Augusta tailor-made for Love

Okay, so you're a scientist, living in the future, and your task is to construct a robot capable of winning the Masters. What do you look for?

Firstly, someone with the right temperament, an unfazed kind of guy. Secondly, someone who can hit the ball long with a slight draw off the tee. Then, someone who more often than not hits pure iron shots, and someone who knows how to get the ball into the hole once on the green.

Put them all together, and you've got someone remarkably like . . . Davis Love? By rights, Love is tailor-made for Augusta National. Yet, on each one of his previous 14 attempts, he has been thwarted. On three occasions, he even missed the cut; while his two best finishes - outright second place, in 1995 and 1999 - only served to emphasise that he has the game to succeed, if only things were to fall into place. So far, that hasn't happened.

"I must be doing something right because I have got seven (career) wins on either side of Augusta," remarked Love, who believes that maybe he is guilty of trying too hard come Masters time.

"I haven't let myself go at the Masters enough . . . I take a deep breath and drive down the road to (the MCI Classic) Hilton Head and say, 'why didn't I win the Masters?' and then I play at Hilton Head and I win, because I relax and play my game and I'm confident." He has five career wins in the MCI.

Love was born the day after the 1964 Masters ended. His father, Davis Jnr, was tied for the lead after 18 holes but finished in a tie for 34th position. Next Tuesday, two days after the 67th Masters champion gets his green jacket, Love will turn 40. But he doesn't believe the clock is ticking down on his chance to become the champion here.

"When I came out here on tour (in 1985), the guys that were winning the big tournaments were 38 to 44. Even Jack Nicklaus at 46 won the Masters. You think, 'golly, I have to work hard to where I have enough experience that I can win those big tournaments'.

"Now, the perception is, well, you've got to win them at 25 because that's when everybody is winning them. These guys are so good when they are young. But I still think experience means a lot. I think I'm right where I want to be. I've got the experience, I've got the length."

Last year, despite many personal issues, Love enjoyed the best season of his career. He won four times - the Players', the Pebble beach Pro-Am, the MCI Heritage and the International - and earned over $6 million in prizemoney. All this in a year when his brother-in-law, Jeff Knight, an employee of Love's, committed suicide.

"We're coming up on the anniversary of my brother-in-law's death. We're still, as a family, dealing with that. No matter what the distractions are for me, trying to play, I've done a pretty good job over my career of focusing on that and coming home."

In February, he had distractions of a different kind when he was heckled by a Tiger Woods "supporter" during the final round of the Accenture WGC matchplay in California. Subsequently, Love donated his entire runners-up cheque - $700,000 - to his local church. If some divine intervention is required come the back stretch on Sunday, who knows . . .?

Until then, Love is intent on making sure he doesn't get too emotionally excited about his latest Masters, and that he doesn't repeat last year's opening round when he got so pumped up that he shot a 77 and effectively played his way out of contention, despite adding on three rounds of 71 to finish tied 15th.