PGA Tour: Love and Leonard Look to Regain Their Success at the Verizon Heritage

Davis Love III sits in a tie at the top of the leaderboard at a tournament that has provided him with habitual success over the course of his illustrious career.

Love has won the Verizon Heritage, played at Harbor Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina, five times.

Harbor Town, widely regarded as one of the most picturesque courses in the country, presents a course seemingly built to cater to Love’s game, despite it’s slender fairways and small greens.

Love, 44, has 19 PGA Tour victories including a win at the 1997 PGA Championship.

But over the past few years, Love has struggled to regain the swing that made him one of the world’s top players throughout the 90’s.

Love’s struggles have been compounded by a ligament tear in his left ankle suffered last September.

Davis Love III is hoping that this week’s Verizon Heritage will put forward the stepping stone he’s been searching for.

Love, speaking after his opening round 66, said “I’m getting close…You keep sticking the tokens in the machine, eventually you’ll get it right”.

Love is accompanied at the top of the leaderboard by Justin Leonard.

Leonard is similar to Love in that he has won the Verizon Heritage before, back in 2002, and he too has been searching for his game over the past few years.

Leonard won the British Open back in 1997 and appeared to be on his way to a terrific career on the PGA Tour.

Leonard won the Players Championship in 1998, but has been fairly quiet since then. Leonard has a total of 11 PGA Tour victories, but other than the Open Championship in 97’ and the Players Championship in 98’ most of his wins have come at smaller PGA Tour stops.

The Verizon Heritage, which is always played the week following The Masters, is typically thought of as a relaxing Tour stop for the players. Set in a beautiful locale, many players view the Verizon Heritage as a way to unwind and relax after the intense pressure of Master week.

But, I doubt that Davis Love III, who didn’t qualify for the 2008 Masters, and Justin Leonard are viewing the tournament in this way.

Both Love and Leonard have been looking for that stepping stone to catapult their games back to a level they had once known, and certainly believe that this week’s Verizon Heritage, where they have both experienced success in the past, could provide that stepping stone.