Davis Love III didn’t want to skip receiving
the Bob Jones Award at the USGA’s
annual meeting in San Diego Feb. 2, just
as he didn’t want to have surgery on his
neck six days later in Atlanta. The reason
for sending a video acceptance speech
was that he was playing the Waste
Management Phoenix Open to get ready
for the AT& T Pebble Beach National
Pro-Am and eventually this week’s
Northern Trust Open. After withdrawing
in Phoenix, Love had the procedure,
where a doctor removed bone spurs and
performed a spinal fusion. A day later, the
2012 Ryder Cup captain was on the
putting green at Sea Island (Ga.) GC.
Love hopes to be chipping in a week and
back out on tour in six to eight weeks. At
48, he is not looking to the Champions
Tour as much as closing out his career on
the regular tour. “I’m like Peyton
Manning,” Love said. “I had to have it
done before I lost my strength and
couldn’t get it back.”
That Jack Nicklaus would show up for a
Q&A session at the Palm Beach County
Golf Association Awards banquet Feb. 9
is not so unusual. Nicklaus, 73, has been
attending association tournaments since
his oldest son, Jackie, was competing.
The Hall of Famer was at Lost Tree when
Gary Nicklaus, a reinstated amateur, won
the 2008 County Amateur and has been
a fixture at the Nicklaus Junior, watching
his grandsons compete. I conducted the
interview with him at the event and tried
to focus on Jack’s amateur career. Like
everyone in the room at Frenchman’s
Reserve, I was blown away by Nicklaus’
recall of events that happened more
than 50 years ago. “I can remember all
of that,” he joked, “but I can’t remember
what I did at 12 o’clock today.”
Senior writer Tim Rosaforte appears
on Golf Channel’s “Golf Central”
and NBC’s coverage of the Players,
U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup.
birdie the last four. That’s just me. I’m
going to find a way to get it done.”
Lewis got it done last year, but not
without some late-season anxiety. The
player-of-the-year race was tight
going into 2012’s final three events.
Before getting on a plane to Japan for
the Mizuno Classic, Lewis had a
heart-to-heart talk with Beth Daniel,
the last American to win the Rolex
POY award back in 1994.
I go back with Daniel to the late 1970s
and remember how she grinded so
hard while trying to win a major, and
ultimately wrestled POY honors from
Laura Davies in ’94. Although Beth
didn’t go through Lewis’ physical
challenges, she had her intensity. I’m
not the only one who felt that way.
“I see a lot of similarities between
Stacy and myself,” Daniel said. “I
think that’s why I spoke up. I saw her
go into a bad mood, putting so much
pressure on herself.” Knowing the
sensitivity of Lewis, Daniel figured,
“She’ll either get mad at me or get
it—and she got it right away.”
Indeed, Lewis won Mizuno for her
fourth victory of the year and locked
up POY the following week with a T- 4
finish at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
The game changes now, but Lewis
has already changed with it. She has
taken media training, accepted her
role as one of the tour’s top players
and is ready to carry the American
flag in a Solheim Cup year.
“I’ve got a lot of good stuff going on,”
she said. “No major changes in my
game; I don’t feel any different. Meg
came up after the Rolex Awards and
asked ‘How did it feel?’ When I said,
‘About the same,’ she said. ‘Good,
that’s what I wanted to hear. You’re
not a different person, you’re really
not, this doesn’t change who you are.
Just go out there and do it again.’ ”
So that’s what this offseason has been
all about, with intense workouts at PGA
National and money games with Daniel
and Mallon at Pine Tree GC as well as
the other LPGA members at Medalist.
“It’s pretty crazy for me to think of
all the people in the United States, I’m
the best female golfer,” she said.
“That’s kind of weird, but I like it.”
The following day, I went back to
Medalist. Lewis was on the south end
of the range this time, absorbed in her
work. Later in the day, she pulled up to
the bag drop, head down, focused, but
I got a smile and a wave. N
