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FUNAI CLASSIC AT THE WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT

October 21, 2006

Davis Love III

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA: Round Three

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Davis Love III, thank you for joining us after the third round of the Funai Classic. 8 under 64, one shot off the lead with quite a few players yet to finish their rounds. But you have to be happy with how you've played so far this week.

DAVIS LOVE III: Yes. I felt I've played better every day. Even though I was only 3 under yesterday on the harder course, I felt like I played better than that. I made a double bogey, a silly double bogey and a bogey. Those were disappointing. But I played well each day and obviously today got it going, had a couple of good streaks, a couple of good birdie streaks. And that's what you've got to do, make a bunch of birdies when you're that far behind and when everybody else is doing it. It was a good day, and obviously my low round in a while.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: After the first round, Justin shot 60. You've shot 60 in a tournament and not won before, so obviously you knew the tournament wasn't over. What was your mindset going into the last couple of days after a pretty big deficit after the first day?

DAVIS LOVE III: He beat me pretty good the first day. I was 5 under over there and I was way behind. But you've got to play and I think that's what I've learned, you have to be patient, patient with yourself and not force things.

You figure, if you get to 20 under with a few holes to go, you'll probably have a chance. And it doesn't matter how you get there, 12 one day or 8 one day or 6 every day. So you've just got to be patient and hang in there. I think I did that today. I had a couple of not bad patches, but par patches and came back from that pretty good.

Q. If a couple of weeks ago you had some positive mojo going, do you think you would be here right now, honestly?

DAVIS LOVE III: Yes, I planned on playing here or Tampa, but I was obviously planning on playing the American Express. And the American Express was how I was going to get in the TOUR Championship. That was the plan, Because I played good in the World Golf Championship in Akron and figured I would rest up a little bit and go to the AmEx. And obviously a little bit of money at the bottom and a lot at the top, and I figure a good week there and I would be cruising. I could play one of the two Floridas and I would be in The TOUR Championship.

I, unfortunately, couldn't go to the AmEx and came right back with a win at Greensboro. That was great. Obviously it let me relax. And I haven't been feeling as good this week as I did at Greensboro, so I'm not going to play next week so I don't wear myself out before The TOUR Championship, but I am pretty confident.

I hit a few balls in between my one hole finish this morning and this afternoon and I really got back to the way I was hitting it at Greensboro, so I felt good going into the round today. I only hit a few bad shots, a bad 5 iron and bogeyed the Mickey Mouse par 3, whatever that is, 6.

And then hit the bad drive at 18. Other than that, I hit a lot of really good shots.

Q. You had to play one this morning?

DAVIS LOVE III: I had to come back and play 18, which I thought was I didn't think we would get that far. We played the back a lot faster than the front yesterday. So we got it in and had to come back. And I thought I wasn't thinking very clearly, I thought I would have a big break in between, but then we finished and it was only a couple of hours. It was good timing to go out and hit a few balls and be ready to go again.

Q. It seems it's the nature of golf, after a great round, it's hard to duplicate it. Is it subconscious, you start figuring something is going to go wrong?

DAVIS LOVE III: It's further up in your brain than subconscious. You know, I'm playing great, I have got a 5 shot lead, and sometimes it's hard. I know in Hawaii I shot 60, I think it was on a Friday. And I was playing in the afternoon and I got up Friday morning and I was, you know, 6 behind. And then I shot 60 and I had gone into the lead and then didn't win. I think sometimes you put a little bit more pressure on yourself and everything went perfect. And when things don't start going perfect, you get a little impatient. I think that's the biggest thing, it's hard to be patient when you're leading or playing great, or when you're playing bad, it's expectations, or you start thinking numbers rather than just playing.

Q. A 20th win would be pretty meaningful. And now all of a sudden you're within arm's reach seemingly. Is that on your mind and what does that potentially mean to you? It's pretty much a lock for all those halls and cards and greatness.

