Weeks removed from Ryder Cup, Love reflects on U.S. victory

— -- ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It's only mid-November, but Davis Love III already knows what he wants for Christmas this year.

Some quiet time.

It's tough to blame him. In the past month and a half alone, Love has successfully captained the United States Ryder Cup team to its first victory in eight years, was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame and returned from hip surgery to begin competing again on the PGA Tour.

Flanked by the Ryder Cup trophy at his side, Love spoke with ESPN.com from the clubhouse patio at Sea Island Golf Club, site of this week's PGA Tour event, the RSM Classic. As if he wasn't already busy enough, he will serve as tournament host once again.

Q: Winning Ryder Cup captain, elected to the Hall of Fame, playing golf again. It's been a pretty nice little six-week stretch for you.

A: Yeah, it's been an incredible year, really. I could talk for hours just about Bubba Watson or hours just about Tiger Woods or hours just about Brandt Snedeker. Even Brandt was saying, "Hey, we lost the momentum on our text messages.' I said, 'I know, we've all got to get together somehow and talk about it."

Like, '99 was incredible to be on a winning team, but there wasn't this six years of angst building up to it and all this pressure on the guys. There were a few guys like Brandt that had Medinah [and the 2012 Ryder Cup loss] in their head all the time. Honestly, it was not a part of this. This was a new era; this is a new deal. I've got to get these guys' support, so they can win. I was like, 'This is your team. This team has never played together before. It has no history. Twelve strong is going to mean more to you guys than it did to [Tom] Watson's team [two years ago]. You guys take this and take ownership of it.'

There was just so much to it this time. It just seemed like it was more pressure and a bigger relief after they won. It was a long journey to a win, and obviously, I was part of both sides, as a loser and a winner.

Q: What was the difference between this U.S. team compared with previous versions? Why did this one succeed, where others didn't?

A: Mike Cowan, "Fluff," he came up and congratulated me. I said, "They played great; they really deserved it." He said, "You're always going to give somebody else the credit, but they sure as hell gave you credit for losing, didn't they? Why don't you take some credit for winning?"

These guys took what all of us wanted them to do -- just be prepared, just play your game, and go out and prove that you are the best team. So I'm really proud of the way they played. I don't think that we had an impact on them, but we freed them up a little bit, I think, this time.

I think one of the main reasons they picked me out of this task-force group to do it was because everybody, from media to staff to players, would be comfortable. It wouldn't be, "What are we going to do? Who's the new captain? How do we approach him?" I've done it before. Obviously, we're going to have a lot of guys on the team that played for me before and could be really comfortable.

But I'm proud of the way that they took ownership of it. They came in for practice rounds, prepared, did everything they could. Guys were calling me and texting me from the Tour Championship at dinner: "We think we ought to play this guy with this guy." They took responsibility and ownership. We really all came together.

I watched [Bill] Belichick and [Tom] Brady at their charity dinner one night, and then watched them get on the bus and leave for a trip. They made us some videos, so I saw behind the scenes a really, really successful team. You think it's going to be all business and rules and regulations and structure, but it was more like a family. They were all pulling together. They were all hugging each other and glad to see each other, whether it was the locker room or at dinner. And I said, "That's what we need more of; we need more trust."

I think Bubba at the last minute kind of brought us all even closer. Arnold Palmer, obviously, was an emotional thing. (Editor's note: Palmer died days before the Ryder Cup.) We were all together. I think a lot of things added up that bonded this team better than any team I've been on in the past.

Q: You talk about that family atmosphere. I know you mentioned earlier today that you haven't watched the whole thing on TV yet. Maybe you need a big viewing party for the whole team to get together.

A: It would be great. We're trying right now to get the whole team together to go to the White House, and I don't even know if we can do that. We need to, whether it's in small groups or a big group, we all need to sit down and celebrate. We had a pretty good celebration Sunday night, but maybe celebrate without quite as much partying. We need to break it down and say, "All right, Brandt, that was great. You played unbelievable. Tell us how we did. What are your memories of it? What can we do better?"

I know five, six things already that I want to do better to help whoever the next captain is, and we dropped the ball several places. We certainly weren't perfect, but getting guys together and continuing this momentum is really, really crucial. Then adding in Justin Thomas and Smylie Kaufman, and we had Daniel Berger come play a practice round; he thought that was the greatest thing ever, that he got to see inside the ropes [with] a Ryder Cup team. They're telling everybody, they're telling the story, so getting them involved and getting our guys involved in talking about Paris [for the 2018 Ryder Cup]. Instead of a year out, let's talk about it two years out. Let's start getting ready.

