Davis Love III Gets His First Win in 7 Years at the Wyndham
- Dan Hauser
- 24 Aug, 2015
Davis Love III made his professional golf debut in 1985 and won his first PGA Tour event in 1987. To put that into perspective, most of the “young guns” on Tour weren’t even born yet.
Yet, there stood Love on Sunday, chasing down those “young guns” that could easily be his kids on his way to his first victory since the Children’s Miracle Network Classic in November of 2008.
“We could sit here until midnight and I could thank people, therapists, doctors, trainers, sports psychologists,” Love said.
The 51 year old wasn’t even on the radar heading into the week. While most of his friends and fellow golfers were teeing it up on the Champions Tour, Love was once again teeing it up on the young mans tour.
All the focus was on Tiger’s debut at the event in addition to the last minute push for FedEx Cup points and Presidents Cup points. That all changed quickly on Thursday when Love opened the week with a 6-under 64 and had golf fans doing a double take, wondering if they slipped into some sort of time machine when they saw his name near the top of the leader board.
The came Sunday, when the 51 year old started the day four shots back. He bogeyed the first hole to quickly drop five off the lead and seemed to be done. Then he went on an incredible tear. He played his next five holes in 6-under par that included four birdies and an eagle to shoot right back to the top of the leader board.
After making the turn in 31, he eagled the par 5 15th that ended up sealing the deal and making him the third oldest winner ever on the PGA Tour.
“When you get to a tournament where you feel good and comfortable and are having fun and have got a lot of fans, it certainly makes it a little bit easier and more fun to play,” Love said. “It’s nice to be mentioned with Sam Snead and get another win here because this tournament, this state, this town has been good to me.”
Love had to wait over an hour to see if his score would hold, but considering where he has been the past few years, one would image he didn’t mind too much.
He hadn’t had a top 3 finish on Tour since 2009. Then there was the neck surgery in 2013 and the foot surgery earlier in 2015.
“I had some doubts,” he said. “The neck surgery went pretty smoothly, this one {foot surgery} went smoothly but the rehab didn’t come around as fast as I wanted. You just wonder, is the body going to wear out. I’ve seen it with a lot of great players in my day, the only thing that stopped them was their body wearing out.”
Love’s body held up for four days at the Wyndham Championship and now, instead of teeing it up next week at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open on the Champions Tour, Love has the FedEx Cup Playoffs to look forward to. In addition, Love will make his return to Augusta National next year for the first time in 2011 and TPC Sawgrass for the first time since 2013.
“It kills me the last couple years not to play in THE PLAYERS Championship,” Love said. “My friends at home assume I’m in it because I won it twice. That one and the Masters are kind of crushing that you don’t get in there.”
Love already had a busy 2016 ahead of him and now his schedule got a little bit busier. In addition to regaining his full Tour status for next year, he has this little thing called the Ryder Cup that he will captain, looking to end the losing streak the American side has against the European team.
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About Dan Hauser
As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Dan has had a passion for sports starting at a very young age. Dan’s other passion has always been writing. Since the time he could write, he has always enjoyed sharing information with people and telling stories through writing. In middle school he combined his two loves by joining the school newspaper in the sports department.
