Love, The Morning After

Love's more comfortable the second time you fall

Like a friendly home the second time you call

Who can say what brought us to this miracle we've found?

There are those who'll bet love comes but once, and yet

I'm oh, so glad we met the second time around

Lord knows I never thought love Love would come again, but what exactly did the great lyricist Sammy Cahn mean by falling a second time?  Old friend Tim Rosaforte, who broke the story, says it's more about the future than redemption:

Thus, we’re going to hear phrases at the news conference on Tuesday, Feb. 24 that this

was “building the foundation” with a guy that not only orchestrated a four-point lead at Medinah in 2012, but that has been in the back rooms of Ryder Cups since 1993. 

You’re also going to hear “captain by committee,” where it’s not just Love making important decisions at Hazeltine. He'll be the man out front, but it will be Love along with the respected Tom Lehman and a guy being groomed for the captaincy at Whistling Straits in 2020, Steve Stricker.

So, we're throwing in the towel preemptively on 2018?  I get that Stricker is a Wisconsin guy and therefore a natural for 2020 (and I'll also note that Lehman is a Minnesota guy), but apparently it's only about the way-off future.  And here's Tim's coda:

For Azinger, there’s far more to lose than gain from another captaincy. It’s different for Love, because as Azinger pointed out, European captains Tony Jacklin and Bernard Gallacher learned from their losses before producing victories. “Davis will bring continuity to the process,” Azinger told Hoggard. 

Continuity is also a phrase we will be hearing at the official announcement of Love’s captaincy at PGA of America Headquarters next week.

Continuity, building the foundation and captain by committee: It’s stealing a page from the European Tour handbook on team building. Works for them. Let’s see if it works for the U.S.

For those whose eyes glazed over, I'm guessing that they're going for...errr...what's the word, continuity.  A strange obsession when you haven't won a Ryder Cup since the Carter administration...

 Alex Miceli thinks Love is exactly the right guy as per this logic:

In the Ryder Cup task-force meeting, a discussion of past experiences from others in the

room helped Love learn how he mishandled Saturday night. 

“We were just a little bit off at Medinah, and I learned – I don’t want to tell you what’s going on with the task force, but what I learned in there was all the things that I didn't do right,” Love said. “Like, Holy cow, that makes sense. Why didn't I talk to that guy? Why dididn't have that guy in the room? Why didn't I have this guy in the room? Why wasn't I surrounded with former captains?” 

Love knows what he did wrong, which makes him the perfect pick to rectify the situation at Hazeltine National Golf Club in 2016.

Failure is often the springboard to success, but earlier in the piece Alex shared this with us:

Love was the perfect leader when it came to building an advantage. Once he had it, he lost his edge. 

The discussion that Saturday night in the U.S. team room was more about popping champagne corks 24 hours later than acknowledging that the Europeans remained a viable force. 

When the scoreboard turned to a sea of blue in Sunday’s singles matches, neither Love nor the U.S. team was prepared for the European onslaught. 

One former U.S. captain called that team meeting a kumbaya moment, and one of the worst decisions made by a captain.

Egads, if that's an accurate portrayal of the U. S. team room then I withdraw yesterday's tentative support of the choice.  How could you have possibly watched that electric Saturday 4-ball match that Poulter-McIlroy (and Rory was mostly a spectator) stole from Dufner-Zach and think that the Euros were done?  

Shack had us prepped for some whinging (and trust me here, that's not a typo) over the timing of the leak, as the euros are set to announce Darren Clarke as their captain tomorrow.  But James Corrigan, our favorite curmudgeon, thinks it an unwise choice:

The Stars and Stripes needed a blank canvas, a fresh start after the farce of Tom

Watson’s leadership at Gleneagles. They needed it to be about the players - just as Paul McGinley and so many of his predecessors ensured it has been for Europe - and not about the captain, the man they so proudly call “Mr Captain” during the interminable build-up.

Well, guess what? This will be all about Davis Love and the exorcising of his Chicago ghosts. And so, a character who does not even get to hit a ball will command the spotlight. They never learn do they?

But you could argue equally well that a focus on DLIII will minimize the pressure on his players.  

Lastly, a guy known only as Alex revealed this regrettable tattoo to Deadspin in 2013, long after the Meltdown at Medinah:

I'm guessing he's happy, as tattoo's are one field where you don't get mulligans.  Apparently he had to add the DLIII signature after the fact because no one recognized him, little wonder as it looks far more like Ernie to my eye.