Davis Love III: Ryder Cup success would mark start of new era for USA
By Ali Stafford at Hazeltine
Last Updated: 28/09/16 9:23pm
Davis Love III believes this week will mark the start of a new era of Ryder Cup success for the USA team.
The hosts head into this week's tournament at Hazeltine off the back of three consecutive defeats and just one win in their previous eight meetings with Europe, with their only triumph this century coming at Valhalla in 2008.
Comments from Phil Mickelson after Europe's win at Gleneagles in 2014 led to the PGA of America setting up a Ryder Cup task force, forming a committee to improve pre-tournament preparation.
The changes have been widely praised by the American team this week and Love believes the work gives the USA a fresh start in their bid for a long-awaited victory.
"We have a game plan now for this Ryder Cup, for the next Ryder Cup and in to the future," Love told a pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday. "I just think we reorganised, we restructured.
"We had a franchise that was losing all its games, so we changed the front office and started over so it's a fresh beginning.
"We're excited to look in to the future. We saw that Europe was a little bit more organised than us and a little bit more thinking long term, and we decided to change our game plan."
Love refused to get drawn in to criticism of Danny Willett's brother, Peter, who caused controversy around Hazeltine with his published article that was critical of the American fans.
European captain Darren Clarke and Willett both expressed their disappointment at the piece, while Love played down the impact it will have on the home crowd.
"I heard about it on the golf course from a friend of mine and I took coach (Bill) Belichick's advice and ignored the noise," Love added.
"If you know me, I don't even read my own press clippings when I win much. I don't pay much attention to it.
"If I read it, I'm just going to get mad. If I read it, I'm just going to get defensive. So I just try to ignore it."
