Davis Milton Love III (born April 13, 1964) is an American professional golfer.

Love was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina before turning professional in 1985. He quickly established himself on the PGA Tour, winning his first tour event in 1987. He was later to be in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for over 450 weeks and reached a high of third. He has established himself as one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour.

Love has won nineteen events on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1997 PGA Championship. He also won the prestigious Players Championship in 1992 and 2003. As of July 2007 he was fourth on the PGA Tour career money leaders list with earnings of more than $35 million.

Love was introduced to the game by his father, Davis Love, Jr. who was a former pro and nationally recognized golf instructor tragically killed in a 1988 plane crash.

Background and family
Love was born to Davis M. Love Jr.and Helen Penta Burgin shortly after his father contended at the 1964 Masters.

He played ice hockey as a kid. As he stated, “I was a right wing, but I could skate backward, so they made me a defenseman.”

Love attended Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School for high school and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1983 to 1985, where he was a three-time all-American and all-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) golfer. He won six titles during his collegiate career, including the ACC tournament championship in 1984.

In 1994, Love founded Love Golf Design, a golf course architecture company, with his younger brother and caddie, Mark Love. The company has been responsible for the design of several courses throughout the southeast United States. Completed in 1997, Ocean Creek is his first signature course and is located on Fripp Island in South Carolina.

In 1997, Love published the book Every Shot I Take, which honors his father’s lessons on life and golf. The book received the 1997 United States Golf Association’s International Book Award.

Love and wife Robin have two children: Alexia and Davis IV. Alexia is a nationally ranked rider of Paso Fino horses. She is currently a sophomore at the University of Alabama where she is a member of Kappa Delta sorority. The Love family has resided in St. Simons Island, Georgia since the early 1990s.

Amateur wins (1)
1984 North and South Amateur

Professional wins (31)

PGA Tour wins (19)
1987 (1) MCI Heritage Golf Classic
1990 (1) The International
1991 (1) MCI Heritage Golf Classic
1992 (3) THE PLAYERS Championship, MCI Heritage Golf Classic, KMart Greater Greensboro Open
1993 (2) Infiniti Tournament of Champions, Las Vegas Invitational
1995 (1) Freeport-McMoRan Classic
1996 (1) Buick Invitational
1997 (2) PGA Championship, Buick Challenge
1998 (1) MCI Classic
2001 (1) AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
2003 (4) AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, THE PLAYERS Championship, MCI Heritage, The INTERNATIONAL
2006 (1) Chrysler Classic of Greensboro
Major championship is shown in bold.

Other wins (12)
1992 Franklin Funds Shark Shootout (with Tom Kite), World Cup of Golf (with Fred Couples), Kapalua International
1993 World Cup of Golf (with Fred Couples)
1994 World Cup of Golf (with Fred Couples)
1995 World Cup of Golf (team with Fred Couples and individual title)
1996 Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge (with Fred Couples and Payne Stewart)
1997 Lincoln-Mercury Kapalua International
1998 The Crowns (Japan Golf Tour)
2000 CVS Charity Classic (with Justin Leonard), Williams World Challenge
2003 Target World Challenge presented by Williams

Major Championships

Wins (1)
Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runner Up
1997 PGA Championship Tied for lead -11 (66-71-66-66=269) 5 strokes Justin Leonard

United States national team appearances

Amateur
Walker Cup: 1985 (winners)

Professional
Dunhill Cup: 1992
World Cup of Golf: 1992 (winners), 1993 (winners), 1994 (winners), 1995 (winners), 1997
Ryder Cup: 1993 (winners), 1995, 1997, 1999 (winners), 2002, 2004
Presidents Cup: 1994 (winners), 1996 (winners), 1998, 2000 (winners), 2003 (tie), 2005 (winners)

Trivia