Q: You mentioned the White House trip. When might this happen?

A: Well, we're working on a day.

Q: In the next 60 days or after that?

A: I asked that question, yes. The sitting president invited us, and we won during his presidency, so that's what we're going to do. But it's like herding cats. I'm not very good at this. I told the PGA of America, "You try to herd them to this thing." Guys are going all over the world in December, playing in different tournaments, so I don't know how many we'll get. But they told me the last time, when [Paul] Azinger's team won [in 2008], that they didn't get all 12 guys to go.

Q: Four years ago, when you captained for the first time, Europe came from behind on the final day to win. Two years ago, there was a lot of turmoil within the U.S. team afterward. How much pressure did you personally feel to win this time around?

A: You know, I felt a lot of pressure to take care of the plan that we came up with in the task-force meeting. I didn't feel any pressure to win. Phil [Mickelson] kept saying, "Look, as long as we do this for the next 10 Ryder Cups, we're going to win seven out of the 10. We're not going to win them all." We even said, "We might not win this one, but we have to trust this is the right direction that we're going."

I was feeling a lot of pressure that the players were feeling. You know me a little bit; it's not about my record, it's about their record. I would have given anything to go back and have a win in '12 just for Webb Simpson and Brandt Snedeker to quit apologizing to me. And I know Tom Kite would love to have a win, so I would quit apologizing to him, and Justin Leonard would quit apologizing to him for screwing up '97.

Tom Kite did a fabulous job, and he gets criticized for running a bad Ryder Cup, and Tiger Woods and Justin Leonard and Davis Love won majors that year and didn't get him a point. It's not Tom Kite's fault. We screwed up, and we screwed up because we were trying too hard to win for Tom Kite, because we loved Tom Kite and we wanted him to get a win.

I didn't do a great job in '12, but I did a better job in '16. It's not about me. It's not about Tiger Woods or Jim Furyk. This is your team, and that's why in the closing speech, I made a point of saying, "12 Strong," because that's what they did. Rickie [Fowler] was a big part of that with onesies and T-shirts. Zach [Johnson] was a big part of that. Matt Kuchar got up Saturday night with a whiteboard; he'd told us, "Tonight, bring two things to dinner that you're thankful for, and it can't be your family, faith or friends."

It started out, "Here's my two," and then the next thing you know Bubba is crying and Steve Stricker is crying. But Matt stood there for an hour and a half holding that board. He never sat down, and he wrote things down, and then [in the] end, he said, "Tomorrow, let's just be thankful for these things and take the pressure off."

Everybody took a role and played a part in it, so I was proud of all those guys for handling the pressure and pulling the team together in their own way. They did. They took ownership of it. And they understood that they had to bond as 12, because they were the ones out there on the golf course.

Q: Every player sat out at least one session at Medinah; every player sat out at least one session at Hazeltine, except for Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth. I've heard that Patrick walked into the team room at some point and said, "I'm not sitting at all." True or false?

A: No, not in the team room. Well, he told me and Tiger, "How could you sit out your best player? Why would you sit him out?" We love you, Patrick, but everybody is going to sit out. I get it. I was that guy in 1993. I go, "Why would you sit me out? I'm smashing it. Put me with Tom Kite, and we'll never lose." Well, we played Seve [Ballesteros] and Jos? [Maria Olazabal] and lost two in a row, and Watson goes, "You're out."

Weren't going to play him, but Patrick had such a great attitude. He was so confident. He was so confident in his partner that we ran his partner into the ground. I apologized to Jordan. I said, "Look, I'm sorry. I wore you out. But your man was rolling."

It was all about singles, really, and we wanted everybody to be ready. Nothing works out perfect, but the only real consequence of how well Patrick was playing was we ran Jordan a little ragged. But he loved it. I mean, he knew the deal going in. Jordan is an ultimate team guy, because he gets it. He said, "I will do whatever you want me to do. I'll play with Patrick until the cows come home." And he did.

Q: How do you explain Patrick basically jumping in the phone booth, and instead of Superman, Captain America comes out?