DAVIS LOVE III: I wasn't putting a lot of pressure on 19, just trying to play better, so I'm not going to put pressure on 20. I don't know what a lifetime exemption means. Does that mean I have to play a lot more.

I fully expect to get to 20, but that wasn't the goal when I started. Like I said at Greensboro, I hope 20 is on it's way to 30 and I get back on a good, positive roll after not playing good for a while.

My biggest thing is to keep working on what I'm working on and try to be as healthy as I can be. I've played very well the last two tournaments, but I've still got a lot of off season work to do to get ready for the FedEx Cup, because if I'm going to compete next year, I can't feel the way I felt this year, the way I felt this week. I can't play. Right now I can't play 6 or 7 in a row. So I'm going to have to work hard to get in shape for next year.

Q. You didn't play a practice round, correct?

DAVIS LOVE III: I played nine on the Palm, and I played maybe six holes on the Magnolia. And our cart was running out of gas, so I came in rather than get stuck we were heading for 17 tee, to see that one.

Q. Wednesday?

DAVIS LOVE III: Wednesday. I was heading for 17 tee because I hadn't seen it, and we got to 15 green and we were poking along. In fact, we tried to chase the turkeys up in the air but our cart was too slow, they just ran out of the way. So we had to come in.

I wanted to see a few of those new tees on that side, but I've been around these two golf courses an awful lot, all the way back to qualifying for the U.S. Open when there were no tees back on the other sides of the canals. So I've played a lot of golf here. I just wanted to get a feel for the greens, the speed, how they were bouncing. And it's funny how that side is firm and this side is actually still a little soft in spots.

That's what I wanted to do it's the same grass at home I was practicing on, I just wanted to see how fast the greens were. That's why I wanted to play a little on both courses.

Q. You mentioned the FedEx Cup. Have you thought about how it's going to impact your schedule next year? Aside from maybe having to play a lot at the end, will you do things differently in the winter and spring, summer, perhaps, than you've done in the past?

DAVIS LOVE III: Well, I'm starting to think Phil is on to something, because I took five weeks off and then I won. So I don't know yeah, I need to plan you've got to be ready to play every time you tee it up somehow, some way.

And I think Paul Azinger told me that right when I first came out on tour. He said, Figure out how many in a row is good for you. It's not going to be the same as everybody else. If it's two in a row or three in a row or four, figure out how many works for you.

Next year the goal is to get healthy, in great shape, and go to Hawaii and play the first two and then get on the West Coast and say maybe Florida, play four in the row and just see, how did that feel, take a couple of weeks off and reassess.

I guess it's like bicycling in the mountains. You've got to get used to the altitude. We have to get used to playing a couple of long stretches before you get to the end just to see how you're going to react. You don't want to come down to the end and say, Well, I can't play Akron because I know I'm going to play the PGA. You don't want to miss obviously now I'm entrenched in Greensboro.

Everybody is going to have their stretch where they have to play. I think you'll see maybe a tournament more or two on everybody's schedule because it is a compact season and it's a chance to win the FedEx Cup. But you'll also see guys playing some streaks, where they play a bunch and take some time off and play another bunch.

Q. You're not going to play next week at Tampa, but you're certainly familiar with the area and the golf course. Are you surprised they have not yet been able to find a title sponsor for next spring? And is that a problem at this state?

DAVIS LOVE III: I'm surprised, but I think they're on the right track as far as what I've been hearing. I don't think anybody is panicking about it. I think it's a great tournament, a great spot, a good spot in the schedule, and I think I know that in my discussions as a board member there's been no worry yet. I think it will be okay.

Q. I can't remember what hole it was that you made the double on yesterday. Was that an s h a n k? It looked like it went sort of in that flight path out of the left rough?

DAVIS LOVE III: 11, I hit it up behind that tree standing in the bunker. And I tried well, I was going to try to scoot it up the fairway and run it on the green. And I thought it would hook, and it sliced, a fat slice. That was obviously a dumb play. I should have just chipped out, wedged it out, and had a putt for par rather than a putt for bogey.

