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WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6, 2011

Davis Love III

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Q. When you come here, any particular vibe, any particular expectation? You've played here so long.
DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I've played it, I guess, every year, but this week I'm a little more prepared than I've been. I got sick a couple times and wasn't really ready for a couple of the last few starts, so it's nice to have practiced and be ready to play and be ready to go. Yeah, I always enjoy playing here. Everybody likes playing here. Good course, and it's in good condition.

Q. You say 18 got you both days?
DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, I hit it in the water off the tee yesterday and luckily chipped in for par, and today I hit it right down the middle and then pulled a 6-iron into the water. So I'm not doing too good on the creek. And then I pulled a tee shot at 9 yesterday and got it in the rough and made bogey there.
I saw how it's done. Billy is playing really well. If you make a mistake, you're going to pay for it. He's putting well. If you putt well, you score well. We both hit it well enough to shoot good scores most of the time. He's just got a good rhythm. I've played a fair amount with him, and it just looks like he's real loose, has a lot of freedom in his swing, hitting it good. He's comfortable here, too. He likes it here.
But I don't think I've really ever seen him -- he's got a lot of balance in his swing right now, which is nice.

Q. When you look at the weekend, what kind of thoughts -- do you think about what could be, or way too early for that?
DAVIS LOVE III: I think it's too early for that. Obviously with those guys heating it up, I'm going to have to play well to catch up. But I'm hitting it well enough. I'm excited about that. I missed three cuts in a row, like I said, not really being prepared, so I'm just happy to be on the other side of that, to be looking at the leaderboard rather than driving home.

Q. Can we get thoughts on Seve? There's a report going around that he passed about an hour ago.
DAVIS LOVE III: I know he struggled for a long time. He was an icon in the game and somebody that I looked up to. I copied his swing. Everybody wanted to be as exciting and fun and flashy as Seve. Maybe hit a few more fairways, but everybody wanted that style. They wanted to be aggressive and able to play like that. He was definitely somebody that I grew up idolizing. Great to get to play against him some.
It makes you realize that no matter how great a player you are, your time will come eventually. He enjoyed his life, and it's just a sad day, obviously.

Q. Did you play a Ryder Cup against him and Ollie?
DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, my first three matches were against those two guys. We were supposed to play all four, and then when we got the draw for Saturday morning, Watson said, okay, you guys are sitting out. We took those guys three times in a row and didn't take a break. It was tough, we beat them the first match and then they beat us the next two. It was an exciting way to start the Ryder Cup, to start off against Seve. It was pretty incredible. He was always very good to me, and I've been blessed in my career because I've had so many guys like that because of my dad, because of meeting them when I was a little kid.
He was so good to me. I played practice rounds with him and spent a lot of time trying to hang around him, like anybody. But I was lucky, when I tried to hang around, he would let me. He was very nice to me.

Q. How young were you when you first ran across him? Were you already out here?
DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, I guess maybe '85, right before I came out I had met him.

Q. Was the charisma what everybody said it was? He sort of had an aura, an Arnold Palmer quality?
DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, he definitely had that. There was very few guys that had that. Jack was intimidating. Arnie had that different kind of feel to him, and Norman had that a little bit. He was a different kind of player and a different kind of person. But he was very genuine, very nice, always had a smile. Again, I think he really enjoyed his life. He was always very happy it seemed like.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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