Tiger Woods’s Ex-Rival Ignored Worrying ‘Heart Murmur’ for 10 Years Before Finally Addressing Health Issue

Back in January this year, 21-time PGA Tour winner and World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III underwent open-heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. The procedure seems to have been a success, as the senior golfer is now back on the course at the Mitsubishi Classic—and he also opened up about the start of his heart issues, which began a decade ago.

Recently, at the pre-tournament conference, the 61-year-old revealed that the surgery was done to resolve a valve issue that his doctors had been monitoring for the last 10 years. Following that, during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open, CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz announced that the 21-time PGA Tour winner was discharged from the hospital and started recovery at home. “The procedure was successful, and I’m now at home recovering. I went in healthy and came out healthier. I’m extremely grateful for all the well wishes, prayers, and messages I have received,” said Davis Love III in a statement.

After almost three months of recovery, he is back on the greens and is playing at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. However, before the first round of the tournament, the senior golfer provided a detailed rundown of everything—when it happened, how it happened, and so on. “Well, over 10 years ago, a couple of my doctor friends said, Did anybody ever tell you you had a heart murmur? I said, No, never heard of that before. They said, Well, we’ll have to look into this.” Unfortunately, they were right.

The 61-year-old further talked about it and said, “Turned out they found out that I had a leaky valve, which is a great plug for early detection on things. We had been watching it for 10 years, and finally, about six months ago, they said, Now it’s time to start thinking about fixing it. It didn’t sneak up on me, but reality hit back last September that I was going to have to have a big surgery and take care of it.” 

Surprisingly, Davis Love III was mentally prepared for the surgery. However, he wasn’t sure about his physical health for a comeback on the greens. The 61-year-old also revealed the pain he felt. He added, “Keep saying it’s like I fell off my bike and broke all my ribs, it’s going to take a while to heal that up, especially when you want to turn and swing and hit.” Luckily, everything worked out, and Love is now making his first start since January.

Davis Love III turned pro in 1985, eleven years before Tiger Woods stepped on the professional greens. A year after he stepped into professional golf, Woods won his first Masters, and Love seemed to have found his rival. During the 1997 US Open, Love finished T16, while Woods wasn’t far behind as he finished T19. Fast forward to 2025, when Love won his 21st title on the PGA Tour; he became the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history.

As for Tiger Woods, he had a very good first three rounds. He started with a 64 in the first round and a 65 in the second round. Although he carded a 68 in the third, the 15x major champion was still looking strong to win. However, a 70 in the final round changed his fate, and he finished at T10. Love was someone who watched the GOAT up close and also shared about how Woods used to treat his rivals.

Tiger Woods used to grade his rivals

The 82x PGA Tour champion carries an intimidating presence to this day. However, the light was even brighter in the 2000s, which is also considered his best era. Woods won three major titles in 2000 and completed the Tiger Slam at the 2001 Masters, with one of his most significant PGA Tour wins that year coming at Bay Hill. At the 2000 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods held a two-shot lead over Davis Love III. After securing the title, the 15-time major champion went on to win the event now known as the Arnold Palmer Invitational four years in a row and didn’t hold back with some harsh words for his rival.

Love later talked about how Woods used to make his rivals feel inferior. “I just remember when he has his A game, you better have your A+ game to keep up with his A game,” he said. Not only that, he never minced his words, as Love further revealed, “I’m trying to get to the green in two, and he’s way up there hitting an iron. I feel like I’m driving it well, and he goes, ‘You’ve got nothing for me.’ He was always brutally honest about it.” This worked, as Davis Love III once felt he was falling behind. To this, he added, “A lot of times when I went out there on the golf course and was playing pretty good, I was like, I’ve got nothing for this guy,” as revealed in the Golfing Gazette.

What do you think about Tiger Woods’ treatment of his rivals? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!