THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY

October 27, 1999

Davis Love III

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I know Lee helped me get out of a little small release just earlier in the week, just because I felt like that given my publicized family incident, similar to the Stewart family, that there would be a lot of questions, and people want to make comparisons and understand how that feels. It is very, very hard. I can't say how Tracey Stewart feels or Aaron or Chelsea. Everybody handles things differently, but I think our whole family and anybody that has lost a loved one or relative or a friend in something like, any type of accident, knows a little bit how they are feeling. But I think my main memory and my main concern is of the children. I lost a father, and I also lost one of my best friends and another very close friend in the same accident. So I know that not only is Tracey dealing with her own loss, but also the loss of friends. It is very, very difficult to understand all those emotions. So I think the comparisons are not fair. I mean, Payne Stewart was a leader on the TOUR, a leader to the players, and a great example of a father. And I think that is the biggest thing that that I am going to watch out for over the next few years is how we as a Tour, and us as Payne Stewart's friends, can help those children remember their father well and get through what is a very tough time. Everybody says children are very resilient. I have got five young friends at home that they have dealt very well with their father's death in a similar situation, but they still miss him and they still missed out. And hopefully we can help Aaron and Chelsea understand eventually the memories of their father will be fun ,and he will still live on, definitely in golf, but he will live on as a great father. I think that is where the hardest thing, for me to come to deal with. The golf part of it is important to the Golf World, but for us as friends, it comes first to Tracey and the children.

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, the golf memories are definitely -- there is a lot of them there. But he played a lot of great golf, obviously, and people have been discussing that all week. But, you know, I think his passion as a leader on that Ryder Cup team and the part that he played as a leader, like Hal Sutton and a couple of other guys that really brought that team together. I think is the biggest memory of how -- how much closer -- you know, I almost even felt like Payne and Tracey were preparing themselves for Captaincy and were becoming a little more -- not outspoken; Payne was always outspoken, but becoming more of a leader figure, I think, in that Ryder Cup than he has in the past. He tried to do that before, months before the Ryder Cup and backfired on him a little bit. But I know that the things he was trying to do or trying to position himself as a leader; that is hard to do. I know I tried a couple of different times to try to force yourself into that role; sometimes it just doesn't work. But I know that they were looking forward to Captaincy. I will remember the Ryder Cup probably most vividly. The U.S. Open he played great, but I wasn't really a part of that. I know Phil, guys that played with him that week and the guys that got beat by him that week will always treasure those memories. But I think Ryder Cup, to me, there is a lot of things that happened. I played a match with him; was mystified why Ben Crenshaw would ever pair me with Payne Stewart. And got out there after about four, five holes and I said, "Now I know why he paired me with Payne Stewart. You want to teach me a lesson on how to take my excitement and my passion and my nervousness and my desire to win and putt it into my game." And I actually thanked Payne twice that day and Sunday afternoon for what he taught me during that match. I said, "I am sorry we didn't win that match," but I said, "I learned a lot. It is going to help me in the future." It did. It helped me on Saturday. It helped me on Sunday. I will remember the Ryder Cup. We all will remember the Ryder Cup for a lot of reasons but now I think it will be even more special. I can't really -- Lee will tell you I really wasn't that committed to coming here until I talked last night to Justin. He said, "Once you get here, everybody is kind of together. It feels better when you get here." I was sitting at home thinking, "It doesn't seem right to play golf." Doesn't seem right to do anything other than to try to do something for the Stewarts. But at the same time, I am sitting at home saying, "I am not doing anybody good at home watching the Braves game." So I talked to Ben after I talked to Justin. When he told me he was driving down to talk with some of the guys on the team, that is no offense to the other players, but you know, Ben said, "Look, I want to come be with some of guys talk to them about this, and I am going to come and walk a practice round." I said, "Well, I will see you in the morning then," because that really was the right thing to do, I think, for all of us. I think really some people were questioning, should we play? I questioned should we play golf this week. But I think after being here for a day, the best thing for the TOUR, to show support is what we are going to do on Friday. And the fact that if we were a fractioned off into our own homes, sure, we are with our families, but we are not a part of the TOUR family. I think being here today, tomorrow, over the weekend, and being able to -- I played with three of my Ryder Cup team members today and, you know, we talked about it. We were together. That is part of it. Tracey is covered up with people right now and, in November and December and January and the years going forward, that is when we need to be able to spend time with her. I think right now this is the best place for us. And Tim was very smart. I was pushing him not to play today or tomorrow or -- I said, "Maybe we can play on the weekend." But they were very smart because we are going to show support out here better than we would all fractioned off at home.

