ASAHI RYOKUKEN INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2002

Laura Davies

LAURA NEAL: Let's do your score card before we start.

LAURA DAVIES: No. 3, I hit a very poor 6-iron into the -- about 60 feet right of the pin. It ran through the green about 20 feet past and just had a putt from off the edge, so bogey there.

Birdie on No. -- it would have been the par-5, I think, yeah. I hit a drive and a 5-iron. It pitched near the front of the green, and rolled down the slope, hit a chip to about a foot, and birdied there.

Birdie on No. 8. Hit a really. Driver up the left-hand side, left about 72 yards to the pin. And hit a pitch to about five, six feet and holed that.

And then on No. 9 hit a driver and a 4-iron to about 18 feet. It was just off the edge. It was debatable whether to putt or chip.

The back 9, the 15th. I missed the 15th with an 8-iron, about 15, 20 feet from the pin. I had a sprinkler just catching my eye. I left it short and missed the putt.

LAURA NEAL: Have any chances coming in on the back?

LAURA DAVIES: Not like yesterday. There were 25 to 30 feet, rather than 10-, 15-, 20-footers. And I was always level or sort of just above the pins. And you cannot run at them. You've got to take your shot above them or level with them.

Q. 16 I thought you played -- your second shot you hit it to the right of the bunker, and you weren't happy with your chip.

LAURA DAVIES: It was a fluffy line. I thought it was going to get a jumper on it, and it came out soft. I actually had a good putt and misjudged the pace. It was disappointing not to birdie that hole, because the tee shot I hit a really good drive, but it somehow stayed up on that hill. So I hit a very good second shot with the driver, considering the ball was sort of level with my legs when I was hitting it.

Q. What did you think were the differences between today's round and yesterday's?

LAURA DAVIES: Driving the ball I hit as many good drives today as I hit yesterday. Like I said, I was never really in the right position on the green. I could have made three or four more birdies, but really and truly if you are above them, I nearly holed the putt on 18, which would be remarkable. It was a very good 2-putt. That was the difference.

Q. It sounds like your iron play was not as good because you were in between clubs?

LAURA DAVIES: I think a bit of wind. The wind was tricking us a bit. Classic was 14. I hit a perfect wedge into 14. It came up short of the green. If the wind hadn't gusted when it did, I'm sure that would be very close. It was things like that that were hurting me. I can't say I hit it badly, though. My worst shots were on the par-3s.

Q. Do you feel as positive about this course as you did yesterday?

LAURA DAVIES: Oh, absolutely. It sets up well. There's plenty of room off the tee, and like I said yesterday, you've got to be aggressive off the tee, and you can still be aggressive only hitting irons. There's some angles you can take that will get you down further on some of these holes that drop away. And on the par-5s, you can belt driver.

Q. Now that we're coming to the weekend, do you change your approach? Do you play a little more aggressively now or --?

LAURA DAVIES: I don't think you can overpower this particular golf course. If you had a golf course where the greens were soft and flat, sure enough, you've got to go at them. But I still think the game plan is to be aggressive off the tee, and then try and place your ball in a good position. Because like we've been saying all along, a couple of those pin positions today, I feel sorry for those officials. They're finding it hard to find four pin placements, without having 50 girls go in the office afterwards and giving them a tough time. They're fantastic greens to putt on, don't get me wrong, but they're really hard.

Q. Were the pins tougher today or yesterday?

LAURA DAVIES: It was even. It was a few easy ones yesterday on the holes, and today -- the pin position on 16 today was a very easy pin. I reckon there will be a few eagles on that hole today. And yesterday nobody was rolling any 80-footers in on that one.

Q. For a spell there last year I think you lost confidence in your driver?

LAURA DAVIES: Yes.

Q. How long did that last and when did you get over that?

LAURA DAVIES: I'm still not over that. It's one of those things. Courses like this are going to help me. The courses we do play on tend to be much shorter. So the longer the course that means I have to hit my driver. And when I have to hit it, obviously I'm going to do it. It makes me swing more aggressively rather than sort of poke it down the fairway.

