Davis Love III shares first-round lead in Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links

From WorldGolf.com News Services

Davis Love III's quest to recapture his game took a major step forward in a familiar setting Thursday during first-round play at the Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Making his 23rd consecutive start in Hilton Head, S.C., Love fired a 5-under-par 66 to share the lead with Justin Leonard and Lucas Glover. Love is certainly no stranger to the top of the leaderboard in the event, winning it five times and finishing in the top 10 on six other occasions.

"It helps, certainly, to be comfortable," Love told reporters. "Does it help five strokes a day? No. But it certainly helps a stroke here or there.

"If you're comfortable in a place and you're comfortable with the way the greens are rolling and how to read them, it gives you a little bit more confidence."

Love has struggled to regain his form since suffering torn ligaments in his left ankle last September. After surgery and rehabilitation, the 44 year old's best finish this year was 24th place in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which marked his first start of the year.

Since then, Love missed three of six cuts and wasn't in the field for last weekend's Masters. With the exception of trying to check in on good friends Fred Couples and Brandt Snedeker, Love said he didn't watch much of the action from Augusta National on television, instead opting to play golf, hunt turkeys and work out.

"I'm not much of a golf-on-TV watcher, anyway," Love said. "If it's light outside I'm usually outside, unless it's raining.

"It was weird not being there, but I missed a few World Golf Championships this year, too. I'm accepting the fact that you can get hurt and miss stuff and still bounce back and play well."

Love said the key to his round Thursday was a solid start and a consistent mental approach - something he believes he's struggled with during his comeback attempt. Love birdied five of his first seven holes on his way to a bogey-free round.

"Best start I've had this year," Love said. "I've been putting myself behind the eight ball usually the first nine holes or first day or first hole, [it] seems like every round. So it's nice to birdie the first two and get off to a good start."

Love said he's "close" to getting back to where he wants to be physically. He's playing in his eighth tournament in the past 11 weeks, which he admits might be a little much for his physical therapist's liking.

"I'm ahead of schedule. I'm feeling better. I'm excited about playing," Love said. "Obviously, I wanted to get back as quick as possible to play as many tournaments as I could before Augusta and hoping to get on a roll, which I never quite did. But I kept feeling like I was close."

Love, Leonard and Glover enter Friday's second round with a one-shot lead over a group of 10 players who are tied for fourth at 4-under 67. Included in that group are Anthony Kim, John Rollins, Stewart Cink, Tim Herron, Camilo Villegas, Brian Davis, Nick Dougherty, Mathias Gronberg and Jay Williamson, who matched the best start to a round on the PGA Tour this year with five consecutive birdies out of the gate.

Of the 37 players in the field who also started in this year's Masters, Leonard had the best day. The 2002 Verizon Heritage winner, who ended tied for 20th in the Masters, said he enjoyed a much less taxing round at Harbour Town.

"Last week was so challenging and they made the golf course so much more difficult at the end of the week you're just totally drained," Leonard told reporters. "I kind of equate it to last week was like final exams and this week is like spring break. You come here, it's such a relaxed atmosphere — we go on bike rides and do a lot of fun stuff with the kids. Golf is almost secondary here."

While Leonard was grinding it out in the Masters, Glover said he was excited to get back into a tournament again after sitting out the major. He's coming off a tie for 14th in the Shell Houston Open on April 6.

"Having last week off and finding a little something in Houston, I was able to watch the most motivational tournament in the world," Glover told reporters when asked about watching the Masters on television. "That gets you going a little bit. I worked pretty hard last week out here and got my work done and it kind of paid off today. Whether or not I keep it going, that's another thing."

April 18, 2008