Why does Love still play? He still loves it
By Jeff Babineau
Davis Love III this week recalled a long-ago conversation that he and Fred Couples had with legend Raymond Floyd, their old Ryder Cup teammate. Love and Couples were stars on the PGA TOUR at the time, and Floyd had just jumped over to what was then called the PGA Senior Tour.
“You guys are going to love this tour,” Floyd told his younger counterparts. Love said he and Couples looked at one another, thinking the same thing: “No Chance. We’ll never be playing golf after 50.”
Love, who will be 60 in April, and Couples, now 64, both are in this week’s field at the Chubb Classic presented by SERVPRO. Love, whose last top 10 on the PGA TOUR Champions was at the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, had a terrific round going on Saturday, making a move up the leaderboard before making a double at the par-4 14th. He shot 67 and stands alone in ninth.
A few days earlier, Love had to giggle in telling that story of him and Couples scoffing at the Champions Tour so many years ago.
“Who would have believed at 60, we are still out here?” Love said. He and Couples and Steve Stricker played together in the opening round.
It was near dark on the eve of the tournament, and Love was still on the practice green, working on his putting.
“I feel like I’m cramming for the exam, because I haven’t played enough golf,” said Love, who has battled through a number of injuries. He figures he has lost three and a half seasons to injury in the last 10 years. Love has had both of his hips replaced.
This was his first trip to the Chubb. He’d like to play more frequently in 2024, but first he has to stay healthy. If he does, he has a milestone in his sights: Love has 790 career starts on the PGA TOUR; he’d like to pass the all-time leader, Mark Brooks, who has 803. So he needs 14 starts.
The new PGA TOUR schedule makes things tricky. With 21 career PGA TOUR victories, he is a lifetime member who can pretty much play where he wants, but some places he always played – say, Pebble Beach, or Hilton Head – are now Signature Events with limited fields.
“It’s just hard to give up on it,” Love said, when asked why he still works at it so hard. He has plenty of other things to keep him busy back home at Sea Island, where he is a grandfather, runs the PGA TOUR event in town (RSM), and has plenty of potential course design work he could do.
“There’s some things that I want to do, and I just don’t want to quit,” he said. “I’m getting ready to turn 60, I’m all beat up and still wanting to play. It’s fun. I was looking forward to coming here. I’ve been texting Fred; I haven’t seen Fred since the Ryder Cup (in September). Stricker, Billy Andrade, all those guys, I love hanging out with them. I’m not out here enough is the main thing.”
