U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 2, 1998

Laura Davies

LAURA DAVIES: Okay, yeah, I mean, it was a sort of an unusual round for me because I had a lot of 3-irons off the tee and kept the ball in play and I think that is what you have got to do around here. I am long enough. It sounds like a short club to be hitting off the tee, but it actually goes as far as some of the other girls' drivers. It is -- I am not laying way back. Like I said, I hit a lot of fairways and greens and made just one mistake on the day; that was on No. 14, where all I did was just turn a wedge probably 5 yards too far in the air and that was enough to get me over the back of the green and certainly long on these holes is deadly, so, that was something I hope not to do tomorrow, but one mistake in a day around here was pretty good going.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, pretty much the same way. I am serious. I am so low on confidence, that is the trouble. And out there today, I was panicking. I hit that one bad shot and the last few holes, I was not feeling 100% confident on the shots, but the thing is, I hit good shots. Every time I felt bad over a shot, I hit a good shot and the more I do that, the better it is going to get. And, obviously, 3-under par first round at the Open is great. But it is a long way to go and, you know, I am hoping I will be playing in all four rounds. I would have to have a really bad day tomorrow - who knows the way things have been going. I am expecting nothing, but I am playing well and I have being playing well all year and I have been doing nothing. We will see what happens.

LAURA DAVIES: It was very good. I holed a good birdie putt on 5 and then backed it up on 6 with another one of about ten feet. And, then No. 10 was the longest putt I holed all day, probably about 15, 20 feet. Made that. But the thing was, every time I had like a 3-, 4-foot par-putt, I made it. And the last three, four, five, six months, if I have had a 3-, 4-foot par putt, I am making less than 50% of them. That is crucial. These greens are so good that I am not reading them. I am just putting the putter down and I am feeling them - feeling it as I get over the ball, I am feeling where I want the putter to go. I made all those putts, bar the one on 14, like I say, but that was more like eight feet. So I didn't really -- well, I did expect to hole it because I have been putting well, but only just slid by, so the putting was great.

LAURA DAVIES: Birdie on 5. I hit a 3-iron off the tee and then hit a really good 7-iron to about eight feet, I suppose, just behind the pin and I just rolled that one in. No. 6, I hit a 9-iron actually -- sorry -- a wedge, about ten feet just left of the hole and just aimed it about three inches left. I think it just went right in the middle, so that was 2-under there.

LAURA DAVIES: The wind was helping there, so I can't take all the credit for that one. Next birdie was on 10, it was into the wind today. I hit it yesterday with a driver and 3-wood, so I know I can hit it, but it was into the wind today so I decided to go 3-iron off the tee; another 3-iron, left me 96 yards to the pin. Hit a really -- a wedge that pitched on line with the flag, but spun, like I said, about 20 feet left of the flag and was just one of those I was trying to cozy up next to the hole and, lo and behold, it dropped in the right edge. That was obviously a nice 3-under there. Then, the bogey came on 14. Like I say, hit a good 4-iron off the tee. And, like I say, just shot the wedge down just a fraction too early. That was the 5, 10 yards I didn't need. It just went through the back. Hit a very good chip to about eight feet because it was sort of hanging on that really long, long wispy grass. I was quite pleased with the chip. And, then like I said, the eight-foot putt just slid by. But you are going to make bogeys out here. That was one of them. Then on 18, it was just a dream finish really because that is a tough driving hole. I managed to hit the fairway.

LAURA DAVIES: Yes, off the tee and then left me with a 6-iron which is probably more than I really wanted, but I aimed it right of the pin; had a bit of a sucker-pin there; cut close to the water. I aimed it out on a marshal just about 15 yards right of the pin and just turned the 6-iron over; pitched on the front and actually - I don't know how it didn't really go in. It stopped an inch right in the jaws.

LAURA DAVIES: Good finish.

LAURA DAVIES: I hit a driver on 2 and driver on 7.

LAURA DAVIES: I think -- Paul and I have decided this week - that is who is caddying for me - that we just need to hit a lot of greens and be very patient the whole week. I think part of being patient is not worrying too much about the fact that we are standing around a little bit. Today, a couple of times, I started doing a bit of pacing and I tend to get a bit edgy; especially, like I said near the end of the round today which I was worrying about trying to hang on to a good round because I have blown so many recently. So I was doing a bit of pacing, but really the plan is to just keep everything easy and just try not to get to worked up either way.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, I have missed six cuts. I finished top 10 only three times. For a long time there during the year, I was top -- I think I was 6th in greens in regulation and probably 190th on putting, stuff like that. So, I mean, that is what I mean by that.