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I think the guys are -- it is good for them to get out and get back to work and deal -- talk about, you know, if you don't get out and -- I know I found when I was dreading coming back on TOUR because everybody is going to have to say: We are sorry and everybody was going to have to talk about it. It is good for us to come out and run into guys and hug the guys that want to get hugged and cry with the guys that want to cry. Go ahead and get your grieving process started. I think that is the important thing. The girls are better. They are not ashamed to get together and cry and talk about it, and it is good for us to get out here in our atmosphere where we are more comfortable doing that. It is hard to pick up the phone and talk to Justin in Dallas an Freddie in California and Mark O'Meara in Florida and talk about this. So it is good for us to be together Friday. I am going to go tomorrow night, stay with the O'Mearas, and get a little closer to it. But I think it is good for us all to get together and this week, next week. It will be hard to just shut everything down for the year, not being willing to and be able to talk about it. Talk to Phil about the mechanics of it and everybody has to say whatever it is that makes them feel better. But it certainly is part of the process, and it is good for us to be together and do it.

DAVIS LOVE III: Justin and Phil and David Duval. David and I just played the back. We are going to play the front in a little while.

DAVIS LOVE III: We played a little nine-hole match and there was a lot of discussion about typical things, and then there was a lot of discussion about the situation at hand. And I think, you know, we got some of that out of the way. And I ran into Tom Lehman on the putting green, and there is a lot of people who you are going to have to sit down and talk to about this and make plans for the future for what we want to do as friends. And everybody has got an idea how this golf tournament should go. Some guys think it should be played in knickers; some guys say we should do this with the money. A whole lot of things. I think the main thing is we need to be together and here and in Mississippi and on the SENIOR TOUR; being together is better than being apart. I think that is what we are all coming to is, hey, if we are all here together, we can do the right thing. And that was our discussion today as to, what is the right thing and what can we do and how do we -- so many people like Melanie, when I walked in this room, she asked me how I was doing. Well, we need to all get out here and see how each other is doing and realize that we are not the most -- how we are dealing with it is not important. It is what we can do to make things right for the families as much as we can and for everybody to have their input. Some guys don't -- some guys don't realize that there is a lot of focus on Payne Stewart's family, but there is also, and I have a better understanding of this than a lot of people, there is five other families involved. Somebody was flying that airplane that had kids, and somebody hopped on that plane at the last minute that had little children. And that sometimes gets lost because one person was more famous than the other. But there is a lot of stuff we can do as players and as friends of all the families to help out down the road and make sure that we can at least get something more positive going than what is going on right now.

DAVIS LOVE III: I don't know. There is some people, and I am one of them, that don't do well in situations like that; that try to avoid them. I know I do. Ever since my dad passed away, I have had a tough time going to funerals or services. I think guys are going to have to decide that. I know my biggest issue is, you know, once I get to Orlando and see Tracey and those kids, am I going to want to come back here? I don't know. I think that some of guys may feel that way. I know that I was pleased when Ben Crenshaw taught me how to go to Harvey Penick's funeral because I don't think that I could have even gone back and played. I don't know how they did it. Still a miracle to me that Ben even teed it up that week much less win the golf tournament. If you want to know divine intervention, I played with him the week before. Somebody else helped him a lot that week and inspired him to play well, and hopefully, we will all get that inspiration and come back and be ready to play. But I think it is going to be very, very difficult to go. I don't think -- there might be some guys that are smart not to go, you know. I think going with all those people may be lost, but going and spending some time with the family in November and December like I said before when things start -- everybody starts to get back to normal might be even more important. So I am not going to -- if somebody comes to me says: Davis, just can't do it. I am going to say, "Well, then don't do it." I know I would understand-- I feel I was compelled to sit at home and wait for the funeral. That was what I thought was the right thing to do, and wait until it was a good time to go see Tracey, whether it was today or tomorrow; or that felt like the right thing for me to do, and you just got to do what feels right. I would be surprised if everybody did go.

