Davis Love III was almost home on St. Simons Island, Georgia, when he saw a text from Tiger Woods pop up on his phone recently.
The message was simple. The two needed to talk.
“I’m free all weekend,” Love responded.
“How about now?” Woods answered.
“I figured he needs something, so I better call him,” Love remembers.
Woods had a simple message to deliver: Love had been chosen to captain the 2022 United States Presidents Cup team at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, the city where Love was born in 1964.
“He just laid it out right there,” Love says.
Love then asked Woods who told him to make the call. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan had given Woods, the past captain, the honor of delivering the news.
“Should I call Jay?” Love asked.
“You can,” Love remembers Woods saying, “but it’s your job. You can mull it over but it’s the right thing to do.”
“I thought we talked about this,” Love said.
“No, we decided. You’re going to be captain in Charlotte,” Woods said.
Love thought Woods might keep the role for a while, the way Jack Nicklaus and Fred Couples did before him. But Woods, Love says, still wants to contribute as a player and felt the drain from the dual roles.
If there’s an element of surprise to Love being named captain, it’s that he has already captained two Ryder Cup teams (losing in 2012 at Medinah and winning in 2016 at Hazeltine) and has been vocal in promoting the idea that it’s time for others to get their turns.
Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker and Woods have been national team captains since Love last did it and there was speculation that Zach Johnson might get the call to lead the Americans against Trevor Immelman’s International team in September of next year.
Instead, what looked and felt like a natural fit given Love’s ties to the area and his captaincy background, made the decision an easy one.
“All the way back to when Charlotte was announced and Jay was the deputy commissioner, there has been discussion about me doing it but I said, no, I’ll be done by then,” Love says.
Love thought Woods might keep the role for a while, the way Jack Nicklaus and Fred Couples did before him. But Woods, Love says, still wants to contribute as a player and felt the drain from the dual roles.
So, while there are plenty of details to be finalized, the band will be together again.
Love knows the reaction some will have to his being a national team captain for a third time.
“I can see it, ‘Oh gosh, here we go again. It’s the same old boys,’” Love said. “But the same boys are planning for the future. We’re thinking about the next two Presidents Cups.
“I know in today’s world 50 percent will be against this decision. We just keep our heads down and get guys ready. It’s not about the captain. It’s being sure that when Dustin Johnson shows up he’s ready to go.”
It’s been seven years since a task force was formed in the aftermath of another American Ryder Cup loss at Gleneagles. Something had to change and Love, along with Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and others, were in the middle of recreating how team golf would function here.
Love recalls Mickelson saying in an early meeting that the American side won’t win all of these events but if it can win seven of 10, that would be a great success record.
Since then, the U.S. has gone 4-1. Admittedly, the Americans have dominated the Presidents Cup, winning nine of the last 10 with one tie. The last two Presidents Cup played overseas have been close – the U.S. won by one point in South Korea in 2015 and by two points in Australia in 2019 – and Love senses the competition getting tighter.
The event itself is growing. It’s not the Ryder Cup but now 25 years into existence, it has a history. When Ernie Els was captain of the International team in 2019, he worked to establish a culture within the far-flung squad. And it worked. Players on the International team praised his work and Immelman is intent on building upon what Els created.
“We have to step up our game,” Love said. “I said it to Tiger and Zach, we have to be better because they’re going to be better. They’ve started doing a lot of the things we started doing in 2014 with a stats guy, getting a new logo, team building. That’s what it’s all about.”
Love knows how it works. He’s done it before and he will do it again, this time with something of a local twist.
Love was born in Charlotte in 1964 when his father, Davis Love Jr., was the head pro at Charlotte Country Club. Love III later attended the University of North Carolina, making him an ideal fit for a Tar Heel State Presidents Cup next year.
“We need Michael Jordan there in Carolina blue,” Love said.
He’s already started.