The Tragic Story Of Davis Love Finding Jeff Knight Shot Dead At The Cabin
There’s a lot more to Davis Love than meets the eye. The US Ryder Cup Captain has seen his fair share of tragedy first hand.
In the early 2000’s Love bought three fishing cabins at Copeland Hall and did them up. They were all finished by 2003. Love’s brother-in-law, Jeffrey “Big Jeff†Knight, was the unofficial construction manager on the project; he was also Love’s accountant and looked after much of the logistics of Love’s career on Tour.
On the evening of May 11, 2003, Love was in the largest cabin, still reeling over the suicide of his high school golf teammate Robbie Flanders who had jumped to his death from the St. Simons Island causeway bridge. It was not the first tragedy Love had to deal with. 1988 his father, the famous golf teacher Davis Love Jnr, died in a plane crash. Suddenly Love saw the light of a truck pulling into the drive. It was Big Jeff.
Instead of the usual good natured banter that accompanied Jeff’s visits, Love could see that the big man was sick with worry. Both men sat at the kitchen table and Jeff spoke; “Look, I need to spill my guts here.â€
Knight went on to confess to Davis that he had embezzled a figure approximating one million dollars from Love’s fortune and was under investigation from the FBI.
Amazingly Love forgave him and made a vow to stand behind Knight and his family. “He was completely baring his soul; he was in trouble â€" deep. But I talked him through it,†Love recalled.
Four days later, a worried Love drove from his Sea Island, Georgia home to Knight's south Georgia fishing cabin and discovered his brother-in-law slumped over the steering wheel of his truck, a gun on the floor. Knight died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
And Love, the man he had taken from, found him.
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