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WEETABIX WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 2, 2006

Laura Davies

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND

COLIN CALLANDER: We have Laura Davies, the 1986 champion. You probably don't want to be remembered it's 20 years ago.

LAURA DAVIES: Fine by me. At least I won it.

COLIN CALLANDER: You came into this week, finishing second at Evian and a couple other good second place finishes. You must be feeling very confident.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, very pleased obviously. It would have been nice to have won last week to have taken the pressure of actually winning one again off. Had a good par, eagle, but she played very well. All three of us played well on Sunday. But my confidence level has gone through the roof, just being in that pairing and having not had such a great year is lovely.

COLIN CALLANDER: What's turned things around for you?

LAURA DAVIES: I think Switzerland, I went to Switzerland on a really low note. I had just missed seven cuts, I had made one cut in America, went over there, got off to a good start, shot 66 and since then I've been playing really well.

COLIN CALLANDER: I happened to notice, odds are 80 to 1 on you. Are you surprised by that?

LAURA DAVIES: Well, might be a nice prize.

Q. Did you change anything before you went to Switzerland?

LAURA DAVIES: No. On the driving range I've been hitting it fantastic. It's not like I've in the been playing well ball striking wise. It's just the confidence just drained away from me over those seven weeks, and it just got from bad to worse even to the point in Atlanta where I withdrew for the first time in my career after the first round. I couldn't take going back out for the second day. So there were some low points there. After last week, you sort of forget about it. Dinah Shore was another low point, I shot 84 the second round and missed the cut. It wasn't a lot of fun.

Q. What did you do after that?

LAURA DAVIES: Just went down to Florida and got ready for the next week and tried to get ready. You have to play through it. I'm not one of these that sits back and hope it changes. Tournament play is tournament play. I can stand on the range and hit any shot I want, but taking it on to the course was becoming a real problem. So you just have to battle through it. Taking the club back was quite difficult for a while.

COLIN CALLANDER: Was that as low as you've ever been in golf?

LAURA DAVIES: By a mile, yeah.

Q. When you say battle through it

LAURA DAVIES: No, that was on the day. I shot 84 and the cut was going to be not 84. I had shot I had 11 over, to 83 and the cut was going to be 3 under. So I wasn't going to go out and shoot 14 under. So I was better off getting down to Orlando and getting ready for the next week and play again.

Q. So just hard work?

LAURA DAVIES: Hard work, really difficult. It's almost laughable now because I'm standing over shots that are really hard last week, immense pressure and no worries at all. Just looking to make a good swing rather than make a bad swing.

Q. What was that like

LAURA DAVIES: Just miserable, just horrible. You're terrified of doing what you know you can do it the only thing I've ever really been any good at and all of a sudden I wasn't any good at that, so a bit of a shock.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: Well, you see it. Ian Baker Finch, David Duval; David is coming back and it's nice to see him, but I'm sure he has the same sort of feelings that I had. You're scared to where you don't want to hit it I don't know this, I haven't seen David, but I've stood on the driving range next to Ian Baker Finch and he hits it absolutely magnificent.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: No one can say anything because everyone is an expert. Unless you've stood over a shot terrified, you can't be an expert in that position. So, I don't think, I don't think anyone can particularly help. I think you just have to eventually say the hell with it. It's embarrassing.

Q. Inaudible

LAURA DAVIES: That was just with the driver. That was with the driver. This is with everything.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: No, it was an amazing day. I think a lot of it is to do with the fact that you go from the LPGA which is obviously difficult, so I turned up on the first tee and I wasn't really thinking about making the cut for the first two days. I was immediately starting to think about getting in position to try and win. And maybe just the mind set changed of playing in a European event which is obviously a slightly weaker field just changed my attitude enough where I could hit enough good shots again to feel good again about it.

Q. Karrie was saying how Annika is undervalued

LAURA DAVIES: Undervalued? I think she's great.

Q. In the media.

LAURA DAVIES: You don't realise how good she is? Well, I think if she was Tiger, she'd be treated like Tiger. Because if she was a man, she'd be Tiger.

So if she doesn't get the recognition that Tiger gets, yeah, I would agree with that statement. She's quite simply hands down the best golfer that's ever played the game.

