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ORLANDO, Fla. Davis Love III never used to grind like this. Not in the fall, anyway.
During the last six weeks, the 19-time winner on the PGA Tour has crisscrossed the country like a presidential candidate. He has traveled to Verona, N.Y.; San Antonio; Las Vegas; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Palm Coast; and now to Disney. He has logged all those miles and spent so much time away from his family just to rejuvenate his golf game.
He is close now. Love blistered Disney's Magnolia course on Saturday, firing an 8-under 64 to close within sight of the leaders entering Sunday's final round of the Children's Miracle Network Classic, the last event on the 2008 PGA Tour schedule. At 17 under, Love trails leaders Scott Verplank and Steve Marino by just two shots.
Love had struggled and struggled this year until only recently. He missed some time in August and September to rest his left ankle, which he had originally injured in 2007.
He hadn't posted a top-18 finish until he tied for third place at the Turning Stone Resort Classic on Oct. 5.
His best moment Saturday came on the par-5 14th hole after he blasted his tee shot into the intermediate rough, 254 yards from the pin.
His second shot landed 20 feet from the hole, and he sank the putt to drop to 7 under on the day.
His greatest obstacles now will be the two guys he'll be grouped with Sunday: Verplank, a 44-year-old veteran, and Marino, a 28-year-old in just his second full season on Tour.
As Verplank remembers it, he and Love met each other in 1978, at an American Junior Golf Association event in Atlanta.
In the years since, they've played on Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams together and even were in each other's weddings.
Elsewhere
LPGA: South Korea's Shin Ji-yai shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 at chilly and wet Kinetsu Kashikojima to take a two-stroke lead in the Mizuno Classic in Shima, Japan.
The Women's British Open champion, making her fifth start of the year in Japan, had a 10-under 134 total. Shin birdied both par 5s on the front nine, chipping to 2 feet on the par-5 first and a foot on the par-5 seventh. She then showed off her iron play in two back-nine birdie runs, hitting a 6-iron to a foot on 10, a 5-iron to 3 feet on 11, another 6-iron to inches on 15 and a 9-iron to 4 feet on 16.
Japan's Mayu Hattori, was second after a 69. South Korea's Lee Jee-young and Japan's Shiho Oyama three strokes back at 7 under.
