Right Now, He’s Davis Love the First

The best player in the game wears striped shirts. The best player in the game must have a flag stick for a spine because his gait is so stiff. The best player in the game is convinced he is going to make every putt.

The best player in the game is Davis Love III, at least at this moment. Things could change at any time, you realize. The “best player” title is under continual review these days, which is sort of startling in its own way, because Tiger Woods made sure there was never a doubt the last two years.

Of course, these are strange new days in golf, and they began once the wheels on the Woods bandwagon started to get a little wobbly. Tiger’s drought is his longest since 1999, when he went seven weeks without a victory.

There is no question Woods can reclaim his title soon. (But if he wins next week at Dubai, we’re not counting it.)

And there is also no dispute that if Woods is ready to try getting it back any time soon, we know the guy he’s going to have to take it from.

That is Love, suddenly the hottest player in the game, a change of fortune that would be more heralded if it weren’t so unexpected. After all, here’s a player who didn’t win a tournament for about 2 1/2 years, then finds himself in contention in the final round nearly every week.

He won at Pebble Beach when he began Sunday’s last round eight under through the first seven holes. He nearly won at Torrey Pines, but Phil Mickelson won in a playoff. And now he is tied for the lead after 36 holes at Riviera.

Of course, it’s only Saturday.

Whatever happens this weekend at the Nissan Open, it is clear that these are special times for Davis Milton Love III. Think about it. Here’s a guy who couldn’t seem to find a way to win and now doesn’t seem to know how to lose.

Love knows his way around a check presentation ceremony. If you’re lucky, you learn. He has won 14 times since 1987, but only once since the 1998 MCI Classic.

Until this month at Pebble Beach, Love’s labor was lost, at least as far as how they added up to victories. He had more Roman numerals than wins.

What’s worse, the time period between victories for Love was measured in questions.

What was wrong with his game?

Was he washed up?

How much did his back bother him?

Were there any shirts in his closet that didn’t have stripes?

Love says he didn’t relish all the questions about not winning, although he had the best way to shut everyone up all along. Uh, win one? It’s not as if he didn’t have any experience in this question-and-answer thing.

For years, Love endured questions about why he had never won a major--a blank spot on his resume that Love filled when he won the 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot. If the way he is playing is any indication, there could be more, maybe starting with the Masters in six weeks.

But Love says how well you are playing before the Masters, or any major, doesn’t necessarily indicate how you will play that week. The week before Love won at Winged Foot, he missed the cut.

To show you how the base of power has shifted in the three weeks since Love won at Pebble Beach, Woods was in danger of missing the cut at Riviera. Woods hasn’t missed the cut in his last 63 tournaments, so you really didn’t figure it was going to start Friday.

Meanwhile, Love ripped off a 67 to go along with his opening round of 68 and begins the weekend at seven under par. He said it’s a nice, warm feeling to be on a roll, even though he also says it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

He will be 37 in April, five days after the last round of the Masters, which as much as anything explains why Love says he is all about majors these days. How often Love thinks about the majors is a fair indication of how important they are to him. And how often is that? Pretty much all the time, he says.

He wants to win at Pebble Beach and at Riviera because victories in important tournaments are a way to get ready for the other really big ones. The chance to win another major is why Love practiced so hard the first of the year, why he played five tournaments on the West Coast, why he went back out to the driving range as soon as he finished his round.

Maybe, this time, he enjoys the questions instead of dreading them. The question thing is all turned around, Love says. Now, everyone is looking at him and asking why he’s playing so well instead of why he’s not winning.

If this keeps up, the best player in the game might even extend his reign into next week, or even a little longer.