Davis Love III

Davis Milton Love III (born April 13, 1964) is an American professional golfer who has won 21 events on the PGA Tour, including one major championship: the 1997 PGA Championship. He won the prestigious Players Championship in 1992 and 2003. He was in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for over 450 weeks, reaching a high ranking of third. He captained the U.S. Ryder Cup teams in 2012 and 2016. Love was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame and will be inducted in September 2017.

Love was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Davis Love, Jr. and his wife, Helen, a day after his father competed in the final round at the 1964 Masters Tournament. His father, who was a former pro and nationally recognized golf instructor, introduced him to the game. His mother is also an avid low-handicap golfer. His father was killed in a 1988 plane crash.

Love attended high school in Brunswick, Georgia, and graduated from its Glynn Academy in 1982. He played college golf at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he was a three-time All-American and all-Atlantic Coast Conference. He won six titles during his collegiate career, including the ACC tournament championship as a sophomore in 1984.

Love turned professional in 1985, earning his PGA Tour card in the autumn of 1985, on his first attempt. He quickly established himself on the PGA Tour, winning his first tour event in 1987 at the MCI Heritage Golf Classic, at Harbour Town Golf Links. He would later win this event four more times, setting a record for the most victories in the tournament. Love and Fred Couples won four straight times from 1992–95 for the United States in the World Cup of Golf, a record for this event.

Love was a consistent contender and winner on the PGA Tour in the 1990s and early 2000s, but the most memorable win came at the 1997 PGA Championship, his only major championship victory. It was played at Winged Foot Golf Club near New York City, and just four players in the field finished under-par for the week. Love's winning score was 11-under-par, five strokes better than runner-up Justin Leonard. When Love sank his birdie putt on the final hole of the championship, it was under the arc of a rainbow, which appeared as he walked up to the 18th green. In the telecast, CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz made the connection between the rainbow and Love's late father, Davis Love, Jr., who was a well-known and beloved figure in the golf world.This victory was the last major championship win achieved with a wooden-headed driver.

In 1994, Love founded Love Golf Design, a golf course architecture company, with his younger brother and caddie, Mark Love. The company has been responsible for the design of several courses throughout the southeast United States. Completed in 1997, Ocean Creek is his first signature course and is located on Fripp Island, South Carolina. Love also designed the Dunes course at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, which is ranked among Golf Magazine's Top 100 courses in the world.

In 1997, Love published the book Every Shot I Take, which honors his father's lessons on life and golf, and it received the United States Golf Association's International Book Award. That year, he developed and designed his own golf course in Harnett County, North Carolina. The course, Anderson Creek Club, won an award for "Best New Course in North Carolina" in 2001. He and his wife Robin have two children.

On November 9, 2008, Love earned his 20th PGA Tour win at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, which gave him a lifetime exemption on Tour.

His victory in the 2015 Wyndham Championship—at age 51—made him the third oldest winner in PGA Tour history, trailing only Sam Snead and Art Wall, Jr. The win made Love the oldest PGA Tour winner in the PGA Tour Champions era (since 1980). It also brought Love into select company in another PGA Tour distinction: he became only the third player to win on the tour in four different decades, joining Snead and Raymond Floyd.

After failing to qualify for the FedEx Cup in 2014, Love made his Champions Tour debut at the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship.

Love is the tournament host of the RSM Classic. In 2015, son Davis IV (better known as Dru) earned a sponsor exemption into the event, but missed the cut.

• Has a portion of Interstate 95 named after him. In 1998, the segment of I-95 which extends in Georgia from the McIntosh County line to Highway 341 at exit 7A and B was designated the "Davis Love III Highway."
• Love hit the second-longest drive ever officially recorded in competition play at the Mercedes Championships in 2004. His 476-yard (435 m) drive was still 39 yards (36 m) short of Mike Austin's record.
• He also has a restaurant named after him in his hometown of Sea Island, Georgia, called the Davis Love Grill.

