MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP

LAURA DAVIES: Birdie at the 2nd. Hit a driver and a sand iron to about six feet, maybe seven feet, and holed a putt. Then bogey on No. 7. Hit a good drive, just caught the rough. Then had I hit a good shot in to about probably 25 or 30 feet. Hit the first putt, and it just wouldn't stop. One of those pins where if you were on the wrong side, you're dead. And it went about 10 feet by, and I missed that one coming back. And a birdie on 9. Driver and a 3-iron short of the green and didn't hit a great chip to about four feet, left myself on the wrong side of the pin again, but managed to hole the putt. Birdie at 11. Hit driver, driver just short of the green, and I had a rotten lie and hacked it out to about 15 feet from the pin -- hit it to 15 feet and made the putt for a birdie. Birdie on 16. Hit a driver and a 6-iron about 25 feet for a 2-putt. Hit an 8-iron into 17 to about three inches. And then 18 hit a 3-iron and a 7-iron and made about probably a 20-footer there.

LAURA DAVIES: Just a solid round. The greens are getting much firmer, which makes the course much more difficult. That's why I think the holes on are quite high, and it's just going to get crispier and crispier. The weather is certainly getting better. I think it will be pretty tough on the weekend, I think.

LAURA DAVIES: The tougher, the better. The two tournaments I have won this year have been 5-under and 5-under. Just shows that when the course is tough, that's when I tend to do my best stuff. Not that I don't hole enough putts, but 13- , 14- , 15-under, you have to make a lot of putts.

LAURA DAVIES: I'm the one that worries about leading, and I'm always happy to be up and around the front; and obviously then it's up to you whether you win or not. If I play -- if I have the best 36 holes over the next two days, then I'm definitely the winner. So the ball is in my court; so it's up to me.

LAURA DAVIES: It's a big help, definitely. Every year you start out and you want to win at least one. That's your initial goal. And if it comes down to a major being one where you have a chance to win your first one, that's what makes it a little more difficult. Definitely, if I win this week, it's great, and if I don't, just move on to next week. But that's the attitude I've been having. But having said that, this one is special. I do love this tournament.

LAURA DAVIES: I can use my driver. Of all the golf courses we play all year, this is the only one that genuinely is -- makes it a real advantage to the long hitters. And unfortunately for me and a few of the other players, that's not always the way. We tend to play courses where if you hit a bad shot , it's open, whereas this course, you know, there's big trees and there's an obstacle if you hit behind a tree, you've always got another shot. And I think that's why I love it so much, because I can get out there so much and have some fun with the driver. And I do.

LAURA DAVIES: I wouldn't say I come back expecting to win, but I really fancy my chances every time I come here, just because of the course. One year we played where the course was really dry and running, and that year is probably the only year I thought, oh, well. But every year, I come here and I really think that if I can just play my best, I have a good chance.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, I've never been dedicated to anything, but I'm certainly practicing a little bit more. Like on the range a little bit more, doing a bit more chipping and putting. They have raised the level -- well, Karrie has. Annika has been good for a long time, but Karrie has come along, and all of the sudden, she's playing extra, extra well. There are players who cannot reach the height that she's doing, and I'm trying to get just that little bit better. And, you know, weeks like this, help with confidence. But I know there's a few shots I hit that I should be hitting and ones that Karrie isn't hit.

LAURA DAVIES: Just this year, really, not winning last year and losing that playoff in Las Vegas was really, not distressing, but really -- it would have been lovely to have won that one. And I thought, well, if I want to be better and I want to win on a consistent basis out here, I've just got to practice that little bit more. Not a huge amount; I'm not a slave to the range or anything, but I'm just doing it a little bit more.

LAURA DAVIES: No, I don't think so.

LAURA DAVIES: No, not this time. I have always said: If I can't see the range, I won't go to the range. This one is the exception. (Laughter.)

LAURA DAVIES: Well, you just can't see from that tee. Every year, when you play in the later groups. You just cannot see the ball landing on the green. I could hear the crowd getting louder and louder, and I really thought it was going in, because you can tell when they are tracking it right to the hole for you. And I've had about five in the last two days it really could have gone in. I had a lot of birdies that were really close. I think I might hole one in the next few days, I would think.

LAURA DAVIES: No. 1, No. 10, No. 12 and No. 3. 18, yeah. The wind has been in the wrong direction. At the moment, that's just not worth it.

LAURA DAVIES: No. Not close.

LAURA DAVIES: It's nothing to do with the width of the fairways. I mean, I can -- it's what I look at it normally when I play with the girls, if hit really poor tee shots, they find it and can chip it out or whatever. Because I hit it that extra 30, 40 yards, if I hit one wrong, it's going out of bounds. In Atlanta, I hit one bad tee shot out of bounds and that's when I really decided: To hell with the driver, I'm just going to use my irons, keep it in play and be competitive. And I won the very next week in Austin doing that. And the last few weeks, I've done that, but I knew full well when I came here I would be using my driver. And next week in the Atlantic City, there's a few holes I can use my driver, but nothing like here.

LAURA DAVIES: When I walked in the locker room and I hear all the whining about it's long, it's tough, I just love it. I mean, you know, they get a tough course, it's a major championship, and there's a lot of whining that goes on and it's, you know, they like the shorter, easier golf courses. I like the longer, tougher golf courses. That's just the way it is.

LAURA DAVIES: No, it's pretty extreme. Helen Dobson, she had to pull out. She hit a shot in the rough, I don't even know what hole, she pulled some muscles in her rib cage. So she's out for a while now. It is tough. That proves how tough it is if people are getting injured it's a major championship. No different than Dinah Shore really, the Nabisco as we're supposed to call it; it's very similar to that. It is lethal. You get in it, you know, you're in it. I try to hit a 7-iron down No. 1 yesterday, and I only hit it 120 yards, and that was still out.

LAURA DAVIES: Definitely, if I keep putting well -- I had one bogey today that was a 3-putt. But other than that, my pace putting has been good. I've been driving the ball pretty straight. Missed a few fairways. If I keep playing like that, I always feel like a very good chance, but there's still some good names lurking around -- a few, Se Ri, I think is 1-under, but even, you know, anyone who is on in a leaderboard in red numbers is playing really good golf, because I know how well I've played the last two days to get to where I am. So anyone is a danger. We just have to see.

LAURA DAVIES: All I've been trying to do, if I'm not within 10 feet, I'm just trying to 2-putt it up to the hole because the greens are really quick and you can get it going three or four feet by. The plan is this week just roll them up there, but that one, I looked in from a long way, all I was really trying to do was just get it up there, and if it drops, it's a bonus, really.

LAURA DAVIES: Oh, yeah I'll be there for hours. (Laughs). Don't come try and find me, though.

LAURA DAVIES: Not too bad. Every year here the galleries are decent on the first two days, but on the weekend it's one of the most enjoyable galleries to play in front of. The grandstand gets filled up early, and it's a good atmosphere out there.