Love denies "best ever Ryder Cup team" claim: "This team is going to be judged by history, not by me"
Davis Love III
US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III denies he called the US team the "best maybe ever assembled" in Ryder Cup history. At least, he didn't say it in the context that many imagine.
"I was being asked by a guy from Canada who called into the show, how do you get your team to get more swagger. They are really good but they don't act like they are really good," Love said of his appearance on SiriusXM's "Fairways of Life" show on Friday.
"And then Matt Adams said, 'Right, you guys said before you try too hard, so what would you tell them?'
" Tom Kite always told me to outdrive 'em and walk faster than them. And then, I said, 'Tom Kite always told me, 'What's better than 2-up? Three up! Trying to fire me up. So what I would tell them is that they are the best golf team ever assembled. 'Let's go out and have some fun.'
“As President Bush told me and my kids when I was in his office, we are still writing the history of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency. So this team is going to be judged by history, not by me.”
"It's like what Nick Saban or Bill Belichick would tell their football team. You don't tell them, 'Hey, you guys aren't as talented as the other team. You haven't worked as hard.' You say, 'Let's go out there and go get 'em.' You pump them up.
"Most people know me. I wasn't saying, let's rank this team in history. If someone asked me the best team, I'd say you've got to ask Ben Crenshaw. I just went through the locker room and saw all these pictures of these different teams and thinking, 'Wow that was an unbelievable team.. and that was an unbelievable team.'
"So as President Bush told me and my kids when I was in his office, we are still writing the history of Thomas Jefferson's presidency. So this team is going to be judged by history, not by me. What I was saying was, 'This is what I'd tell them — You guys are really good. Go out there and play like it.'
"It was unfortunate. And even some people in the same network took a shot. If you listened to the caller, who was from Canada and not on either side, and says how come the Europeans look like they are having fun and are pumped up and our guys look sometimes like there is no energy. And I was just answering his question."
Like the effects of the French Revolution, it's still to early to tell if this is the greatest US Ryder Cup team ever assembled.
"That's what's so disappointing about it," Love added. "Darren walked in today and we sat down and I told him about the Bubba Watson thing and this and that. And Darren did two things for me already last week to make my life easier, to avoid controversies. And that's what it's all about.
"And to think that somebody thought I am trying to call his team out... Well..."
