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OMEGA DUBAI LADIES MASTERSDecember 8, 2014Laura DaviesDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES THE MODERATOR: Dame Laura Davies, this is your eighth straight appearance in the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Masters. How does it feel to be back here at Emirates Golf Club? DAME LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I love it obviously, one of my favorite tournaments of the year, not just in the European Tour but during the year itself. Love the course, love the people, obviously represent golf in DUBAi, and yeah, just enjoying being here. THE MODERATOR: Your last competitive appearance in Japan, you nearly won on the LPGA. How much confidence does that give you? How are you feeling about your game coming here? DAME LAURA DAVIES: Oh, it's huge. Obviously you nearly win it on the LPGA, you know you're playing well and putting well, which has always been the biggest thing for me the last couple of years. So yeah, a huge boost confidence and shows I can still win and I think that week proved that I could. THE MODERATOR: Who are biggest competitors in your opinion? DAME LAURA DAVIES: I think the obvious two would be Shanshan and Anna Nordqvist. They are the ones that have done really well on the LPGA this year. They are way up on the World Rankings. I think if you finish in front of both those players, I think there's a fair chance you'll be on top of the leaderboard. Q. How do you fancy yourself coming in, and you've played here quite a lot. DAME LAURA DAVIES: Like I say, last round of golf I played was in Japan and finished fourth. It was an unfortunate fourth, but like I say played really well all week, putted well which was the key. So coming to a course that I know I like, the first couple of times I played‑‑ I haven't done well the last three years around here, purely because of putting, not ball‑striking. The way the course sets up, left‑to‑right and right‑to‑left suits my game. I'm not saying I'm confident I'm going to win it but I'm hoping to be in with a chance come Saturday morning when the final round starts. Q. Your thoughts on the overall Order of Merit contenders, who do you think will do well, and also the Rookie of the Year contenders. DAME LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, that's the great thing, it's always this tournament, always throws together some different stuff. There was a few years back when I was having a go and having a chance to win it with Lee‑Anne Pace. Obviously this year it's pretty much Charley or Gwladys can win it. So that's something that possibly it takes away from their chance of winning the tournament, because they might be looking at each other thinking, I want to win the Money List. It might hinder their progress actually in the event itself because that's what I found happened, the year I had, I was more worried about what Lee‑Anne was doing rather than trying to win the tournament. Yeah, Rookie of the Year, I don't know who is up there for Rookie of the Year. Obviously Sally has had a great year, they both have. Again, the one thing you don't want to do, you only get one chance to win Rookie of the Year and obviously they want to do it. Q. You took Charley under your wing; will you be doing the same sort of thing this year? DAME LAURA DAVIES: With Charley, yeah, we spent a bit of time because we tend to play in a lot of the same tournaments. And her dad, I get on really well with him. Obviously nothing to do with the golf side of it because she knows exactly what she's doing. But maybe you can give a tip on making your life a little bit easier on Tour. Hopefully able to help that way. Like I say, Dave and I have had many conversations during the year. Q. Do you sort of think winning both‑‑ DAME LAURA DAVIES: Charley has got a nice lead, so Gwladys has to finish probably top four, actually to even have a chance, so Charley is obviously the overwhelming favorite but having said that, Gwladys won last week and will have loads of confidence. If I had to have a bet, I would say Charley for sure but stranger things have happened. And I don't really‑‑ Sally, I don't know, what's the difference? Is there much in the prize‑‑ well, really, you could flip a coin. Obviously whoever is 8,000 ahead is the favorite but that's only like a top sort of 15 finish. Yeah, that could be turned around very easily. Q. Good for the Olympics, isn't it, the state of British golf as a whole. DAME LAURA DAVIES: Definitely, there's so many good, young players now from British Isles and it's obviously great. I love to see it, because for so many years, there was myself, Alison Nicholas and Trish Johnson and we kept wondering, and then Mel came along finally and Mel has done not quite as well as we hoped because of what happened. But now we have got Charley, we've got Georgia, she's a great player. She's got real potential. But like you say, the other names, they have all got potential and hopefully they will take the next step to start winning tournaments regularly. I hate to say it, but get out on the LPGA Tour and try and move up the World Rankings, because that's the best way to move up the World Rankings and that's the only way you're going to get in the Olympics, really. Q. You've basically won everything in golf, you're in the Hall of Fame next week‑‑ DAME LAURA DAVIES: Oh, yeah, I'd love to win the Nabisco because that would be my final