Davis Love III Ready to Captain 2012 Ryder Cup

Davis Love III has not been in the spotlight for a while. His last victory was a fall series event, at Disney in 2008.

But with 20 victories including the 1997 PGA Championship and two Players Championships, Love has a career most would envy. It will eventually earn him a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

It's hard to believe he's going to turn 47 this April.

Now, Love becomes the captain of the 2012 Ryder Cup, which will be played at Medinah CC in the Chicago area.

“It's one of the great honors in golf to make one Ryder Cup Team. It would make your career,” Love said. “To get to be an assistant captain, I thought was one of the highlights of my career.”

While it is never a sure thing until a player is actually named captain, Love was being groomed by being an assistant in 2010. He paid attention.

"The first couple of Ryder Cups, you're just trying to not be too nervous,” he explained. “Then once we did three or four of them, Robin (Love's wife) and I started taking a little more care in watching what was going on, learning how The Ryder Cup ran.”

While many were already pressing him about his choices for assistant captains, Love said he is not ready to announce any assistants just yet.

“One thing I've learned, in my 25 years on the tour and in business, you've got to find the smart people and put them in the right positions to be successful,” he said.

“What I've learned is take the best from a guy like Lee Trevino, you take the best from Tom Watson and Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw, the things that I've seen over the years, experiences, and put them all together and try to mold your team and try to give them the best chance they can to win.”

He has 18 months to get ready for what may be his biggest challenge in golf.

While he was pressed for who might make the team, Love explained that there might be surprises in terms of who is on it:

“We'll have some fresh faces. There will be some players of the 12 that will have an incredible year and make the team and there will be some rookies,” he explained.

“That's the way it's been in all of the past Ryder Cups. There was Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer and then there were some young guys named Crenshaw and Kite that nobody really had ever heard of, and so it will always be that way.”

There is one characteristic that Love said will be key to any captain's picks:

“You want guys that can handle the pressure, that really are working hard to make the team and are passionate about it,” Love said, adding that he thought every player on the PGA Tour wanted to make the Ryder Cup team these days.

“Ultimately, I want guys on my team that are putting well, are playing well. I'm going to watch guys down the last few weeks and really pick a hot putter. There is a reason why Rickie Fowler was on that team, why Zach Johnson was on that team, why Tiger Woods. Because we knew under pressure, those guys can putt.”