DAVIS LOVE III: I don't know.

DAVIS LOVE III: I know in talking to a couple of people real close to Tracey that that immediately is one of her shocks and concerns is, you know, will his memory live on. They can't avoid that. Payne Stewart's memory will live on as a golfer and as a father, and now a legend that was taken too early. And I think if anything, people are going to realize more what he did and his game and life and career is going to carry on longer than maybe it would have if he got hurt and couldn't play anymore. I think this definitely will make him stand out. We don't have to do anything other than remember him ourselves. Obviously, dedicating this tournament to him, you don't even have to say it. This event is going to have some weird things going on this week. It is not going to feel right. It doesn't feel right to be out grinding on the range; doesn't feel right to, you know, catch yourself laughing in the fairway. And you say, no, just doesn't feel right. But I don't think we have to do much. Obviously, down the road, there will be some things that happen. You know, obviously a lot of money is going to be generated in charity through foundations. And obviously, the TOUR is going to do things down the road, I don't know what, name awards after him, you know, whatever it is. But that is -- I don't think that is a problem at all. I think Tim did a very good job expressing that to the family, that no matter what happens, his memory will live on as one of the great players and great people. I keep coming back to -- I want to stress, a great father, is how I will always remember him.

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I think it is with major winners. You have heard the old thing from guys like Greg Norman, welcome to the club when somebody wins one. I think you do feel a little bit of a closer bond with the guys that have won that, partly because you have accomplished a similar goal in your career and a step up the ladder. But part of it because you end up being together for more things like past champion dinners or special events for winners of tournaments and major tournaments, and you are included in a different group. Much like our bond on the Ryder Cup Team, I think major championship winners, somehow get thrown together a little bit more. And you are right. You know, I had a copy made of the PGA, the Wannamaker Trophy. Now it is going to be that much more special to me. But yeah, I think there is a little bit closer bond. I think we will be dealing with questions like that all the way up to the U.S. Open. You know, so many things rush through your mind of what the U.S. Open is going to be like next year. We have got a long golf, as a sport and as a fraternity; we have got a long way ahead of us dealing with this. There is a lot of things that are going to come up that are going to remind us and back to the question before, a lot of things are going to remind us of Payne Stewart for a long, long time.

DAVIS LOVE III: To be honest with you, I think there will be guys that won't go. The thing -- I was at Nashville doing a golf course there, and I landed, got a phone call, and my mom was concerned that we had arrived safely. My first reaction was to turn around and come home. I felt like the right place to be was at home with my kids. A gentleman up there gave me a devotional book with a nice inscription in it, and he said, "You know what you need to do, you need to go home and tell you your kids that this doesn't happen everyday." That was probably from a person that I don't know - one of the greatest pieces of advice that I ever had because I went home and I talked to my kids a little bit about it. But you don't want to scare them, but the questions that came up over Monday night and Tuesday, and, you know, it was very important for me to be home with my kids. I didn't want -- to be honest with you, if I hadn't talked to Justin last night and Ben last night, I wouldn't be sitting here. I probably wouldn't have played. Next week, you know, I think after Friday, we reevaluate how we feel. And you know, friends of mine at home said, "How are you going to get on an airplane on Friday, doesn't that scare you?" I have been dealing with that for over ten years. Sure, you think about it every time you get on an airplane, but I like Tiger Wood's line, something about can't ride a bike 50 miles to work just because you were in a car accident. It is a part of our lives, and things happen and I basically just told my kids, hey, you know, machines -- we put a lot of faith in machines, and they break sometimes. And you know, you can't live your life scared. And you know, when your time to go is there, sometimes it is not what we choose, but in the end, somehow it turns out for the best. Right now, it is hard for us to see that. But hopefully, eventually, we will.

