Davis Love III

Love enjoys exempt status based on his out-of-nowhere Wydham win in 2015, but who knows how much he'll play this season? Last season, he had zero top-25s in his 15 starts, and it's entirely possible that happens again.

Davis Love III's best days undoubtedly are behind him, but each year he manages to hang in there just enough to continue his PGA TOUR journey. Last season's highlight was a T3 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, but there wasn't much beyond that. Love's production likely will fall again this season, and as such he's not a good option in salary cap leagues. Love likely will be drafted, but not until latter rounds.

Love III is like the Harold Baines of golf - he just won't go away, and nor should he. Love III is going to continue to rack up earnings until it's time to move on, and who can blame him? He's not going to win again on the PGA Tour, but who cares? He can still compete and make a run every now and then, and he's making a bundle of money. Love III's upside is probably in the mid-$1-million range as he hasn't cracked $2 million since 2006.

Love is only a couple years away from joining his buddy Fred Couples on the Champions Tour, but it doesn't appear as though he's ready to let go of his spot on the PGA TOUR just yet. While the days of earning as much as the big guns on the PGA TOUR are long gone, Love is still a productive player. His ceiling is limited but a slight increase on his 2010 number is certainly possible. Although Love is getting up there in age, he can still keep up with the young kids off the tee. He ranked inside the top 20 in driving distance in each of the last three seasons.

One of these years, Love III is going to lose it, but it doesn't look like it will be anytime soon. Love III is simply to good to let the affects of aging completely destroy his game. Instead, the regression in his game will come gradually as it has the last five years. Expect 2010 to look eerily similar to 2009, and 2008 for that matter.

Love is on his last legs as a PGA Tour golfer. The percentage of his earnings that comes in the fall is rising each year, which means he's not competing well against stronger competition. It also means that he's not earning much money during the time when most fantasy leagues are in play.

There's little doubt that Love's best golf is behind him, but 2007 proved to be a particularly hard year for Love III. Not only did he barely crack the $1 million mark, be he also suffered through kidney stones and a twisted ankle. When your game starts heading south, you need everything else to fall into place if you expect to play well. Love III had nothing go his way in 2007. Expect an easier road for Love III in 2008, and better play to follow.

If not for a fall season resurgance, we might be completely writing off Love III for the 2007 season. After all, by the time August rolled around he had played himself off the Ryder Cup team and hadn't finished in the top 10 at a stroke play event all year. Then something clicked. In his next three events he finsihed fourth, first and fifth. He actually played his way into the Tour Championship. Love's late season run makes it difficult to figure out his prospects for 2007. Has he found something that will carry over into 2007? Or was it just one hot streak that won't be a factor come January? The answer lies in between. Don't expect to see Love III winning mulitple events on Tour and winning more than $5 million again, but we also shouldn't see him go through an eight-month stretch without a top-10.

Davis Love was the model of consistency in 2005. No wins, but nine top-10s. A quiet year for Love. He was seemingly under the radar all year, which made it surprising to see how high he finished on the 2005 money list. When you don't win you don't draw much attention. Another thing to like about Love's season was the lack of holes. He played well from beginning to end, no long stretches without a top-10. The question for 2006 is whether he will get back into the winner's circle? He will if he continues his play from 2005. If a player of Love's caliber is consistently in the hunt, sooner or later, he's going to break through.

True, Love came out of the gates on fire in 2004, but the rest of the season was sub-par. Despite earning a tad over $3 million in '04, we don't see him improving on that figure -- he'll actually take a small step down as his best seasons are probably behind him. He can still win a tournament or two, but don't look for Love to be a factor in many more majors.

There were no real droughts in his 2003 season. Love won in February, March, April and August. The question now is, can he keep it up? We don't think he will improve upon his 2003 performance, but he should be able to keep it close to last year. Look for a couple of wins and maybe a Major.