U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 8, 1997

Laura Davies

LAURA DAVIES: I just played the first 12 holes and certainly very impressive, one of the the -- I think we say that every year, but I think we've come to a golf course better than all the others. Condition-wise it's great, every hole is different. If you're playing well, you can score well, which is unusual on an open course. It's not playing as long as some of them. If you play well you have a chance. There's always the element if you hit a bad shot you'll be punished badly.

LAURA DAVIES: I'm striking it well. I'm struggling on the greens. If I can turn the putting around and make a few putts, I'll have a chance. But if you don't hole putts you can't do well. That's been holding me back the last few months or so.

LAURA DAVIES: I don't think it's a long course at all, so I think sensible tee shots in the right spot. There's a couple of holes, if you hit it 10 yards too far you've got a downhill or uphill lie, whereas if you hold back a bit or find the flat spots, you've got an easy shot into the holes and you're going to have some birdie chances. The greens are tricky.

LAURA DAVIES: The front 12.

LAURA DAVIES: No, I'll play a full 18 tomorrow.

LAURA DAVIES: No, I think it's one of the shortest courses we've had for a long time. I did think it was going to be playing very long. I was surprised. I heard it was a long course, but we're not that long. I don't know what the actual yardage is, but it's going to be one of the more scorable Opens, I would say.

LAURA DAVIES: I won it on a Tuesday, so it was pretty unusual.

LAURA DAVIES: This course, it sets up well for anyone -- I'd say a high ball hitter rather than a long ball hitter is going to do well. Because some of the par-4 shots, if you've got to get it on the top tiers, because most of the greens have severe tier in them. If you hit it high, rather than long, that's the sort of ball striker that's going to have an advantage.

LAURA DAVIES: My irons are the best part of my game, there's no question about that. And obviously on a couple of holes out here if I can hit the really long tee shot, I have a bit of an advantage. All the par-5s, I've played three of the five, they're all well over 500 yards, and it probably means the others can't quite get there. You have to combine both things.

LAURA DAVIES: Thank God for that.

LAURA DAVIES: No, they don't.

LAURA DAVIES: Stupid and I have no idea.

LAURA DAVIES: I've not directly talked to them about it, but the whole thing seems so ridiculous that there's no point talking about it. I don't think that Karrie Webb's British Open counts as a Tour victory, which she won before she got on Tour. But if it's a LPGA Tour event, it should count. When people like Karrie won it it should count. Just because you're not a member of the LPGA, I don't see the problem.

LAURA DAVIES: I wouldn't be going to any parties when I won my 31st, let's put it that way. I would just be happy to say, thanks very much for the invite, because there's a big gala dinner. But if they made me wait for the 31st, I don't think it will ever happen, but if that did happen, then it would have to be counted at 30 or else it would be a waste of time.

LAURA DAVIES: Obviously non-golfing things, that was to the palace -- that was actually in 1988 and that was something quite special, going and meeting -- whenever you meet the Queen, but she pins a medal on you, but there's more pressure than a 3-footer on Sunday, I can tell you.

LAURA DAVIES: No, she doesn't play. She said I understand you're playing very well and good luck in the future, but she didn't ask about the backswing (laughter).

LAURA DAVIES: It's unusual for her that she's going for a repeat on a different golf course, from Phoenix I've been able to birdie every hole, and I've had good memories, and various parts of the course I'm comfortable on. But Annika is going from different course to different course and very difficult courses. She's got a different thing to do. The way she's playing, if I finished one shot ahead of Annika this week, I'm going to consider it a good week, probably be holding that trophy. If she plays well, you've got to do something special to beat her.

LAURA DAVIES: I think you only start thinking about it when you get to the last day and you've got a chance, then you start thinking, obviously the three- or on the four-peat would be great. But the first three days you're getting in position to do that. I don't think she'll be doing that much. I couldn't speak for her.

LAURA DAVIES: I've only gotten here last night, but she's Swedish. She's as cool as anybody I've ever seen. I'm sure she will be inside worrying about it, but you wouldn't know. The way she's playing, it's very, very impressive. That's all I can say. I just don't think the three-peat will be on her mind.

LAURA DAVIES: I sliced my finger off this morning having a breakfast. I put a big gash with a sharp knife. And so that wasn't a very good start. But preparation is just hoping you'll play well on the week. You can't ever make it happen. But I never have practice rounds. It's only the U.S. Open I have a practice round, because obviously we don't have a Pro Am, and you've obviously got to see the course a little bit. I enjoy practice rounds because we always play great golf courses.

LAURA DAVIES: No, I only got here last night so I don't know.

LAURA DAVIES: This one, the one with the big bandage on it (laughter.)

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I'd love to have the chance,. If I putt well, that's one thing I've been practicing putting, if I can hole them early, I think I have a chance this week. You have to wait until Sunday morning to assess your real chance. Play sensibly for the first three days. I don't think level par is going to win by my means, because the course is very playable. But I think if you're 4- or 5-under Sunday morning, you're going to have a good squeak at it.

