THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY MERCEDES-BENZ AND MICHELOB

November 2, 1997

Davis Love III

DAVIS LOVE: Yeah. It was a good week. For some reason, I didn't play the back nine as good as the front this week. But, you know, overall, it was a pretty good tournament. I would have liked to have finished a little better, obviously. But it was nice to have a chance. Nice to at least make Tiger a little nervous there with nine holes to go.

DAVIS LOVE: Yeah. I didn't hit a very good drive there. I saw David make the putt for eagle. I knew I needed to get a birdie. I didn't have too bad a lie. But there and 18, some of those ones where you expect to hit a flyer, and they just don't go. Didn't hit a very good pitch. I never pitched very good at all off these tight fairways this week, so that was disappointing. Parred that hole, bogeyed the next. On the front, I 3-putted 4, then parred 5. That's really where I lost it. I didn't beat up the par 5s. I had an eagle putt at 9 and didn't make it. A little disappointing around the par 5s today. That was really the difference. You know, bogeying 18 cost me a lot of money. But, you know, missing the fairway there, not having a chance really to make a birdie to tie was disappointing because I did hit a lot of fairways this week. It seemed like right there at the end, I missed a couple that cost me.

DAVIS LOVE: Yeah. I've been hitting it good with the driver, but I hadn't been hitting the irons that good. Spent a little time on the range last night when the wind calmed down. Got to feeling pretty good with the irons. Started off with two real good iron shots -- three real good iron shots, really. Hit a great one at 4 right over the flag past the hole, and then 3-putted. But I came out knowing that somebody was going to do it, somebody had to get ahead. I played the front nine pretty much the way I needed to, you know, 3-under par, and got off to a good start. And then, you know, disappointing, drove it in the fairway at 10 and 11, and hit good, solid shots, but they didn't get close, didn't make birdies. Hit a good one at 12 past the hole. So I hit the ball pretty good until 13 and 14 tee shots. You know, that's what's going to happen on this golf course. You miss the fairways, you're going to get bad lies, it's going to be tough to get close to the hole. I didn't have much chance of hitting the green at 14 from that left semi. If I could get it over the lake, it's going over the green. So I put myself in a scrambling position. I needed to be down the middle, and getting some eagle and birdie putts like David was.

DAVIS LOVE: I was hoping for a flyer. You know, if I'd have hit more club, all I would have done was hit it in the same place unless I got a flyer, then it would have gone in the bleachers. So I was hoping for a 9-iron flyer. Hit it kind of high on the club, and it didn't do it. So same thing happened to me at 13. I was hoping for a big flyer, and it was just too bad a lie to get it to come out. You know, you want to drive it on the fairway in the last hole, be able to hit an iron shot in there close. I didn't do it. Missed a couple fairways on the back when it counted.

DAVIS LOVE: Well, it's disappointing, you know. If I had a chance at Player of the Year, you know, that's disappointing. Money title, I mean, it's getting harder and here. You've got to win the exact tournament, the right tournaments, you know, to get the big purses. Obviously I hit a good one at the PGA, and this week, you know, can you move up so many spots. It's getting a little bit harder, you can win four or five times, one guy win three times and be way ahead of you. Southern Open I played great. If I would have played that good somewhere else, you know, I would have won twice as much. Would have been a lot easier. You know, it was a good year. I had a lot of chances. You know, Tiger, come U.S. Open time, nobody really had a chance at Player of the Year other than him. So it was nice to at least get myself in the running. He played so well all year long that he deserved it. And the money title, you know, I guess -- I assume I finished second. I don't know, Justin.

DAVIS LOVE: I've been close before. Second's better than third. First has a different ring to it.

DAVIS LOVE: Yeah. I was pretty nervous all day. I did a pretty good job of focusing on what I was doing. You know, I think I putted real well, except for the putt at 18. I hit a lot of really good putts. I think I was very, very close to the way I played at the last round of the PGA. But, you know, just the golf course today played pretty hard. The greens were very tricky. If I'd have just hit, like I said, two more fairways, hit the fairway at 13 and 14, it's a whole different ball game. I got an iron in and a wedge in at 14, so.... Can't complain. But I wish I hit a few more fairways. The double at 11 yesterday, that really stopped the great round, too. Just a few fairways missed. You know, David, he missed the fairway at 17, and got away with it. That was really the difference. You know, he makes bogey there and I'm in the middle of the fairway, might have been a whole different tournament. But it was a great contest. I mean, it was great to have the chance. And that's what I really wanted. It's nice to get really nervous one more time at the end of the year. That will help me for next year.

DAVIS LOVE: I never really thought of that. I actually read, you know, in a magazine yesterday afternoon that that might have helped Andrew Magee. But I never really thought of it for me. You know, The Players, would have been nice to make that putt and been a couple hundred thousand closer. Instead, I get disqualified. But, you know, after the start I had through the year with getting sick, missing a few tournaments, then having that happen to me at TPC when I started playing good, I feel real good that I've gotten this far.

DAVIS LOVE: Well, I knew when he made that eagle that it was going to take at least 12 under. I didn't think he was going to do anything worse than play the last few holes at even par. That's exactly what he did. I felt like the way he was playing, he was going to be the guy to beat today. And then it proved out after 9, he was the guy to beat. You know, he just hung in there very, very well. But David has been close a lot of times. It's not like he just all of a sudden won twice and he doesn't have any experience at it. He's been through a lot of Sundays that he's had chances to win. It's just coming back to him now. He's been there. You know, I don't know how many times he's finished second, but he's been there six or eight times, you know, with a chance to win and not won. So I look at him a little differently. You know, that up-and-down he made at 17 was just all world. My brother, Mark, when he made the putt, he said, "This guy's really showing me something." He's played great for the last month. He's showed that -- you know, a lot of people talked about he couldn't finish. He's proven that the last month, that he can, and he will be able to for a long time.

DAVIS LOVE: Yes. I have more confidence in my game, more confidence in my swing, and my putting under pressure has gotten better. I feel like I can make all of them. You know, I've definitely improved. You can always get better. My golf swing can definitely get better. It wasn't really sharp this week, not as good as it was at the PGA. You can always get a little bit better, but I'm feeling real good about it now.

DAVIS LOVE: Grand Slam, then World Cup, then the Million Dollar Challenge, whatever they call it, Sun City.

DAVIS LOVE: I think there's a trend that way. There's a lot of great players that have come out of college in the last five or six years. You know, it's not any real unexpected guys, I don't think. You look down the list of guys that are going to play well. You know, pretty much held to form that they've all played very well the last couple years, stepped up into where everybody expected them to. It's going to be harder on the middle-aged guys, like me, to keep up.

DAVIS LOVE: Driver and a 6-iron on 1 -- excuse me, 5-iron on 1, to about eight feet. Made that. Driver and a 6-iron on 2 to about ten feet. Made that. 4, I hit a 5-iron 40 feet behind the hole, knocked it about four feet by, missed it coming back. 6, 3-wood off the tee, a sand wedge to about 20 feet, and made that for birdie. And 9, a driver -- excuse me, 3-wood, 3-iron to about 25 feet, 2-putted. 14, 1-iron in the left first cut, pitching wedge through the green, had to pitch over the bunker, pitched it by about 16 or 18 feet, missed that. Made a nice save at 17 -- at 16. Made a nice 6-footer at 17 after gunning it behind. Then 18, hooked it off the tee, 9-iron out of the rough, pitched it ten feet, missed it.

DAVIS LOVE: Yeah, about 20.

DAVIS LOVE: All right.