Q. Man or woman?

LAURA DAVIES: Pound for pound. You can't compare Jack Nicklaus and Tiger and Annika because Annika wouldn't have her record on the men's tour. But the way she dominates us is better than the way anyone has ever dominated any other field over the same period of time. Her mind set, her game, she's just

Q. Pound for pound the best golfer?

LAURA DAVIES: The best I think that's ever actually played. Win ratios I don't know anyone else's win ratios, but I guarantee it's the best, without doing the math, I think she has the best. I think she walks on to the tee on a Sunday, and I mean I know Tiger does the same thing. He dominates people in the mind as well. But it's hard to distinguish between the two of them because they are almost freaky how good they are.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: Basically, yeah. But I don't necessarily I don't know if Annika would even agree with that. I think she could do with less publicity more. I think she likes the quiet life more. I don't think that sort of thing worries Annika.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: Annika, you know, you're not going to get any change out of her. You know she's going to she's great to play golf with. I enjoy being paired with her. But you know that mistakes wise, there are not going to be many mistakes. She's going to make things happen when she has to, and you know, you've got to be your absolute best or else you may as well not bother. That's where I think Annika has I mean, unfortunately I haven't played well enough when she's been at her very best. I'd like to go at her a few times. It would be nice to have a crack at her.

Q. When someone like that is playing as well as she is

LAURA DAVIES: Oh, absolutely. I just wish I'm playing at my very best, between sort of '94 and '97 when I was No. 1 in the world. I wish I was playing like that along with Annika because it would have been fun to see. I know I could not have beaten her over a year long basis because she's too consistent. It would have been fun going toe to toe with her. It's just a pleasure to watch her in action.

Q. Do you think Michelle Wie inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: Absolutely. I'd like to see Michelle, although I didn't want her to win on Sunday because I wanted to win, but as it turned out neither of us won; obviously Karrie won.

It would be nice to see her kick on now and win a few tournaments and see if she can come to terms with some of Annika's records. Her win percentage, she would do well to ever match that.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: She's a great girl, she's good fun, she's enjoying what she's doing, fantastic talent. Short game is probably the only thing that I could say she could get better at because her driving, her irons, the way she sees shots, very impressive.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: I'm not criticising her short game. I'm just thinking if she wants to be really dominant for instance, Tiger, where he can imagine a shot and he can pull it off out of nothing, that would be the only thing I could say she could even get close to getting better at because everything else at 16 is extraordinary.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: Well, it's nice to get drawn with someone like that because it means you're starting to play well again. Probably if I had not finished second last week and moved up the Money List I haven't been in Pro Ams all year, it's been a tough struggle. It's nice to get a really good draw with the top players.

Q. Inaudible?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I was speaking to Lewine at the Dinah Shore and I don't think I was ever actually considering packing up, but miserable enough to want to give up apart from the stubbornness and the realisation that I think I'm still good enough. While you still think you're good enough, you've always got a chance. As soon as you don't think, despite of all the really bad stuff, I really did think I mean, I haven't won one yet. Last week was great but I didn't win. Bottom line is I still didn't win one, but I still think I can.

Q. Getting back to Michelle Wie, do you think it's better

LAURA DAVIES: Personally I do. If she wants to play in the men's events, I do, it's brilliant, she should get on with that.

If it was me advising her, I would say, right, pack up with that for now, play against us, play as many tournaments as you can on the LPGA and maybe even play a few European Tour events. If she goes to Denmark, Finland, Norway, a few of those tournaments she would have a very good chance of picking up a win, I would suggest, because of how good she is and it would be an ideal stepping stone. But for whatever reason I don't think that's going to happen. It would be nice for the Danish Open if Michelle Wie turned up just to try to gain a bit of experience winning.

Q. Did you say that to her?

LAURA DAVIES: I did actually. I said, "Why don't you go to Finland and play the Finland Open? I think first prize is about 20,000 bucks, that's all right, isn't it?" She didn't seem too impressed. (Laughter) Hopefully we'll talk her into coming and playing one because I honestly think it would be good for her golf experience wise.

It was more a flippant remark. We were walking up the stairs and we were talking about her schedule because she's off to play this week and then she's off to the Swiss Open, the men's Swiss Open and she's got a few weeks off or something. And that's when I said, "Oh, well, if you've got some time off, come over to Finland," but I don't think she will.

Q. If she's going to Crans

LAURA DAVIES: That's where she's playing, she's playing in that one. Hopefully she'll make the cut in the men's tournament but doesn't really matter at the moment, does it.

Q. When you say you think you can still win

LAURA DAVIES: Well, last week, the field doesn't get any stronger than it does last week, and the players that were up there on Sunday I mean, yeah, if I can hold my own in that environment, then this is no different to be honest with you.

Q. Do you think these conditions play into your hands?

LAURA DAVIES: I hit the ball very high, so, no. Some of the harder holes, 16, 17, are going to be very pivotal holes. We're all starting off at the first so the end of every round, if it's glowing a gale, it could be a serious problem for us. I think the wind has died down, though.

Q. How much wind today?

LAURA DAVIES: It was at least a three club wind today.

COLIN CALLANDER: Thank you very much, Laura. Good luck this week.

End of FastScripts.

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