Davis Love III found himself in an awkward interview with the Golf Channel on Sunday when asked about his upcoming week at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
Love paused for a moment and then said to the camera, “You might want to start over.”
Thing is, Love isn’t playing at this week’s season-opening event for the PGA Tour Champions. He’ll be half a world away at the Singapore Open, thanks to an appearance fee and a chance to qualify for the Open Championship if he finishes among the top four not already in the final major of 2019.
It’s part of Love’s plan to play in more PGA Tour events this year, at least twice a month, as the 54-year-old golfer continues to recover from hip and back surgeries that have him not only upright and walking again without pain, but able to swing a golf club effectively as well.
He finished alone in seventh at last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii and believes he could have won it had the flat stick cooperated with him more times than it did. He is part of a growing senior sect that is raging against the dying of the PGA Tour light.
Love knows he can compete with his fellow 50- and 60-somethings. But he doesn’t want to go at it full-time just yet. He likes swinging the clubs with kids half his age and believes he can do it well enough to have a good chance to win here and there at places like Waialae, Pebble Beach and Colonial.
“I kind of committed to my sponsors that this was going to be pretty much a regular tour year,” Love said after the Sony Open. “I’ve been struggling to get to 15 events the last few years because of different injuries — some self-inflicted and some wear and tear. I felt like I owed it to myself to give the tour a full shot. I will play some Champions Tour to fill in, but I am committed to playing all the way through the start of the next season.”
So is Steve Stricker, who is facing a similar dilemma to Love’s. But unlike him, Stricker is teeing it up on Thursday at the Big Island’s Jack Nicklaus-designed course, where the greens are pure and the lava fields unforgiving. Defending champion Jerry Kelly also tried his hand at Waialae, and appeared on his way to making the cut, only to card three consecutive bogeys on his back nine to miss it by a single shot.
Stricker went one day deeper into the tournament before missing the secondary cut on Saturday. At least Stricker cashed a check, but this isn’t exactly how you want to make a living with the young guys crowding their way into the full-field events.
Stricker is still deciding how much he will compete with the seniors and how often the PGA Tour will remain in his life. He and Love don’t look or act their age. They are healthy, wealthy and wise to the whims of golf. Because of that fact, Stricker is taking his top 25 all-time career money list exemption to be eligible for tour events.
“I plan on trying to play a little bit more out here this year and see where it takes me,” Stricker said at the Sony Open. “I really don’t know what to expect. Still feel like I’ve got some game to compete out here and I am working hard still to try to play well out here.”
Not that Stricker is planning to abandon his fellow seniors. But he believes opportunities abound for him on both tours. He can dabble with the youngsters for a while, then come back and play the majors with the geezers.
“I’m going to try to concentrate on playing all the majors on the Champions Tour,” Stricker said. “I’ve never won a major. To try to get one out there would be a lot of fun and something I have kind of set my sights on this year to try to do, which then in turn would get you in the major out here on this tour.”
This week’s winners-only tournament is much like its PGA Tour counterpart on Maui that is the first event of the calendar year. Four golfers in the field played at the Sony, with none making it to the final day. Kelly, Stricker, Vijay Singh and Kenny Perry tried their hands with the youngsters but couldn’t make it work. Like Stricker and Love, Perry and Singh will split time between the two tours, but will play in more senior events than the regular tour. Stricker said that Tom Kite tried to convince him to go seniors full-time because the window is small for them to keep all the body parts not going the way of the Tin Man.
Love laughed at that analogy.
“Steve and I believe we can still make some noise out here on the regular tour,” Love said. “We’ll both know when it’s time to play out there full-time. We’re just not ready yet.”
This week’s 54-hole event on the Big Island welcomes back Schwab Cup winner Bernhard Langer, the ageless one, who is always in contention at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. The field is small, the money is good and the course at Hualalai is a perfect way to start the year.