A: When he came out on tour, the tour guys came to me and said, "Hey, here's a young kid that you ought to talk to. You ought to go put your arm around Patrick Reed and get to know him." I tried several ways. I'm not real aggressive. Then he's winning tournaments. I go, "He seems to be doing fine."

He's a misunderstood guy. He and J.B. [Holmes] were my two guys that I could put up against anybody, and they just wanted to punch them in the face. They wanted to fight. That's the main reason we picked J.B. Same thing with Ryan Moore, but in a different way. One on one, you want Patrick Reed or J.B. Holmes or Ryan Moore, who is just quiet -- confident I don't need any help, I've got this.

Patrick, I saw it in '14. This guy in the right role is unbeatable as a teammate. And I think Jordan saw that, too. Patrick asked for Jordan and Dustin [Johnson]. Patrick is no dummy. "Put me with Jordan or Dustin." OK, great idea. But Patrick was a big part of our emotion and our confidence. Phil Mickelson is the same way. "Why would you sit me out? I'm going to win." That's the attitude you want.

Q: How did Tiger Woods the assistant captain differ from Tiger Woods the player?

A: Early career, Tiger was like me. My job is to win five points, and I don't have to talk to anybody. If I win five points, everything takes care of itself. He learned that being a good teammate is important. He learned, really, a lot from watching Phil lose every point at some Presidents Cup and still be a good team guy. So he became a good teammate.

Then he realized that his contribution to this team was probably not going to be with his clubs, and he was going to make a contribution. Out of friendship and respect that we have for each other, he said, "Look, I will do whatever it takes to make this successful." For him to commit to the task force is one thing. Then to commit a year out that he's going to be an assistant captain, that was a big thing.

He doesn't do anything halfway -- lift weights, ride bikes, whatever. He jumps in. We almost had to back him off, like, "Calm down, you can't make the Saturday pairings yet." He's like, "Well, we're picking this guy, this guy and this guy." We're like, "They haven't even played the BMW Championship yet!"

But he was so focused and driven. I can just flip through his text messages and show you pictures of pairings, plan A, plan B, cold weather pairings versus hot weather, wet versus dry. No wonder the guy is so successful.

Half the team said, "We're in his head. This is unbelievable. He's telling us things that he used against us in the past." Why? Because he wanted to win. He was on a mission. He said twice to the team, "I watched Davis do this twice. I don't know if I really want to do this. This is a lot of work." But what did he do right after the Ryder Cup? He committed to the Presidents Cup as assistant captain. He didn't want to say, "I want to play." He said, "I want to be Steve's assistant." So he's become a leader.

Now, is he going to ever be the Arnold Palmer role? I don't know. Would he ever have that kind of respect from the rest of the world? But I can tell you, in our team room, he earned an incredible amount of respect from the players that were there and from me.

Q: Are you ready to do this again?

A: I will not do it again unless they twist my arm.

Q: They twisted your arm last time, and it worked.

A: Well, Tiger and Phil and Jim [Furyk] made me do it.

Q: Couldn't they make you do it again?

A: I was honored that [former PGA of America president] Allen Wronowski asked me. I was humbled and blown away when [PGA of America president] Derek Sprague and my peers asked me to do it the second time. That meant more to me, because they said, "You're the right guy to do it." That gave me a lot of confidence the second time around.

I argued -- and they'll tell you -- "I'm taking somebody's turn if I do it in '16. Somebody is getting skipped over, whoever it is," and they said, "No, this is the right thing to do. We lost Payne [Stewart]. This is Payne's spot that you filled in somewhere."

But we have a plan leading out, and I'm not in the discussion. I get one of six votes to vote against me, so at least I can start the ball rolling.

Q: During the past six weeks, with the Ryder Cup win, the Hall of Fame election, how much have you thought about your father? (Editor's note: Love's father was a club professional who died in a plane crash in 1988.)

A: A lot. It's a part of everything we do. Jack Lumpkin just gave me a 20-, 30-minute lesson, and he can't give me a quick lesson without saying, "Well, your dad would have said to do this," or "Your dad would have been proud of that." So it's part of everything we do, part of our legacy.

Everywhere I go around here, everything I do in golf is connected to him. Watching my grandbaby with her putter, I just wish great-grandpa could teach her, not me. But yeah, he's part of everything we do, and there's great memories.

The only thing, really, that will be sad about the Hall of Fame induction is that my dad won't be there.