major that I haven't won. That's obviously a big thing. Just to win again; to win two more tournaments on the LPGA to get in the Hall of Fame, the LPGA Hall of Fame. So yeah, there's lots to play for still and I just love competing. I love the fact that I'm competing against 18‑year‑olds and I still think I can stand toe‑to‑toe with them and beat them on any given day. Over a year, they are probably a little bit more consistent than me because obviously you lose your putting. It's normally the putting that is the difference, but any given tournament, you always feel like you can beat even the very top players. THE MODERATOR: So the LET announced a new partnership with OMEGA for the next ten years. What would you like to see happen to women's golf to improve over the next ten years? DAME LAURA DAVIES: Well, I think obviously we get big companies like OMEGA involved, that's a step forward. Because other multinational companies want to be involved with other multinational companies, so hopefully that will draw in some more big support, especially for the LET, more television for us. I know that's one of the main things our Chief Executive is trying to do and if we get much more live TV, I think everything gets elevated. That would be my biggest thing and I know it's Ivan's biggest thing. Q. What do you think Arab golf needs‑‑ DAME LAURA DAVIES: You need competition. I know when I very first started playing, it was in the junior level and I was from a county in Surrey, and you start off in the girls division and you gradually work your way up. You try and then play for England and Great Britain and Ireland, as it was. But you've got to get the girls started when they are really young and you can find out, if you want to get them to this level, you've got to have a lot‑‑ you can't just have few. You have to have lots and you have to find out‑‑ we want lots of them to just love the game. Don't have to be professionals but every so often you'll get one that elevates to the next level and can actually get out on Tour, which would be great for this part of the world. But maybe get them to come along from the schools and watch this week, even watch the men. The men play over here twice; watch them play. Just get the excitement of seeing top professional golf up close. Q. You were talking about girls needing to move on to the LPGA. DAME LAURA DAVIES: Definitely, you've got Charley who has obviously just missed out on a full card but she's going to get something. I thought we were talking about the Olympics, and the only way you're going to get in the Olympics is if you're on the LPGA because you just don't win enough points on the LPGA. You have to virtually win every week to get inside the Top‑50 in the World Rankings, or certainly win six or seven times or more than that between now‑‑ well the year after. Anyone that wants to play in the Olympics has to play on the LPGA, I would suggest. Q. You would encourage‑‑ DAME LAURA DAVIES: I'm not going to encourage anything. I love the LET and I want them to stay here as long as possible. I want them to do what I've always done, play some here, some over there. But if we were specifically talking about the Olympics, if that's their big thing to get in the next Olympics, for a lot of them, the Olympics after that should be the one they should be targeting probably, not Charley so much because she's already high up in the World Rankings. But if you do want to be high in the World Rankings, you do have to be on the LPGA. Q. How big of an impact has it made on the sport? DAME LAURA DAVIES: Well, drug testing is the biggest impact it's had on golf. I mean, it's just ludicrous for golfers to be drug tested, but there you go, that's a different thing. But everyone is talking about it and everyone wants to be in it. I want to be in it. I don't see why I couldn't improve my World Rankings to get in. I think it's four British girls will be on the team. You need to be‑‑ if you decide who is going to get in and how you're going to get in. Even I'm still going for it so I'm sure all the youngsters are certainly going for it. Q. In terms of your career and everything you've achieved, Olympic participation or a medal, how would that‑‑ DAME LAURA DAVIES: Just to be in the Olympics and go to the Olympic Village; you hear about it, but to be involved in it would be incredible. I think when the Atlanta Olympics were on there was talk about it going in that year at Augusta. That would have been the absolute best one ever, because obviously at that time, I was at the top of my game and I would have been in for sure. But that never happened. Obviously it's happened, probably too late for me, I won't get in it, but I can at least enjoy watching the girls that I know get in it and find out what it's actually like. Q. At this stage in your career, still have things to achieve and look up to? DAME LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, if you haven't got things you want to do, you're just turning up to take part and there's no point. You have to have an end result, winning the Money List, winning four tournaments in a year, winning one tournament a year would be nice. There's always got to be something to play for, and we are lucky, there's always something. The new OMEGA, ten years they are on board, that's another big step forward for the Tour. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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