Davis Love III honored for charitable work

DAVIS Love III, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and a two-time winner of The Players Championship, was named the recipient of this year’s Charlie Bartlett Award, given by the Golf Writers Association of America to professional golfers who make contributions to the betterment of society.

Love, a lifelong resident of St. Simons Island, Ga., created the Davis Love Foun-

the RSM Classic, the PGA Tour’s fall event at the Sea Island Club. The tournament and its Birdies Fore Love initiative has raised more than $12 million since 2010, which goes to charities such as Special Olympics, the Safe Harbor Children’s Center in Brunswick and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Georgia.

Love has won 21 PGA Tour titles, including the 1992 and 2003 Players and the 1997 PGA. He is a two-time Ryder Cup captain and guided the U.S. to a victory over Europe in 2016.

He has also been the recipient of the highest service awards presented by the PGA Tour and the United States Golf Association, the Payne Stewart Award in 2008 and the Bob Jones Award in 2013.

Past winners of the Bartlett award, named for the former Chicago Tribune

- clude fellow Hall of Fame members such as Ernie Els, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, Tom Watson, Gene Sarazen, Jack Nicklaus, Billy Casper, Lee Trevino, Patty Sheehan, Betsy King and Lorena Ochoa.

“I’m honored to receive this meaningful award from the GWAA and to be associated with such a distinguished list of former recipients,” Love said in a statement. “I caught on early with my dad hosting a PGA Tour event and me playing in so many to know what [giving back] meant. Then, watching Arnie [ Palmer] and Jack and all of them as their careers wound down and they created tournaments and kept giving back. I’m happy to give back to something that’s given so much to me.”

Love will be honored April 10 at the ISPS GWAA 47th Annual Awards Dinner

round of the Masters.