ORLANDO, Fla. — Several players at Bay Hill are tuning up for the Masters.

Davis Love III is trying to get into the Masters.

This is the third straight year Love has been in this predicament, playing the Florida swing with no guarantee the road will lead down Magnolia Lane. That includes a demoralizing finish last year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Love missed the cut, but still could have made the top 50 in the world ranking when the tournament came down to the final hour. His last hope was for Pat Perez to make double bogey, and it almost happened when Perez — trying to win the tournament — fired at the flag and cleared the rocks framing the water by no more than a foot.

Love wound up at No. 51 by four-hundredths of a point.

It can drive a player crazy, which is why Love is trying not to think about such things. He got into trouble earlier this year when he tied for fifth in the Sony Open and started thinking ahead to all the great things that might follow — a return trip to the Masters for the first time since 2007, maybe even a spot on the Ryder Cup team for the first time since 2004.

So what happened?

He missed the cut in his next four tournaments.

Love has fallen to No. 89 in the world ranking, too far down to crack the top 50 with anything short of a victory. Then again, a victory comes with an automatic invitation to the Masters.

If nothing else, it's clear what he has to do this week. Love took a good first step on Thursday with an amazing stretch early in his round and a strong finish for a 6-under 66 to share the lead with J.B. Holmes.

Love already is looking ahead — but only to today.

"All I've got to do is be patient and stay out of my own way," Love said, "and I'll be OK."

All Love knows for sure is that he will be playing in the Houston Open next week, and then at Hilton Head a week later. The Masters? He would hate to miss it, although that's not a priority at the moment.

"It's always in the back of your mind — or the front of your mind," Love said. "After a few weeks where I played kind of poorly ... I was just mentally kind of frazzled. I just said, 'You're going to have to just to play the ones you get in and do the best job you can and quit worrying about everything else."'