play on our tour if you're a male until you're 18. So, that's another good question. Should she be able to get exemptions when we wouldn't let Ty Tryon play when he was a member.
I'm supposedly going back on the ballot to be a board member again, so maybe that will come in front of me next year.
Q. Do you think she could win on the LPGA TOUR this year?
DAVIS LOVE III: Oh, I don't know. That's why I said, just barely making the cut and one Top-10 or two Top-10s is a long way from winning. She's got the potential to win most any golf tournament she enters, but she's still is 14 and she's still inexperienced.
But do you know of any golfer with more potential under the age of 25? Probably not. I think she's the next Tiger Woods, but just have to see what happens the next few years.
Q. Where is Drew in that category?
DAVIS LOVE III: Well, he said he would be on TOUR when he's 15. I said, "Well, Mr. Finchem won't let you play." Finish on and get through high school. (Laughter.)
Andy North and I were talking about it out on the range, I guess it was Friday when I walked out there. My daughter watched TV, watched golf on TV in prime time, which she doesn't watch golf, period, no matter how I'm playing. And my son, now thinks that since he's ten, "Well, in five years I can be on the Tour." That's the influence she has and that's why it's good for the game that she plays because she gets kids thinking that way.
Just like Tiger Woods. Do you think Michelle Wie would be thinking she could play on the PGA TOUR if it weren't for Tiger Woods? I don't think so. That's his influence and her influence will be just as great, especially for little girls.
Q. But isn't it also true that only one-in-a-million will be able to do that; so it's unrealistic expectations for most kids.
DAVIS LOVE III: Well, like I said, the dream is better than the reality. There was a million kids playing, maybe not a million, maybe half a million, playing golf when I was a kid. And ten of us, 20 of us made it to play on the PGA TOUR.
So you've got to -- I mean, that's why I'm saying, making the Tour is not actually as good as dreaming to make the Tour, you know. I think kids growing up have to have a dream. I mean, I wanted to be a PGA TOUR player like my dad, but so did every other kid down the range at Atlanta Country Club. But we all had just as much fun growing up playing golf and going to college and playing golf.
But it inspires them to do something other than get into trouble, you know. I think that's the great thing. I see 50 kids, literally 50 kids at our club practicing and playing golf all the time, because of Tiger Woods, because of great players influencing them. Will two of those kids make it on the PGA TOUR? If we're lucky, maybe one.
We've got five, six kids off our driving range playing major college golf. How many of those five or six will make it on the Tour, maybe one. But they are all good kids and they are working hard and they are staying out of trouble, and they are on the driving range, rather than hanging out at the mall or racing around in their cars. So I think it's good. It's very good, whether it's one-in-a-million or not.
Q. If you get back on the policy board, would you entertain a notion of creating a special exemption for situations like Annika and Michelle so that the discussion of taking somebody's spot away could be eliminated?
DAVIS LOVE III: There was that discussion, adding to the field. But, you know, then every sponsor will want -- well we get one more, it doesn't count that they will add to the field. We are trying to cut fields down. We are taking spots away from PGA of America pros. There used to be all kinds of PGA of America players in our events. Now they are down to maybe one a week. You start cutting all of these guys out and Q-School guys out and you go back and start adding players that are not members of our tour, that are not trying to win the Money List or keep their card; they are just out for a week here or a week there. It's a hard argument if you're 125th on the Money List, you know.
Q. How do you think the sponsorship will feel when they are ponying up the money, and it's only going to get bigger as time goes on, and they are saying, "We need that"?
DAVIS LOVE III: Well, you don't really need it. You had seven of the Top-10 money winners last year out here playing golf. I think if Michelle Wie wasn't here, there would have been still the same great golf.
So I don't think they need it. I think, like I said, it's a local thing. She played ten minutes from her house. It's great.
But if you did it every week, the players would not like if every 14-year-old that lived ten minutes from a Tour event started getting a spot. It's like the great line that somebody had at Doral, that they had a dream that Jack Nicklaus had 125 kids and they couldn't get in Doral. (Laughter). All Nicklaus' playing at Doral.
That's a guy's spot that's trying to make a living. Put a quarterback in here or there. If John Smoltz decides he wants to play in Atlanta because he's a heck of a golfer -- I mean, he can shoot good scores, he can shoot low 60s, he's one of the best amateur athlete players I've ever seen. So why don't we let him play. That takes a spot away from a PGA TOUR member.
It's a hard question. I'm glad she played. I thought it was exciting. But we don't need to be doing that every week just to -- I mean, TV ratings didn't go up on Thursday that much. I don't know whether they did on Friday. But it was exciting for the event, but I still think there was a lot of good golf out there that got missed because they were showing Michelle. There was a lot of good golf played. The networks pay a lot of money to cover it at the beginning of the year. They know who they are going to get. I don't think we need to add a specialty player here or there just to boost ratings.
Q. Did you notice a difference in the gallery yesterday when she was playing compared to today? Was there more youngsters yesterday?
DAVIS LOVE III: We crossed paths maybe once or twice, just that buzz, that buzz like when Tiger is in the field. There's more people in that one area of the golf course and everyone is running to get ahead and it's exciting. But I couldn't tell, though.
I saw a lot of kids following my group yesterday and today more than normal. I don't know if Michelle had a factor of kids skipping school yesterday or not, but there were a bunch of them today. I had a great group of young girls following me the last couple of days. One of them got my eagle ball on 9 and followed me all the way around to 18 to get it signed.
They have fans have always been good here. It's just hard to get down here. It seems like parking, if we had Tiger and Michelle in this event, I don't know what we would do. There wouldn't be any place to park.
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