Q. On TV it looked like you almost brained a gator. It was swimming right around where your ball landed.

DAVIS LOVE III: I didn't see him, but if he would have come near me on that hole he would have gotten popped. I wasn't happy.

Q. Just to clarify something, if you take two weeks off after the Florida Swing, you will miss the Masters.

DAVIS LOVE III: That's true. I'll just take one.

Q. Is Azinger the right man for the Ryder Cup job, or do you think the PGA needs to think outside the box?

DAVIS LOVE III: I don't know. I think they need to get guys that play better when they go. I don't think it's the captain's fault. From the six I've played, we need to play better. I would love to play for Paul Azinger, though. It would be fun. He would be very entertaining. I think he would be a lot of fun.

But you know, you can take anybody. They asked President Bush at a book signing yesterday if he thought he could be the Ryder Cup captain. I think he could take anybody. You take Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer, anybody, we just have to play better. I think they have a pretty good system, we just need to play a little better for them.

Q. For your six times playing, is there much behind the scenes that the captain can do to help the team or is the job really overrated and over analyzed by the media?

DAVIS LOVE III: I think it's credit given and blame given more than there should be. You know, I asked this 100 times, if you said I'm going to put my best two players first and my next best two players second and send them out and we'll get ahead, you would think that's pretty smart, wouldn't you? But when Hal Sutton did it, and Tiger and Phil lost and Chad and I lost, he was stupid.

In that room the night before, I thought, We're going to kick their butt. Nobody ever said, Well, Tiger and Phil, they'll lose. Of course you think they're going to win. Of course you think Davis and Chad that year they're playing great, they're going to win. And we didn't do it. So that just puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the team, it puts a lot of pressure on the captain.

I said it to Chad. I had a 7 iron from the middle of the fairway on the second hole, par 5, and I missed the green, and I didn't get it up and down. I said, "You know what, Chad," after that match, I said, "if I hit the ball on the green and we win that hole, we win the Ryder Cup."

That screwed us. We get behind, because if we win that hole and we're 1 up, Tiger and Phil relax a little bit, right. Everybody relaxes. I think it's just momentum. Right from the first morning this year we were done. They had the momentum.

I'm in Perry, Georgia, looking at it on the Internet and I get the feeling it's over, and I'm not even there playing. You have a sinking feeling when you get behind, and I don't think the captain has anything to do with that. The captain can't play.

Tom worked his butt off for a year and a half, trying to get everybody together. Everybody I talked to said they had a good time. Well, they just didn't play good and the other team playing very, very well.

Q. Do you want that job some day?

DAVIS LOVE III: It's an honor. And one thing that I've told a couple of captains, and I got a nice letter from Tom Lehman I'll have to respond to, and I'll tell him too, winning doesn't make you a great captain. I've been on 12 different teams and I've played for I guess maybe nine different captains or 10 different captains, and winning doesn't make you a great captain. I think most of the players realize that. The captain works very, very hard, and the players are the ones that win or lose.

Q. You said Azinger would be fun to play for?

DAVIS LOVE III: I think he would be great. I think the players would enjoy it and we would learn a lot about foozball and other games.

The first Ryder Cup I went to, I pull in the lounge at JFK or wherever, and everybody is gathered around a little table in the lounge and they're rolling these pigs onto the table. And they're playing Pass the Pigs. I asked, "What is everybody doing?"

Paul said, "This is the best game. You all are going to have so much fun this week with these pigs." And it was, it's great. I've been playing Pass the Pig since 1993 because of Azinger. He brought Pass the Pigs and Jenga and we had a blast.

Really, since then, it's rammed up to ping pong and pool and everything the captains do to entertain us at night. But Paul, just because of his fun loving and then competitive nature, I think he would be great.

Q. When Tiger is captain he will have you bungy jumping.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Davis, thanks.

End of FastScripts.

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