GTE BYRON NELSON GOLF CLASSIC

May 13, 2000

Davis Love III

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, the course played different with the wind from another direction. And the greens were dried out a little more than the first two days. So, I'd say, you know, I it played fairly hard. I know there were a few good scores, but it played pretty tough. And I drove the ball real well, and I thought that was going to be a key today and it just didn't work out for me. I drove it great and didn't hit the ball close to the hole, except for maybe once or twice. You know, I scrambled around pretty good in the middle of the round when I was hitting the ball the wrong distance and kind of hung in there. You know, if I had made a couple -- you know, a couple balls go close to the hole in the beginning or in the middle of the round, rather than go over the greens or short of the greens, I could have had a pretty good day. John played real well and hit the ball close and made putts. And I didn't, and that was the difference.

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah. You start second-guessing. I came up short at 13 -- or at 14, the par 3, and -- no, 13, the par 3. And then 14, I'm figuring I've got to kill it to get it there. And I took a club that I -- I actually said to my caddie, I said, "Well, at least I can't knock this over the green." Well, that was good thinking -- if flew over the green. And the very next hole it was downwind again, and I'm thinking if I just tap this pitching wedge it will be perfect and it was way too much. And I get to 18 and I'm so tentative; downwind, I leave a sand wedge short 50 feet. So I did lose that confidence I think of just hopping up there and hitting knowing that it was going to go the right distance every time because I got surprised. If I hit a shot it went solid and came up wrong, that's one thing, but 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 were all -- you know, just came up the wrong distance. And that many of them in a row, I get a little jumpy. I didn't hit a good shot into 16. I could have knocked it on there pretty easy.

DAVIS LOVE III: I hit a six. I was thinking it's a 5-iron; I'll hit a six because it's been going so far. And I chickened out thinking if I hit it too far, you're dead, like John, hit it too far. I kind of -- I've never really played it blowing hard that direction, and it was kind of hard to judge. But John did a good job of it. I'm sure some other guys did. You needed a lot of chances out there today, because the greens were pretty firm and it was hard to make putts. But I made some good saves. You know, I hit it in the wrong place on a couple holes and got up-and-down. I chipped well and I putted fairly well, except for, really, the 1st hole and the 17th hole. I felt like I putted pretty good all day.

DAVIS LOVE III: Drives? No, I don't know how far they were. But you're right, they were pretty long. But I hit it like that all day, or hit it basically in the right place on just about every hole. You know, I was 30 or 40 feet or I was, you know, right at it over the green or right at it short. And that was the difference.

DAVIS LOVE III: I figured I was going to have to run it up over that hill, and I ran over there to see, but that grass isn't long enough. It would have not have rolled all the way down into the water. I was jumpy. If I got lucky, stayed on the green, if not I had an easy chip coming back. That could have gone -- I could have hit somebody and gone in the hazard or I could have done -- I could have hit somebody and stayed right up on top of the hill.

DAVIS LOVE III: An 8-iron.

DAVIS LOVE III: An 8-iron, yeah.

DAVIS LOVE III: I had almost -- I had 170, I believe. And it flew 180, at least. David on the next hole said, "Great drive," I said, "Yeah, it went almost as far as my 8-iron -- on 16." He said, "What are you going to hit in, 8-iron?" It was incredible how far how far the ball was going.

DAVIS LOVE III: I this think it does. Definitely, Phil and Jesper got right where they wanted to be. They are three and four back, and that's well within reach, and I think, obviously, John did what he wanted to do, catch up. So I think it will be a good race tomorrow.

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, the last couple years, I've had a lot of them.

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah. You know, I'm not saying I got bad breaks, but I hit it just as good. I just didn't pull the right club three or four times. I drove it better, you know. I missed a couple fairways, two or three the first day, and maybe two yesterday, and I didn't miss any today. So I hit the ball just as good. I don't feel like I hit any weak shots or I let a -- I get a couple go with the wind a couple times and misjudged it. I really hit the ball just as good, just didn't hit it close enough. You know, I had a 4-iron into 7 and didn't take advantage of it; made par. And of course, the 3-putt, and if I make that little one on 17, you know, there's three right there pretty easy that got away from me.

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, six or seven feet.

DAVIS LOVE III: Not too often. Usually it will just kind of die. It will blow one way and die out, but usually not do a complete switch.

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, you know, I haven't played here enough to see it blow that direction. Now, I'm sure there are some guys that have seen it blow that way, but I've never really -- I've never really thought about hitting an 8-iron on 17, you know, especially after a 3-iron two days ago.

DAVIS LOVE III: I think I'm disappointed, obviously, with the way that I scored, but if I come back out and drive it like that tomorrow and get something going, yeah. I certainly don't think I've lost any confidence. You know, I made -- you know, four or five really hard putts, and you know I did miss a couple, but overall, you know I scrambled pretty good. I certainly didn't want to shoot 1-over, but I haven't -- I don't feel like I've got to go figure out what's going on.

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, that's Adam Petty, I got to spend a little time with Kyle and his dad a few years ago. Got to be around him just a little bit. Yeah, it's always tough in anything, like Payne Stewart or anybody that passes away, but something like that kind of hits you kind of hard. So I know they had a Web site and stuff for condolences, but I figured I if I ever wanted to get in touch with them, that would be a good way to do it. I had never met Adam. I met -- yeah, there's maybe two -- he has two other kids. But anyway, I met the littler ones. Yeah, I got to know Kyle a little bit when I was hanging around racing a little bit a few years ago. But, you know, you meet Richard Petty one time or he remembers you every other time you see him, he would come out to the Pro-Am in Charlotte and watch, and he came over one time when we were at Charlotte driving. He came over just to see what we were doing. He takes an interest in people and in things, and he came over and told us we ought to stick to playing golf because we weren't very good drivers. He is the king. He's one of the nicest people in in sports. I enjoyed getting to meet him and getting to meet Kyle and that just -- that makes it harder. You can see -- I watched the start of the race today in the locker room, and you could just see that they lost part of their family. It's like out here, it brought back a lot of memories of Payne because it was part of a big family.

DAVIS LOVE III: That's what I was thinking last night. I'm out here grinding playing golf. I might shoot 80 tomorrow, but I'm not going to get hurt. I'm not taking my life in my hand. You know, you think about Chelsea and Aaron still miss their dad and how lucky I am to have what I have, and you don't worry quite as much about it. You know, that doesn't mean I don't want to win, but it shows you the -- there's other things going on in the world other than what you're doing. Birdie, bogeys -- 1st hole, driver and sand wedge, 30 feet and hit it about five feet by and missed that. 2, 5-iron about 20 feet and feet and made it. I conveniently forgot about that one. That was a nice putt and shot. 5, the par 3, hit it short of the green on the bank. Pitched up about six feet and missed it. 14, 3-iron off the tee, 8-iron way over the green. Hit it back across the green and pitched up about five feet and made that. And 16, a driver, 6-iron in the right bunker, pin-high and blasted out about a foot. And a lot of good saves in the middle.

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