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US give Love III Ryder Cup captaincy

Davis Love III will look to help the United States regain the Ryder Cup © Getty Images

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Davis Love III has been confirmed as the United States' captain for the 2012 Ryder Cup.

The 46-year-old, a veteran of six Ryder Cups as a player, was widely considered the favourite to be named to the prestigious role, and acknowledged his appointment had long been an open secret as he was formally unveiled. The 1997 USPGA champion is looking forward to welcoming opposite number Jose Maria Olazabal and his European team to Medinah Country Club in just over 18 months' time, describing it as an 'honour' to lead his country.

"I am thrilled to be here as the Ryder Cup captain talking about the 2012 Ryder Cup," Love said. "It is a long, long away but we have been talking about this for a long time. Robin [Love's wife] and I ... we are thrilled to have this opportunity, we are excited to be a part of the Ryder Cup once again.

"It's a great honour in golf to make one Ryder Cup in your career, to make a few of them is a blessing. And to get to be an assistant captain was one of the highlights of my career. It is going to be an even bigger thrill for us to lead a team, to watch our team, the United States team, try to win the Ryder Cup back here in Medinah."

Love is confident everything is in place at the Chicago venue for the American team to win back the trophy they last won in 2006 at Valhalla, after a narrow defeat at Celtic Manor last year.

"What a great facility, what a great golf course. What a great town, with a passion for sports," Love said. "I think we couldn't ask for a better home field advantage than Chicago and Medinah Country Club. So I think all things are coming together to make this one of the best Ryder Cups in history."

Love acted as an assistant captain to Corey Pavin during the American's ill-fated effort in Wales in 2010, but believes he learned a great deal from the experience and will draw on that, along with the memories of his appearances as a player, to influence his leadership style.

"Seeing it from the inside I saw the hard-work he [Pavin] and his team put into it, I learned a lot," Love said. "What I learned is that I need to go back to all my former captains, whether they were winning captains or not they all did a great job, I'm going to take little things from each one of them, things that I liked and things that the players liked.

"But my main mission is to make my players prepared to play on Friday morning like they are prepared every other week of the year. I think if there is any problem the American team has ever had, in the seven Ryder Cups I've been involved in, is that we just tried too hard. I know that is a simplification, but you put together a gameplan and you try and execute it, and that's what we are going to try and do."

Still well over a year away, Love nevertheless conceded that he and his team have already begun discussing ways they can tailor the course to suit the team and their playing style.

"They are already talking about course setup, even though it is blanketed in snow," Love said. "Obviously this course has stood the test of time, in major championships and all different kinds of play. Obviously with matchplay it is a different challenge but golf course setup is going to be important to that.

"We want some risk/reward holes. Obviously the American side is aggressive, hard-hitting and we like to make birdies, so I think we will probably lean towards that."

Love made his debut as a player at the 1993 Ryder Cup at the Belfry, finishing on the winning side on that occasion and then again in 1999 at Brookline. His last appearance as a player came in 2004, ending his career in the competition having won a total of 11-and-a-half points, with nine wins, 12 defeats and five draws from his 26 matches.

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