Masters ratings blow up social justice narrative

Had it not been for the cameraman following him around the building, Davis Love III might have been any other tourist at the World Golf Hall of Fame that day in early May. He wandered through the exhibit rooms, stopping to peer into the glass cases at the trophies and letters and equipment that previous inductees had donated to the Hall. He pulled out his cell phone and took pictures of some of the more interesting items stored for posterity in their lockers, too. Love even took the elevator to the Trophy Tower, the tallest point in St. John’s County, where he had a 360-degree view of the World Golf Village. Of course, that stop was for a TV interview. After all, he couldn’t blend in completely. Love went on the reconnaissance mission, of sorts, because he is about to join the World Golf Hall of Fame along with Ian Woosnam, Lorena Ochoa Reyes, Meg Mallon and the late Henry Longhurst in the Class of 2017. He wanted to get an idea of what kind of memorabilia to include in his own exhibit and locker. The induction ceremony will be held at the Cipriani Wall Street in New York Cup on Sept. 26. It’s a busy week for Love, who will also be serving a second stint as an assistant captain for the U.S. Team during the Presidents Cup at Liberty National in New Jersey. Love said it took three or four days to decide what items he wanted to loan to the World Golf Hall of Fame. Some were at his mother’s house and his agent’s office. Other pieces were on display in the clubhouses at Sea Island Resort in Georgia, where Love hosts the RSM Classic in November. He had plenty at his home, too. All of it brought back memories. That’s why it took so long to assemble the collection of more than 70 items. “I started looking through stuff,â€� Love says with a smile. Among the more interesting finds that he’s donating were photos of his late father, Davis Love Jr., who served in the Army and was stationed in Korea. Among his duties? Teaching the officers to play golf. “He didn’t really elaborate that much,â€� Love says about his dad. “But there were all these pictures of the Army golf team and flying around in helicopters, giving lessons and going out with the generals. “Only my dad could completely get out of doing anything,â€� he adds, chuckling. Among the equipment Love is loaning to the World Golf Hall of Fame is the putter he used to win the 1997 PGA Championship. The Wannamaker Trophy will be on display, too, along with a framed scorecard and a polo shirt he wore that week at Winged Foot. Golf bags from various Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups will be on display, along with money clips from the World Cup, which Love won four times with his good friend Fred Couples. Ditto for the ring he got when his North Carolina team won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and his North & South Amateur trophy. “They were like, ‘Do you have it?’ â€� Love recalls. “I said, do I have it?  It’s the biggest amateur tournament I won.â€� Some of the more interesting items, though, are the books that Love picked. Among them, not surprisingly, are the yellow galley proofs of “Every Shot I Take: Lessons Learned about Golf, Life and a Father’s Love,â€� the book he wrote after his dad died in a plane crash. Love’s fascination with the South’s signature dish – and he cooks it competitively – is showcased in “Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto.â€� Another book he loaned the Hall is “Tenth Legionâ€� by Colonel Tom Kelly. Love reads it every year before turkey season starts. “A classic literature book but it’s about turkey hunting,â€� he said. “It’s very, very dry satirical humor. Very, very good. “Some people will go, what in the heck is that?  But the real turkey hunters will go, he’s a real turkey hunter.â€� And one book, Love says, perhaps only Bryson DeChambeau can love. Or maybe Phil Mickelson, who enjoys talking golf with putting guru, Dave Pelz, a former NASA scientist. It’s “The Golfing Machine: The Star System of G.O.L.F., Geometrically Oriented Linear Force.” “My dad had me read the book and went to a guy who did the machines,â€� Love says. “My dad read the whole book and all he got was stretch your left arm with your right, keep the width and the circle.  “I’m going to read everybody’s stuff, see if they have anything I like.  That’s just a weird thing but it’s something that my dad gave me to read.â€�  The Titleist hat that Love gave the World Golf Hall of Fame has particular significance, too. “(It) is the one I wore at the TOUR Championship when Payne Stewart died,â€� Love says. “What Would Jesus Do? I wanted that in my locker.â€� The 21-time PGA TOUR champ, who included the Sam Snead Trophy he got for winning the 2015 Wyndham Championship at the age of 51, also had quite the collection of letters to loan the Hall. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and President H.W. Bush are among those who wrote him. “I wanted to make a whole book of letters for people to read,â€� Love says. “Some of that stuff is just so cool. Letters from President Bush and Byron Nelson, ‘Sure are playing well. Hope you come to my tournament.’ Stuff like that.  “Like personal stuff that people don’t see that Byron did or Arnold did. When Arnold passed away people were talking about letters. To have it, the normal letter typed out but write something at the bottom, stuff like that is pretty cool.  “People ought to be able to see that.â€� Golf fans will also be able to see the Bob Jones Award that Love won in 2013, the highest honor the USGA gives to recognize distinguished sportsmanship in golf. Ditto for the little orange GolfCraft Skokie putter Love’s father cut down for him and the persimmon driver that NBA great Michael Jordan broke when the two were in college at Carolina. One thing that didn’t make the cut was the trophy of a horse that Love won for being Reserve National Champion in his division one year as his daughter, Lexie, competed across the country in equestrian events. Another of his favorite items that won’t be on display is a relatively non-descript golf ball that happened to belong to Ryan Moore, who was one of Love’s Captain’s Picks for last year’s Ryder Cup team. Love boldly selected Moore instead of Bubba Watson, who was ranked seventh in the world at the time and later joined the team as one of the captain’s assistants. Love – who had forgotten to retrieve his ball when he made the clinching putt in the 1993 matches – didn’t want the same thing to happen to Moore when he beat Lee Westwood for the U.S. win last year. “I waited until he calmed down and everything and said, ‘You’re going to want this,’â€� Love recalls. “About an hour later he came back and said, ‘I want you to have it’ and gave it to me.  “I told him that meant more to me than anything in the whole Ryder Cup because of the whole situation with him and Bubba and the whole deal.â€�  

