Feb. 9, 2003

Davis Love III had not won in two years on the PGA tour. Not since the 2001 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Last year he had six finishes in the top five, and he was putting more and more pressure on himself to win again. So even though he carried a two-shot lead into Sunday's final round at Pebble Beach, he was not as calm as he wanted to be coming down the stretch.

In fact, the ex-Tar Heel All-America got pretty nervous when he bogied the second and third holes, but afterwards he said, "I was going to stay committed to playing one shot at a time, and hitting good fearless shots right at the hole, and about 85% of the time I did just that."

Love came back with a birdie at the short par-three seventh hole. Got even with another birdie at the par-four eighth hole when he scorched a five-iron to within 10 feet. He claimed it was one of the best five-irons he ever hit. Then he rolled in a 35-footer for another birdie at number nine. After going out in 35, he dropped his third straight birdie from 12-feet at the tenth hole.

Following a par at the 11th hole, Love got a good break at number 12. The good break a winner sometimes gets during his round. He hit a five-iron to the back collar of the par-three hole where it struck the foot of a photographer and rolled back onto the green within four-feet of the pin.

Love made a sixth birdie at the 13th hole, but suffered his third bogey of the round at number 16. A bad one-iron off the tee put him in a fairway bunker, and he came out short of the green. He wasn't thinking clearly at the par-three 17th hole when he hit another bad tee shot to the right. However, he managed to pull himself back together when he dropped a 10-footer for par. He later said, "I told myself you've got to get back to what you're doing and quit worrying about the results."

Heading to the 18th tee, Love and Tom Lehman, who was in the next to last group, were tied for the lead at 13-under. When Love reached his long drive on the scenic par-five finishing hole he saw Lehman miss his birdie attempt. So he knew what he had to do. That's when he smacked a four-iron onto the green from 224 yards out. "Being able to two putt to win rather than having to get it up and down was very big!"

His final round of four-under 68 was worth $900,000, and following last week's tie for 12th at the Bob Hope Desert Classic in Palm Springs he has already won nearly a million dollars this year. Overall, the career earnings for Love, who'll be 39 in April, total better than $22 million.

"You know being hurt and not being a 100% the last couple of years, playing a full schedule and practicing alot and then not winning a couple of times when I had a chance I was putting more and more pressure on myself that it was time to win," Love said. "But if you're patient sometimes good things will happen and I've been very patient and working hard this year. To have it pay off this early is very nice."

Among his 15 tour victories, the 1997 PGA champion has now won twice at Pebble Beach and four times at Hilton Head.