CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

June 23, 2002

Davis Love III

TODD BUDNICK: All right, we welcome Davis Love III, a final round 67, runner up at this year's Canon Open. Davis, I guess let's just start with some comments on the day.

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, as we said yesterday, it was going to take a low score to win, and 3 under obviously wasn't what we were looking for, but it was exciting to be in the hunt all the way through the whole day basically, and I had a lot of good shots and I missed a couple putts, one short one at 14 that hurt and, you know, a couple makable putts, you know, not easy putts but makable putts I missed.

But all in all, I hit the ball even better than yesterday, and that makes me feel good, that I kept hitting it good all week. Actually, I got better every day, and I just got a little unfortunate. I hit a couple 9-irons right at it and made a bogey and at 17, had a tough birdie putt and, you know, that basically cost me. I just kept hitting some shots that went a little long or maybe a little short, but I did hit it right at it most all day so, I was pretty happy with it.

Q. What did you hit on 18?

DAVIS LOVE III: A 60-degree wedge.

Q. How long was the putt?

DAVIS LOVE III: Probably 25 feet.

Q. Davis, with the amphitheater that's 15, 16, and 17 and Phil there and Jonathan there, is it hard not to sneak a peek?

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, you kind of know what they're doing. You can hear it at 18. When he hit it over at 17, you can tell by the roars what happened, the disappointment or the excitement and, you know, you can see it too if you look over. I looked back on the 17th -- or 18th tee and those guys were both on the fairway on 17 so, yeah, it's fun to be able to see what's going on, see everybody that's in the tournament.

Q. So did you know Phil was going for par at 17?

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah. I knew I had missed the fairway and the green.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through your birdies and bogeys real quick, start with the one at No. 1.

DAVIS LOVE III: 1st hole, driver and an 8-iron to about 10 feet.

4, drove it right behind the tree, chipped out to about 30 yards behind the green and pitched up about 20 feet behind the hole and missed it, made a bogey. That was really my only drive that cost me all day.

And 8, hit a 5-iron and almost went in the hole, about a foot from the hole right off the flag stick?

And 10 was a 3-wood off the tee and an 8-iron to about 15 feet.

And then 11, had a beautiful 9-iron that just sailed on me and landed on the back of the green and went down by the TV tower and didn't get up and down, had a 20-footer I guess from the fringe for par.

And then came back on the next hole, driver, pitching wedge to about 12 feet and made that.

And 15, 3-wood just in front of the green and chipped it with a pitching wedge, just ran it through the swale up there about 2 feet.

TODD BUDNICK: Do we have any other questions?

Q. Davis, how hard is it to concentrate on your game when you hear a roar a hole away or you know something is going on at the hole ahead?

DAVIS LOVE III: It keeps you focused. When you've done it enough like Phil or Scott or myself, all right, Phil just made a birdie, and all you can do is get back in your routine and hit a good drive, putt, and so for me it kept me focused in the game and excited.

You know, it can be nerve-wracking if the guy is getting way ahead and you keep hearing a bunch of roars, but it was one of those days where, you know, any one of three or four guys could win if they just did the right thing at the right time, and as usual, Phil did it in dramatic style. As I said, you don't expect him to birdie 17, but you do expect him to birdie 18. I just wish I had hit it better there.

Q. (Inaudible)?

DAVIS LOVE III: No. After hitting it long a few times, and you just can't hit it long there and have a putt at it, I didn't quite hit it hard enough, but it was probably a club that if I hit as hard as I could, I could hit it past the hole. And I needed to hit it full, and I didn't hit it quite full. You know, I had a 9-iron that went -- I had about 159, and it went about 170 at 17, and I was a little bit leery of hitting it so far again and I didn't quite smash it up there like I should have.

You know, that's what Phil did. He hit it, and it went up there and ran back. That's what I needed to do too.

Q. (Inaudible)?

DAVIS LOVE III: No. I mean, like they just said on TV, he's won 21 times and he's, you know, still a young guy and, you know, he wins because of the way he plays. You know, you're not going to win out here laying up. I like the way he plays. And I saw him out there at 15 -- not 15 -- 13, laying up or playing out to the right, and I said, "Well, that's not Phil," and he almost chipped it in, you know, so he knows when to pick his spots and when it's smart.

And he made me be a little bit more aggressive because I was in a position where I had a perfect club to be aggressive, and I thought, "If Phil were right here, what would he do?" And I went for it. I asked my caddie, "What do you think Phil hit?" He said, "He hit a hard 7," so I hit a hard 7.

I think you've got to play aggressive if you want to win. You know, he wasn't trying to hit it up there 20 feet and 2-putt and see if anybody else made a bogey on 18. He was trying to dunk it just in base somebody did birdie 18.

Q. Davis, you're obviously disappointed in not winning, but you said you hit the ball better than you did yesterday. How encouraged are you by this week?

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I'm making improvements. Obviously, at the beginning of the year, I wasn't playing up to my standards, and obviously, I wish I would have played more like this last week, been in more fairways. But we're pointing towards Muirfield now, and this just gives me confidence for Chicago and that I'm ready to play the next Major. I would have liked to have won here because it's the last Canon tournament. That would have been an exciting twist. But I'm pretty happy with the state of my game.

TODD BUDNICK: Okay. Thank you very much, Davis.

DAVIS LOVE III: All right. Thank you.

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