Unfriended by Ted Bishop

Author:Ted Bishop
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2016-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Stop! In the Name of Love

Losing a Ryder Cup like we did in 2010 at Wales was tough because the PGA of America needed to move on and prepare for the next competition. However, there has traditionally been a transition period until the selection of the next U.S. captain to allow the PGA to show its appreciation for the outgoing captain, regardless of the outcome. I had been told that Hal Sutton was upset after we lost at Oakland Hills in 2004 because he thought the PGA wasted no time in naming Tom Lehman as its next captain just a few weeks later in early November.

So, once the PGA’s official mourning period was over in early December, we gathered at PGA National Headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to interview Davis Love III for the 2012 Ryder Cup captaincy. Love was the next guy on the list of that infamous napkin held closely by Julius Mason, our PR guy. Allen Wronowski would be the PGA president when the matches were slated for Medinah, and he was a firm believer in Mason’s list. No other name beside Love’s was on the Ryder Cup radar. When it came to the choice of the 2012 captain, there was absolutely no dissention. Conducting the interview would be Wronowski; Derek Sprague, the newly elected secretary; Jim Remy, PGA past president, and me as the vice president. This interview would be just a formality before we announced Love as the 2012 captain.

Mason and Joe Steranka, PGA CEO, insisted that we conduct the interview behind closed doors in the boardroom outside of Steranka’s office. Both took tremendous pride in the PGA’s ability to conceal the choice of a captain from the media as long as possible. It had become a game to them, but the choice of Love hardly came with much suspense.

It would be difficult to find a finer gentleman in all of golf than Davis Love III. He was born on April 13, 1964, in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Helen and Davis Love, Jr. Davis III entered this world on the day after his dad competed in the Masters. Love’s dad was also a PGA member and a renowned golf instructor before he died tragically in a 1988 plane crash.

Love III won the 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York. When we conducted our interview, he had 19 PGA TOUR victories. He has since added his 20th in 2015 at age 51 at the Wyndham Championship, making him the third-oldest PGA TOUR winner ever. He played in six Ryder Cups, compiling a 9–12–5 record. Love was presented the 2008 Payne Stewart Award for his character, charity and sportsmanship. There is even a stretch of I-95 near Love’s current home in Sea Island, Georgia, that is named after him. Picking Davis Love III as the 2012 Ryder Cup captain really was a no-brainer.

The interview lasted about 45 minutes. We all had a chance to ask questions. In particular, I was curious to hear whether Love might approach the rules preparation at the Ryder Cup differently.

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