Love: Team ‘best maybe ever assembled’

ATLANTA — U.S. captain Davis Love III referred to his Ryder Cup team as “the best golf team maybe ever assembled,” a surprising comment for two reasons.

This was Davis Love, not exactly known for his brash comments.

And the U.S. team isn’t even assembled yet.

Two days before Love makes his final captain’s pick, and a week before the Ryder Cup begins at Hazeltine, Love was on SiriusXM’s “Fairways of Life” show on Friday and asked whether the Americans have tried too hard.

He said they tend to panic after a bad round or lose momentum and are guilty at times of playing not to lose.

“You need to stand up there and smash it down the middle and take off walking and let the other team know, ‘We are going to dominate you,’” Love said.

It’s all about instilling confidence in the U.S. team, believing it has the better squad. Love noted the Americans don’t have to do anything “super human.” And then he finished his thought with words sure to cross the Atlantic.

“We’re a great golf team,” he said. “This is the best golf team maybe ever assembled.”

And just like that, Love put himself in the company of other captains making bold comments. All but one backfired. The Americans had won 11 of 12 times in the Ryder Cup when the matches were played in 1967 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, with the great Ben Hogan as the captain. The opposing captain Dai Rees gave lengthy introductions at the pre-tournament dinner to the Great Britain & Ireland squad before taking his seat.

Hogan asked that applause be held until he was finished.

Players stood as Hogan called their name, and he said, “Ladies and gentleman, the U.S. Ryder Cup team — the finest golfers in the world.” And he sat down. GB&I was no match for the Americans in those days, and it showed. Arnold Palmer and Gardner Dickinson won all five matches in a 23½-8 ½ victory.

The Americans had lost two straight Ryder Cups when Raymond Floyd took over as captain in 1989 at The Belfry and summoned his inner Hogan.

At the gala ball that week, Floyd introduced his team as “the 12 greatest players in the world.”

This didn’t exactly strike fear into Europe. Nick Faldo supposedly turned to Seve Ballesteros and said, “I guess that makes you No. 13.”