• 1984 North and South Amateur, Middle Atlantic Amateur

PGA Tour wins (21)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Apr 19, 1987	MCI Heritage Golf Classic	70-67-67-67=271	−13	1 stroke	Steve Jones
2	Aug 19, 1990	The International	14 points (8-0-15-14)		3 points	Steve Pate, Eduardo Romero, Peter Senior
3	Apr 21, 1991	MCI Heritage Golf Classic (2)	65-68-68-70=271	−13	2 strokes	Ian Baker-Finch
4	Mar 29, 1992	The Players Championship	67-68-71-67=273	−15	4 strokes	Ian Baker-Finch, Phil Blackmar, Nick Faldo, Tom Watson
5	Apr 19, 1992	MCI Heritage Golf Classic (3)	67-67-67-68=269	−15	4 strokes	Chip Beck
6	Apr 26, 1992	KMart Greater Greensboro Open	71-68-71-62=272	−16	6 strokes	John Cook
7	Jan 10, 1993	Infiniti Tournament of Champions	67-67-69-69=272	−16	1 stroke	Tom Kite
8	Oct 24, 1993	Las Vegas Invitational	67-66-67-65-66=331	−29	8 strokes	Craig Stadler
9	Apr 2, 1995	Freeport-McMoRan Classic	68-69-66-71=274	−14	Playoff	Mike Heinen
10	Feb 11, 1996	Buick Invitational	66-70-69-64=269	−19	2 strokes	Phil Mickelson
11	Aug 17, 1997	PGA Championship	66-71-66-66=269	−11	5 strokes	Justin Leonard
12	Oct 5, 1997	Buick Challenge	67-65-67-68=267	−21	4 strokes	Stewart Cink
13	Apr 19, 1998	MCI Classic (4)	67-68-66-65=266	−18	7 strokes	Glen Day
14	Feb 4, 2001	AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am	71-69-69-63=272	−16	1 stroke	Vijay Singh
15	Feb 9, 2003	AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (2)	72-67-67-68=274	−14	1 stroke	Tom Lehman
16	Mar 30, 2003	The Players Championship (2)	70-67-70-64=271	−17	6 strokes	Jay Haas, Pádraig Harrington
17	Apr 20, 2003	MCI Heritage (5)	66-69-69-67=271	−13	Playoff	Woody Austin
18	Aug 10, 2003	The International (2)	46 points (19-17-5-5=46)		12 points	Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh
19	Oct 8, 2006	Chrysler Classic of Greensboro (2)	69-69-68-66=272	−16	2 strokes	Jason Bohn
20	Nov 9, 2008	Children's Miracle Network Classic	66-69-64-64=263	−25	1 stroke	Tommy Gainey
21	Aug 23, 2015	Wyndham Championship (3)	64-66-69-64=263	−17	1 stroke	Jason Gore

PGA Tour playoff record (2–7)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1989	Nestle Invitational	Tom Kite	Lost to par on second extra hole
2	1991	NEC World Series of Golf	Jim Gallagher, Jr., Tom Purtzer	Purtzer won with par on second extra hole
3	1992	Nissan Los Angeles Open	Fred Couples	Lost to birdie on second extra hole
4	1995	Freeport-McMoRan Classic	Mike Heinen	Won with birdie on second extra hole
5	1996	Buick Challenge	Michael Bradley, Fred Funk, John Maginnes, Len Mattiace	Bradley won with birdie on first extra hole
6	1996	Las Vegas Invitational	Tiger Woods	Lost to par on first extra hole
7	2000	GTE Byron Nelson Classic	Phil Mickelson, Jesper Parnevik	Parnevik won with par on third extra hole Mickelson eliminated with birdie on second hole
8	2001	Buick Invitational	Frank Lickliter II, Phil Mickelson	Mickelson won with double bogey on third extra hole Love eliminated with par on second
9	2003	MCI Heritage	Woody Austin	Won with birdie on fourth extra hole

Japan Golf Tour wins (1)

• 1998 The Crowns

Other wins (16)

• 1990 JCPenney Classic (with Beth Daniel)
• 1992 Franklin Funds Shark Shootout (with Tom Kite), World Cup of Golf (with Fred Couples), Kapalua International
• 1993 World Cup of Golf (with Fred Couples)
• 1994 World Cup of Golf (with Fred Couples)
• 1995 World Cup of Golf (team with Fred Couples & individual title), JCPenney Classic (with Beth Daniel)
• 1996 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Fred Couples and Payne Stewart)
• 1997 Lincoln-Mercury Kapalua International
• 2000 CVS Charity Classic (with Justin Leonard), Williams World Challenge
• 2003 Target World Challenge
• 2012 Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (with Jason Day and Nick Watney) , PNC Father-Son Challenge (with son Davis IV "Dru")

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1997	PGA Championship	Tied for lead	−11 (66-71-66-66=269)	5 strokes	Justin Leonard

Results timeline

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

• Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (2001 U.S. Open – 2003 Masters)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (1998 Open Championship – 1999 Masters)

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
WD = Withdrew
NT = No tournament
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

*As of the 2015–16 season.

Amateur

• Walker Cup: 1985 (winners)

Professional

• Dunhill Cup: 1992
• World Cup: 1992 (winners), 1993 (winners), 1994 (winners), 1995 (winners), 1997
• Ryder Cup: 1993 (winners), 1995, 1997, 1999 (winners), 2002, 2004, 2012 (non-playing captain), 2016 (non-playing captain, winners)
• Presidents Cup: 1994 (winners), 1996 (winners), 1998, 2000 (winners), 2003 (tie), 2005 (winners)