ARAMCO SAUDI LADIES INTERNATIONAL PRESENTED BY PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUND

March 15, 2022

Laura Davies

Royal Greens Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. I know you've played this event before. I wanted to start just looking ahead to the season. I counted up the number of events, 33, I think. It's pushing $30 million U.S. prize money. I just wanted you to talk to me about why this is an important event for women's golf. I know you've talked eloquently on this before, but just set up the season and the progress you hope to see.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, obviously the girls to get better and reach their full potential, you need to play in good tournaments around the world because that's what the European Tour is now. It's a world tour. Coming to places like this, and then obviously Kenya a few weeks ago, it's just playing opportunities.

And the money, like you said, I didn't know it was $30 million, but that's in the direction it needs to be. For these girls to do what they're doing, they have to play for decent prize money so they can carry on. It's not like some of the other Tours where there's huge sponsorship deals, and I don't think some of the girls have that. So it's just really, really important we have a strong LET schedule.

Q. And your advice to the young players in their early 20s who are embracing this for the first time and perhaps don't know any difference?

LAURA DAVIES: It's a long season. If you get off to a bad start, don't think the whole season is going to be a write-off because it's very difficult to keep it going through. And equally if you have a good start, don't get complacent and think, oh, this is easy.

There's always a fine balance. You're going to have ups and downs during a 30 -- not that all of them are going to play 30 events, probably more like 20, 25. Get your scheduling right, that's one thing. Don't be trying to go one place and then another. The Tour tries to help with scheduling so it's not too difficult travel-wise.

I would say just get something that works for you. It won't be the same for all of them. Find what works for you and go from there. Try not to second guess yourself. You see so many of these young players. It's one shot can change the way they're thinking. Just don't allow that to happen.

It's easy for me to say that now because I was 21 when I went on Tour and you think everyone's watching your every move, and they're really not. Just get comfortable and enjoy it because it's a good run.

Q. From your perspective, Laura, this week, how are you playing? What are you looking to achieve at Royal Greens this week? Talk a little about that and the course and how you find it?

LAURA DAVIES: The reason I'm here is because I love the golf course. It's one of those courses you just feel comfortable. There's a couple of tee shots that get your attention, but overall if you're striking it nicely, there's birdie chances. We've got wind early in the week. I think it's going to calm down a bit later, so scoring should be good again.

The reason I've come back is because of the course. My game itself, I don't really know. I haven't played since -- I played two tournaments in Florida. Unfortunately, I was infirm for one of them so didn't make the cut, had to withdraw the first week when I was doing okay, probably would have made the cut.

I've got a new set of clubs, so we'll see. For me this week, obviously it's a great standard of field. Winning it is an absolute long shot. But to try to make the cut and have a top 20 finish, for me this stage of the year, it would be a really good finish. So that's what I'm looking that.

Q. If you're not going to pick yourself, who would you pick as the players to watch this week?

LAURA DAVIES: Obviously, I would have picked Lydia, but apparently she's got COVID so she's not coming. I don't know if that's true.

Q. She is. She tested positive in Singapore.

LAURA DAVIES: She would be the obvious pick because what she did last time and the way she's playing this year already. Emily Pedersen, she's got form around here. She did so well two years ago when she won everything basically.

Q. Back to back, yeah.

LAURA DAVIES: It's a strong field. Early season. I know some of the girls have played a few events, but yeah, I think it's pretty open, I really do.

Obviously, Anna Nordqvist, if she's got her best stuff, she's going to have a big chance. There's a few of the big guns that are here, but they'll have to play because the young players we don't know so much about, they can turn up any given week and put some really low scores on the board. Yeah, it should be interesting. It should be a really good week.

Q. I've been out there. It's actually quite windy. Interesting to see how that impacts it. Probably makes it more open.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I'll look to the long term scores. Certainly from Thursday afternoon onwards. It's going to be windy Thursday afternoon, and then it calms down a bit. Then we'll have a bit more heat to contend with. It's always something. That's golf. Look at last week at THE PLAYERS, it was just the most bizarre week I've ever seen.

Yeah, you've just got to try to adapt. That's another thing for the youngsters, whatever the conditions, just try and adapt and don't get carried away one way or the other.

Q. I don't know if you're playing the Aramco Team Series in Bangkok. It's a new stop on the Aramco Team Series schedule. Just looking ahead to that, what we might expect, and from the -- I guess the team format for this season.

LAURA DAVIES: Personally, I'm not playing. I think they've made a change in the purse. I believe it's going to be 500,000, individual and team. I think I read that. Am I right with that? Did they change the format?

Q. Good question. I'm not sure.

LAURA DAVIES: I'm sure I read, whether they were thinking about doing it, but I'm sure it came from the Tour, and they now decided that they won't -- not more emphasis because the team thing's the fun part. I would love to be going back. I think that Bangkok is up against somewhere I'm commentating for Sky, so that's why I'm not playing.

Initially I thought the format was a little bit lucky and you needed a good amateur. Now I've kind of come round to the thinking it's just such a fun way to play golf. It's virtually zero pressure. When you're in the team, you only need two from four. So I've come round to the thinking now that, yeah, if you get a great amateur, that's a bonus, but the three pros should take it on themselves to get enough birdies where your amateur is a bonus.

Shouldn't be -- initially I thought you'd need a good amateur to win it, but that's actually just not the case. I've had my mind changed on that. That's why I'm planning to play a few if I can.

Bangkok, lovely place. What time of year is it? It's going to be hot, could be.

Q. It's in, what, six weeks.

LAURA DAVIES: I think that's the same week as the PGA. That's it. I'm playing Founders. So I'm actually playing that week.

But they're all great formats. It's nice to take it around the world because you get different amateurs involved. It's nice are for us to play different places. Because the prize money is high enough. If it was smaller money, it's not good for the girls to be going all that way because it's expensive obviously. But because their level of prize money is so good, the girls can make money, which is what it's all about.