LAURA DAVIES: I don't know, they're just not going in. Some good putts and then a lot of good putts, and they're not going in. I've also been throwing in a few hideous putts, as well. I'm not trying to get worked up about it, but it's been going on a while now. You can't compete if you can't putt. I'm missing short putts.

LAURA DAVIES: The greens couldn't get any better. If you can roll it well this week, but this golf course sets up, with the way the greens are rolling, if you're going to make them, you're going to make them this week.

LAURA DAVIES: I was cutting a piece of bread and I thought I had the sharp side cutting the bread, but I had the blunt side so I cut my finger with the other side. The only thing is I can't take my glove on or off, so I have to putt with my glove on, which I've never done before. It's not -- it's a bit sore. It won't affect the swing.

LAURA DAVIES: Maybe that will be the secret to solving your putting problem. It might be.

LAURA DAVIES: Not that many, just the par-3's, I'd say -- par-5s, for sure, because they are all so long. And they're pretty wide open, so for me to get home, I've got to hit the ball very hard. That's worth a chance on those. But the par-4's, they're just so short that you don't need -- the longer ones they're playing short, because they're either downhill, just the way they're set up. It's going to be a lot of 3-woods and a couple of 2-irons. I think the 3-wood is going to be the club I use the most off the tee.

LAURA DAVIES: Probably about 240, 50.

LAURA DAVIES: There's obviously lots of tournaments I like to play. I put the ones I like to play from either side of the TOUR, and I add to that by making traveling easy. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it doesn't. You have to play certain events. You can't miss the U.S. Open. You can't miss the British Open or the Scottish in Europe. You write down those ones first and fill in the gaps.

LAURA DAVIES: Played a bit of golf in the back garden. Went to Wimbledon one day, watched some tennis. And not a lot else, other than that.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I do feel -- people are talking about those two and quite rightly so. They're playing very good golf at the moment. It doesn't worry me. It doesn't want to make me play any better, although the results aren't good at the moment, I really can't play any better. I admit the two of them, it's obviously good for the game, but there's some other young players that shouldn't be overlooked, either, although they are obviously playing their best.

LAURA DAVIES: I hope it doesn't dry out. I'd be more than happy to see downpours, and keep the course as long as possible. I come to an open hoping for that. If it dries out and becomes a bit of a putting contest, then that won't help me. But I'm sure there's a few that would prefer it a bit shorter.

LAURA DAVIES: I can reach them all so far. I hit 3-wood into, I guess it's the 4th or 3rd. I'm not quite sure. And No. 7 I hit driver, driver, and was pin-high for 2. And then No. 11 driver, driver again, and I would have been about green high as well. It's all I've got, but it's definitely on.

LAURA DAVIES: When?

LAURA DAVIES: I haven't seen them yet. Probably. Probably the 18th green. Probably obviously the last three holes I've heard are very tough, so they're going to be decisive, obviously.

LAURA DAVIES: I've got about 8 different putters in the last 8 weeks, which doesn't help, really. The last six months, I won in Denmark four weeks ago, and I had 9 3-putts. I played as well as I could, so that's why I won. I won relatively easily, as well. It's been a while now since I holed lots of putts. I don't always miss putts. I've been playing well where I've holed some, but I haven't done good enough to get 60s every day. One round of 60 and then 73, 74, that costs you dearly. When people like Annika and Karrie are in the 60s every day, the putter is important.

LAURA DAVIES: Somewhere, in the loft, I guess.

LAURA DAVIES: We've not got enough tournaments. The state of play from the players is very good. Everyone is playing well. But unfortunately we haven't got the corporate backing and we've got five very, very big tournaments, the Scottish, the Swedish, the English -- not the English, the British and the Evian and the Hennessey. But other than that all the tournaments are too small. And there's not enough tournaments. We have too many gaps in the schedules. All the top Europeans you see in the moment they're going to start dying out soon because there's not enough tournaments.

LAURA DAVIES: Obviously the sponsors like me to play over there, and I like to play over there so that's why I do go over there as much as I do. Like I said earlier, you have to pick out the tournaments you like to play, and I try and play in as many as I can over there.

LAURA DAVIES: No, I think some of the golf courses in England, they get very, very tight fairways. But these are so nice, you don't get a bad lie. You've got to be unlucky to get one, you have to go in the divot, even the drivers off the fairway today, they were tightly anytime, but if you put a good swing on them, you're going to hit a good shot.

LAURA DAVIES: I think Annika, definitely Annika and obviously Karrie is going well, and Kelly Robbins. All the people are doing well at the moment. It's not difficult to work out who should go close. But it's the sort of week where I think a lot of players have been brought into it, because it's playable like I've been saying. If you beat Annika, I really think you're going to win.

LAURA DAVIES: You can never have a golf tournament at odds less than ten to one favorite. So probably a lot of people will be betting on her at ten to one. But I think she should be the favorite because she's playing the best.