Jack Nicklaus backs Davis Love III as captain for Hazeltine 2016
Tuesday 3 March 2015 09:31, UK
Jack Nicklaus believes Davis Love III is the right choice as United States captain for next year’s Ryder Cup.
Love will lead the Americans for a second time, having been in charge for the defeat to Europe at Medinah in 2012.
Then, the United States lost by a point despite holding a 10-6 advantage at the start of the final day’s play and earlier led 10-4.
But twice-United States Ryder Cup captain Nicklaus is backing Love to succeed at Hazeltine.
“I think Davis will do a good job. He was a bit unlucky and just got beaten in the last round at Medinah,” he said. “The guys like Davis. He’s pretty low key.
“The Ryder Cup has become a big deal from the standpoint of who’s going to win. But the Ryder Cup is about goodwill, bragging rights and sportsmanship. It’s a great event. But it’s not a war, that’s for sure.
“The Europeans are strong right now but the Americans will come back. Then the Europeans will be strong, and vice-versa. It’s just going to continue to do that over time.”
Love is to name his final captain’s pick after the Tour Championship – the fourth play-off event in the FedEx Series.
“It seems like a sensible decision,“ said 18-time major winner Nicklaus. “Why does he have to be picked two months or six weeks in advance? It’s about having the ability to pick the players who are playing the best at the time.”
And Nicklaus backed Tom Watson, who captained the United States to defeat in last year’s Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
“I like Tom a lot. He’s a great guy and a great leader. I don’t know really what happened at Gleneagles, but it didn’t work out right for Tom,” he said. “But I’ve never seen a guy who worked harder, and prepared more, as a captain than Tom Watson.
“He went to more events, asked more questions and called me numerous times to ask me what I thought. He did the same with a lot of other people.
"I feel bad for him that he became the scapegoat for what went on. And I think it boils down to that the Europeans played better than the Americans, that’s what it was all about.”
