Davis Love III notches start 791, withdraws from RSM Classic with injury

It is making his goal of playing 804 tournaments, to break the record for PGA Tour starts set by Mark Brooks, difficult to achieve.

In the past, Davis Love III has had spinal fusion, two hip replacements, wrist ligaments, and, now, thumb problems in both hands.  In fact, he is just coming back from the surgery on one thumb, and the other one was next up. And he messed up his wrist at the RSM Classic on Friday making the outlook somewhat bleak.

“I had thumb surgery back in April on my right hand and somehow in the rehab after that, which the surgery went well and the rehab went well, somehow playing golf, I've hurt my wrist since then, a little tear in my wrist and some other issues,” he said after leaving the golf course.

“Obviously I used up all my good shots in the pro-am Wednesday, and it was downhill after that,” he explained.

After nine holes, Davis Love III withdrew because he felt like he was in the way of the other players. 

“I actually had a few good holes until I three-putted for double on 9, then I said goodbye,” Love said.

Luckily, he has a tournament to host so he called all the people who are helping him to let them know he was back to 100% host.

“Last year I stood between 9 and 18 on Sunday and talked to every player when they went through and finished and thanked them for coming,” he explained about one aspect of a host’s duties. 

Love said he did that because he recalled seeing Byron Nelson sitting on the first tee and greeting players as they started and then congratulating the winners when they finished at the tournament in Dallas which was named after him.

“It’s just disappointing,” Love said about his predicament. “It’s been a long year and a lot of effort from a lot of doctors and therapists and coaches to try to get me back to where I could play.”

It baffles him, really, particularly since he had two hips replaced and was back playing on tour. Hips seem like they would be much more complicated than thumbs.

“I lose thumb-wrestling to my granddaughters. I just have no strength in my hands. It’s hard to play golf without that,” He admitted. “What got me is, I can’t even fix my ball mark.”

Love said he has bone-on-bone arthritis in both thumbs and knew he would need surgery to repair it.

He picked the right hand to do first, but this is a setback. Now, he will have surgery on the left thumb as soon as he finishes fixing the right one.

“I knew a year ago it would take me a year and a half to get back to normal and it’s been longer than that. It’s a bummer,” he added.

However, Love hasn’t given up on Mark Brooks’ record just yet. 

“I figured the other day if I can just play RSM until I’m 75, I can do it,” he quipped. “I got to 21 wins for lifetime exemptions, I can take a year off and come back and play.”