Atlanta was another good week for the driver. The last couple of weeks I'm starting to come out of -- it's a mental thing. It's not a swing. Because I can stand on the range and give you an exhibition that would be fun to watch. But on the course it's slightly different.

Q. When you do hit a bad drive does it go right, is that the problem?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, that would be -- yes and no. Because the ones that get me in trouble, the ones I was aiming too far left and end up going dead straight. We could be hours talking about this. I'd rather not talk about this (laughter.)

Q. I read also that when you're in Las Vegas you like to go to the casinos and such. Video poker in this state was really big until they outlawed it. Did you ever play video poker?

LAURA DAVIES: I didn't. But my dad played it. He was upset when they outlawed it.

Q. What do you do for enjoyment this week?

LAURA DAVIES: Nothing really, because both my tee times are late, so I've been home late for evening sort of straight for dinner. And this afternoon, no, nothing really. Nothing is happening.

Q. I was going to ask about the driver. When you did lose confidence? Obviously you have to have a complete game to win as many times and win as many tournaments as you've won here. But your reputation amongst fans was you could hit the ball a long way. When you lose confidence in the driver, does that affect how you approach the game, how you feel about the game, do you have to change some things in order to overcome that?

LAURA DAVIES: I'm lucky because I've always said my -- the fact that I hit it a long way, I can still compete with my irons. I've won maybe six or seven tournaments without hitting one -- I'm lucky that I can hit the irons out far enough where I can still be -- some of the shorter hitters, if they lose their driver, they really struggle. That's part of being a long hitter, all long hitters go through -- when it's right it's lovely and I can stand up there and hit it into the ten yard gap.

Q. The drive on No. 8?

LAURA DAVIES: Yes, it's getting better, but courses like this are going to help me. But unfortunately, like I said, we don't play on courses like this every week.

Q. Your confidence in your driver, on No. 8, were there holes you were going from one to the other?

LAURA DAVIES: That was tactical. Yesterday the back pin, today the front pin. Terry decided we needed to be chipping, and so that was tactical, not because we did or didn't want to hit the driver yesterday.

Q. You mentioned your father, is he still over in the Columbia area?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, he lives there. He's here this week.

Q. Has he been down this week?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, he's been down. He's been walking to the first -- he knows the other players and caddies, and he enjoys it. He used to walk, but walking -- this is a cart golf course. It's hard walking.

Q. Does he not know where the fun places to go now are?

LAURA DAVIES: Well, he likes video poker. You'll have to ask him what he does for fun.

Q. How long has he been in Columbia?

LAURA DAVIES: I think he moved up there initially in -- 1956 he moved to Atlanta, he worked for Lockheed. And about six or seven years later he moved to Columbia. 1973, I guess.

Q. Have you been to Columbia --?

LAURA DAVIES: Probably drive up I-20 from Atlanta many times to go see Pops, yeah.

Q. How old is he now?

LAURA DAVIES: 68, I think he is. He's not been well. He was pretty ill last year, and lost quite a bit of weight. He's giving me grief.

Q. What's his first name?

LAURA DAVIES: Dave.

Q. Did he teach you your swing?

LAURA DAVIES: I used to watch him, and whatever he did, I did the opposite. Because he had the most wicked slicey, horrible swing. He was a good player. He played off 8, and we played a little bit together. He wasn't my coach. He thinks he was, but he wasn't.

Q. On your follow through, were you on your toes, is that something you came up with?

LAURA DAVIES: No, that's just happens. My game is completely natural. I've never had a coach. I've never had anyone to tell me what to do or what not to do. It's been over the years watching the TV, watching the men play, picking up tips off that or learning from the television is the way I learned the game. So that thing with the toes, I have no idea. It can't be good.

End of FastScripts....