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Watch, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. Fans can also sign up for the Bracket Challenge here or print out a bracket here. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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TULSA, Okla. – Tiger Woods produced the worst PGA Championship round of his storied career, battling away to a 9-over 79 on Saturday morning at Southern Hills. In cold, wet, and blustery conditions, Woods and his surgically repaired body could not muster the charge up the leaderboard he had hoped for, instead freefalling to near the back of the pack with just one round to play. It is yet to be seen if Woods will indeed return for Sunday’s final round, such is the vigorous recovery process he endures just to tee it up. He will juggle the pride of seeing a contest through to its conclusion over the wear and tear of a body that still hopes to take part in the U.S. Open in June and the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews in July. “Well, I’m sore. I know that for a fact. We’ll do some work and see how it goes,” Woods said of the prospect of a final round appearance. On Saturday the 82-time PGA TOUR winning veteran had seven bogeys, a triple bogey and just a lone birdie marking the worst of his now 79 rounds at the PGA Championship, a major he’s claimed four times including in 2007 at Southern Hills. Woods eclipsed the 77 he shot in the opening round of the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club as his low point in the tournament but did manage to keep under his worst major round of all-time – an 81 from the 2002 Open Championship. He made a 5-foot putt for par on the final hole to ensure his TOUR rounds in the 80s as a professional remain at just four. “I just didn’t play well. I didn’t hit the ball very well and got off to not the start I needed to get off to. I thought I hit a good tee shot down 2 and ended up in the water, and just never really got any kind of momentum on my side,” Woods lamented after finishing at 12-over for the tournament. “I couldn’t get off the bogey train there… I didn’t do anything right. I didn’t hit many good shots. Consequently, I ended up with a pretty high score.” The PGA Championship is just the second tournament of the year for the 15-time major winner as he continues his comeback from serious leg fractures suffered in a 2021 car accident. While Woods continues to compete to win, just making the cut in April’s Masters (47th place) and at Southern Hills this week is seen as a massive achievement by others, especially given the obvious pain he goes through to play. After an opening 74 Woods had showed great resilience to shoot 69 in round two. “Incredibly resilient and mentally tough,” playing partner from the opening two rounds Rory McIlroy said. “He’s feeling it… he’s feeling it on every swing… (but) he’s the ultimate pro.” “Looking at him yesterday, if that would have been me, I would have been considering pulling out and just going home, but Tiger is different and he’s proved he’s different… it was just a monumental effort.” Woods opened his third round with a nice 13-foot par save but lost his tee shot on the par-4 2nd hole into a creek that resulted in his first bogey. A run of three pars followed before disaster struck on the par-3 6th. After pulling his tee shot into another water hazard Woods missed the green from the drop zone and then failed to find the putting surface with his first chip. Unfortunately, the triple bogey was just a precursor of more to come. A bogey on the par-4 7th was followed by another on the par-4 9th when Woods hit the lip of the fairway bunker he was trying to escape and advanced the ball just four yards into the rough, leaving him with a 6-over 41 at the turn. Four straight bogeys on the back side of the course brought the specter of unwanted records into focus. But just as it appeared Woods would go without a birdie in a major championship round for the first time since the opener of the 2010 U.S. Open, the veteran poured in a 36-footer on the par-4 15th to give the hardy fans following a reason to cheer. Three pars to finish showed the fight hadn’t left the veteran despite the rough outing and he wasn’t alone as tricky winds saw others like Sepp Straka (79), Patton Kizzire (78), Maverick McNealy (78) and fellow former FedExCup champion Billy Horschel (77) also struggle.

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