Might some of the world's best golfers soon be testing their fishing skills in one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes?
Davis Love III met with the media Wednesday afternoon in California, where he's making his 29th career start Thursday in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. But much of the 30-minute session centered on the Ryder Cup, which comes to Hazeltine National in Chaska this fall.
That's been a common tenor in the time since he's been named captain for an American squad that has only won twice since 1999.
"I hear it every day from the fans [when] I'm out on Tour or in an airport, 'bring back the Cup ... we want you guys to win. You're due for a win,'" Love said. "We view it as an opportunity. [Jason] Dufner said it to me last year: 'I want to play on a winning Ryder Cup team. That's a goal of mine.' That's the case for a lot of these guys. They don't care what's happened in the past. These guys are fresh."
Love said it's possible half of the 12-member American team will be Ryder Cup rookies. And that means a good dose of team building is ahead in the eight months before the festivities begin in Chaska.
"Dinner, golf, fishing," Love said. "Focus [on players] at the top and work my way through. I don't want to wait until we have a clothes fitting at the Memorial [in June]."
Pressed for details, Love noted it's still too early to get to Minnesota for any kind of preparation.
"Hopefully in March the snow will start melting at Hazeltine and we can get back up there," he said. "We can go to a hockey game up there next week but I don't think we can go to the golf course quite yet."