DAVIS LOVE III: I am in a fractional ownership group, Executive Jet Hawker 1000 right now.

DAVIS LOVE III: I don't think it really has a priority, except that I think we need to realize and that is what I was trying to get to in the beginning, but I didn't do a very good job. But I think we have to play. I have come to the conclusion today that we have to play tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. We have to be together and play to show our support. If we were all over the place -- I couldn't have done the interview on the 17th tee with Curtis Strange. I couldn't talk to Jennifer. I couldn't talk to you all. I couldn't -- you couldn't get your message out. I sat at home and watched the Golf Channel - and not because Jennifer is sitting here - do a wonderful job. I saw quotes from Tiger Woods; Arnold Palmer's press release, if we don't all get together and play, that probably doesn't happen as well. You catch the guys in Orlando at the Golf Channel, but you don't get Tiger Woods and David Duval and Phil Mickelson, all these guys together so they -- everybody tells you how we feel. So I think it is very important that we are here. And that when a guy plays well and comes in tomorrow, somebody will shoot a good score, and somebody will come in and his name will be the first thing that comes up. And his memory is going to have to live on through golf. So we need to keep playing. We don't want to say life goes on or the TOUR goes on, but this is our family. And Justin made a great point to me to get me here, you know, a lot of guys once they got here realized we need to be here and be together. I know when I go home, I miss my family out here. I am home with my kids, because they have to go to school, but you know, I have some very, very good friends at home but I have an awful lot of good friends out here that I wouldn't see if we didn't come out and play. These couple of events and then the start of next year is going to be an important time for us as a Tour to talk about this and I am sure they are dealing with the same thing in Mississippi and the same thing on the SENIOR TOUR. There is a lot of guys out there -- the point was made that, hey, Payne's friends just aren't at THE TOUR Championship. They are on every Tour, they are all around the world and I think it is real important that the European Tour having their service, I think all that is. We can shed a lot of light on Payne Stewart this week by playing that we couldn't if we didn't.

DAVIS LOVE III: Yeah, of all the top players that I have played with I have seen the full range. I have always had a lot a great respect for Payne and enjoyed being around him. But I put him in that category of guys that-- we had differing opinions on things and different ways of living our lives at certain times and we argued. Payne and I had some of the most heated arguments that I have ever had on the TOUR because he is a passionate guy and believed in what he -- I know that over the last couple of years, you know, that is the thing that I wish I had known Payne Stewart better than I did. Over the last couple of years, since the 93 Ryder Cup really and then over the last couple of years gotten to know him better but Payne was always a fun-loving guy. He stayed - one thing - consistent. He was always having fun and was always the outgoing guy. He did have some tough health problems and physical problems and, you know, he had some rough times emotionally, but he always seemed to be the guy that was going to bounce back and he was always a fun guy to be around. But I think he did over the last -- if you say, grow up or change or get some peace in his life or some faith, that was probably the only thing Payne was ever not boastful of or proud was that he did have a great change in his life and that he -- I didn't know until the other day that he donated a lot of money to his church. There was a lot of showboat in Payne Stewart but there wasn't for things charity-wise or this change in his life. I noticed the bracelet. I always noticed it because I think it shows a lot of, you know, you got to respect the guy that comes out and puts his beliefs forward like that, like a Tom Lehman. For some reason that had more of an impact on me with Payne. You know Tom Lehman, you know Paul Azinger and you have talked to them about things like that before, but you just don't see Payne Stewart. I think that had a better influence on me and bigger, I was more surprised and pleased to see that from Payne than anybody. So yeah, I think definitely changed. You never know why things happen. He definitely -- this is definitely going to have an influence on people and they realize, hey, this guy finally had peace with himself and peace in his faith and his beliefs, so, it is never a good time, but he was at least happy with himself and his life and his family at the time that he was taken.

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