New Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III targets playing role

The former US PGA champion revealing his target yesterday during an emotional press conference at Medinah, venue for the match.

"I've given a lot of thought to that (playing] because, as long as I feel like I'm competitive on the Tour, I'm never going to give up my goal of making Ryder Cups," said the 46-year-old after his widely expected appointment was confirmed.

"What I ultimately want is the 12 best players. And, if I'm one of the best eight come the PGA Championship in 2012, then I'm going to want to play because I don't want to leave a guy off the team that might help us win. If that's me, great."

Love, who shot four rounds in the 60s to finish ninth in the Sony Open in Hawaii last weekend, added: "I would love to make the team. We'll cross that bridge if we get to it, but the PGA of America can run the Ryder Cup without Davis Love III for sure.

"If we had good assistants and I'm playing great, that would be a great story for our team and for golf - as long as I get three or four points out of the deal.

"If I'm healthy and make the team on points, then I would deserve a shot at playing and I would have, I think, the experience to play. It would be a nice problem to have, put it that way." Love said he reckoned Jos Maria Olazabal, his opposing captain next year after the Spaniard's appointment earlier in the week, could also get close to making the European team. "If one of us gets hot with the putter, we might make it," said the American.

A six-time Ryder Cup player who was one of Corey Pavin's vice-captains at Celtic Manor in Wales last year, Love said he was "thrilled" to be appointed as captain and was unable to hold back the tears when asked what it would have meant to his father, a PGA professional who died in a plane crash more than 20 years ago. "I would love to share that (thrill] with my father and I know that somehow I am," he said.

In his first Ryder Cup match, at The Belfry in 1993, Love faced Olazabal. "Jos Maria and I go way back. We have shared a lot of trials and tribulations through our careers together," admitted Love. He's always been respectful and supportive of my career."

The new American captain is likely to keep the qualifying system that was used for Celtic Manor, where four wild cards, one more than Europe, completed the visiting team."I'm going to watch guys down the last few weeks and really pick a hot putter," he said of the qualities he'd be looking for in those wild cards.

Love also vowed there would be no repeat of the leaking waterproofs that caused so much embarrassment for the Americans in Wales, saying: "I'm going to put the best players in the world with the best equipment I can get, and give them the best chance they can to win." Allen Wronowski, president of the Professional Golfers' Association of America, stated: "Davis Love III inherited a love for the game through his father, a premier PGA teaching professional, and carried that passion into becoming one of the finest competitors in the game.

"From his Ryder Cup rookie year in 1993 to today, Davis has performed so well under pressure and now brings that experience to lead our next United States team and win back the Ryder Cup."