LAURA DAVIES: I don't know because I just want to keep things simple this week. I don't want to get up there and start blazing a driver where I just don't need it. If I have to hit 3-iron, 3-iron on a par 4, I'd rather do that than try and hit my driver and hit a 7 or 5 or 8-iron in -- this is a long course, and I am long enough with that 3-iron I think Paul's come around to the idea because he has seen the way I can hit it today, we will probably keep away from the driver because the par 5s are that long; unless they are downwind, I can't reach them anyway. I will play them as everybody else in three shots and make the easy see par and maybe nick a birdie here and there.

LAURA DAVIES: Honestly, no. It is hard work when you have come from a few years -- the three years I had where I won all those times and all after sudden I have haven't won since the Hennessey last year which is sort of 6, 8 months; I haven't won over here for 15 months. I am not just out here to make the numbers. That is the trouble, I want to win. That is where the pressure comes from. If I just wanted to turn up every week and finish top 50, you know, maybe I could do that comfortably, but I am not interested in that. That is where I think the pressure comes from. Top 10 this week is not going to make me happy at all. It is just going to be: Oh, well, you know, move on next week; try and win; try there and try and win because that is all it is all about for me, winning.

LAURA DAVIES: Probably depending on the holes, but I mean, a few of them today were out there 260, 250.

LAURA DAVIES: Just depends on the conditions. The longest one of the day was which was about 20 yards past a good drive that Annika hit was on No. 12 -- 12. And I just you know, I just -- I aimed it down the left. I hit it as hard as I can and it gets a lot of top spin on it, obviously, and just runs on out there. All depends on the angle you set up to it.

LAURA DAVIES: I was just hitting -- standing over a putt generally feeling where the putt was going to go. I wasn't standing there thinking I have got to hit this left lip to make it. I was thinking, well, I will sort of nudge it out there leftish and see what happens because I have been scrutinizing lines. I have been, you know, getting so worked up about where I should be hitting it and I have forgotten by that time to hit, you know, just to roll a ball. So we have decided these greens are so tough we would hit to an area and see what happens.

LAURA DAVIES: I think there is a few in that the fairways are pretty generous. I think that is the one similarity. I mean, it is a long time since I have obviously seen Plainfield. From what I could remember, the fairways are a little bit more generous. Some of the courses we played like Pine Needles a few years ago, so tight and when they are like that for me, that doesn't suit my game. So I'd say that is the only similarity, really.

LAURA DAVIES: Exactly. That is why I am trying to come back. I am trying to make everything easy now. Whether it works out or not is another thing. I might hit a couple of putts this week. I could misread them by twelve feet because these greens can make fools of you. I am prepared for that. I think if I roll them to an actual area and in an actual spot, I think I am -- my hands are going to be freer.

LAURA DAVIES: No, I have actually been playing really well. So everyone who played with me, they said: Why are you struggling? It is not just because of putting or this or that, it is just, generally, I have messed up 90% of rounds of golf this year. I have been under par in probably, I don't know, 80% of the rounds I have started this year and I have maybe only had 20% of rounds finishing under par. You know, I just get up there and I have one bad hole or a string of bad holes or a string of miss-putts. It is -- just the whole thing is on a downward spiral.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, today is a big boost.

LAURA DAVIES: Nothing, really intrigues me about it. I like a golf course where long hitters, you know, are given a chance. And, we play -- all year we play such short golf courses that, you know, I could hit my 5-iron off tees on most of the golf courses we play and still be in play. This is nice where you can hear the girls struggling; they are whining about hitting woods. I think it is fabulous.

LAURA DAVIES: I am enjoying it, yeah, I am enjoying seeing some of the top players, you know, really having to hit some decent long irons in. It is great.

LAURA DAVIES: Absolutely, myself included, because I know if I am hitting 6-iron off a really good drive, I know the people out there would timber.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, I -- Juli Inkster was playing behind us and privately I would have said Juli would have been the favorite this week because she hits it so long and every time I look back, she looked like she was having trouble. I had no idea what she was shooting out there. People like that, who you expect to do well, if they get off to a bad start, the pressure is on. You could be out in the Open before you are in the Open on a course like this as long and as tough as it actually is. People like that are going to struggle. I would have said she would have gone very, very close. She still might. I don't know what she shot.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, let it blow as hard as it likes. I have played some of my best golf in the wind. It certainly wouldn't help me. Just means that I will have to tow the 3-iron down a bit and hit it much lower into the wind and, you know, I'd rather hit iron into the wind than a wood any day.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I mean, it could get ugly out there, really, a few of those holes are scary shots. I actually birdied two of the scariest holes of today, No. 5 - I don't know if you have seen that hole - but dropping downhill, you have got a hazard right and left long is not good. We had an easy pin today as well. And Annika had 7. I luckily just chipped in there. Patti made a great -- did she par -- she might have -- made a great par, up-and-down from the back. But, you know, there are some really scary holes out there. If it gets windier they are almost going to be very, very tough.