U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 12, 1995

Laura Davies

LAURA DAVIES: The first time, I'd played it was yesterday and the start of it looking at the course, it is wide open, so very much suits my game with the driver. Then you get to the greens, it is a completely different story. They are unbelievable. Hopefully, they will slow them down a bit before we get going in the tournament tomorrow. But some of the putts, you have downhill putts, you literally couldn't put them on the green. It is unbelievable to putt on. I think there is going to be some fun on the TV come the weekend.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, I hit one yesterday down the first. It was -- started uphill into the wind over 300, so that was a good sign to begin with. And then a couple of times, you know, hit what I thought were just okay drives and they were out there about 330, so you know, it is amazing. It is going more than the 10%. It is like 15% or 20% if you get a really high well struck one; it literally goes which is great.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I don't know if it's an advantage, but certainly I am -- longest club into the par 4s was a wedge and 9 times out of 10, it was a sand iron; that is what we are going to do this afternoon. We are going to hit loads and loads of wedges and sand iron shots because like 100 -- anywhere from 110 to maybe 80 something yards was my average yardage into the greens, so it is something you have even on the par five 9th, I hit sand iron in there. You have got to get that putt well. But as the others said, it is all about position. It doesn't matter if you crank a 350 yard drive. If you put it above the pin with the second shot you may just as well hit it 200 off the tee.

LAURA DAVIES: No. Never. Never played on a course where the ball goes so far, and certainly never played on greens like this. They are incredible. I mean, they are great greens. If you hit a good putt, it goes in, but it is just judging that line is sometimes impossible, I think.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, I played -- since I left after McDonalds, I played about four tournaments in Europe and had a couple of weeks off which was nice and now I have got a run, two weeks out here and then four weeks back in Europe, so I won't be back until the du Maurier.

LAURA DAVIES: I got here Monday night about 11 o'clock.

LAURA DAVIES: I tell you, the most difficult thing is breathing out here. It seems -- it is incredible. I was going uphill yesterday. You think that is much of a hill, you could hardly breath. Matt pointed out to me that it was the altitude that makes it difficult, so I was quite relieved. I thought I was in trouble there for a minute. I thought I was getting a heart attack.

LAURA DAVIES: Yesterday I hit driver 6-iron, so I mean, that was, I tell you, I hit a good drive. It went in the rough, so it slowed it down a bit. It is incredible to me that 544 -- you hit driver 6-iron, maybe less by the end of the week, hopefully.

LAURA DAVIES: I got very close to No. 1 -- might have been No. 2. I think I hit it literally within 5 paces of the front and that was a very, very good drive I hit there, so whether I can actually get on that one, I don't know. The other ones, I didn't really get close on them. I was always within a couple of - within 50, 60 yards in front. Actually, could get on them, I don't think so.

LAURA DAVIES: No, I am going to plan just to hit that driver and have some fun and if I had hit the driver well, hit a lot of fairways; then it is literally to position the ball on the green underneath the pins and give myself lots of - lots of birdie putts. Every one is going to 3-putt. If you can get away with 1 or 2 a day rather than 5 or 6 which I think is going to happen quite easily, then you probably will do quite well out there.

LAURA DAVIES: I think because of the condition -- the air up here, length is really not a factor. It is position. If you miss the fairway, you are in trouble. That is another factor because coming out of the rough onto these greens, you are not going to get any spin at all and that's your control gone even more, so it is a little bit of length, but you got to be sensible. I am going to hit driver apart from -- 15 and 18 only two holes, I am not going to hit driver simply because you can run off the fairway easily on those two holes, especially 18 with the water there, so...

LAURA DAVIES: I mean, to be honest with you, you couldn't have enough practice rounds on here if -- you wouldn't even have to hit the shots because the golf course, as it is, you know, sort of like Augusta, I suppose in a way, your actual stroking off the tee and your positional play off the tee, it does matter obviously to hit a few fairways, but really you can get away with murder from that point. You could not chip and putt around these greens enough, I don't think.

LAURA DAVIES: Apparently there is a Shrine up there and look for the tall buildings.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, it is going to help, definitely. If you are into -- if you are sort of into the mountain downhill, the putts just aren't that quick, but if you are the other way around, it is frightening stuff.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, it is nice that people think that you have got a chance. Basically, you have got to get out there and get off -- you don't have to get off to a fast start; just get off to a steady start. If you can play the first couple of rounds and couple of over to no more than that, I'd say, you would be in contention, so it is nice that people think you got a chance, but you got to get out there and do it.

LAURA DAVIES: No. I will behave myself this week.

LAURA DAVIES: She is my partner today. Hopefully she will play well today. Patty is dangerous whenever she plays in an Open because she is sort of the type of golfer that keeps the ball in play and very clever, she putt the ball in the right positions; that is why she has won two Opens. She could have one four or five. She is usually up there. Anyone who stays ahead of Patty this week, you won't be having a bad week.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah.

LAURA DAVIES: The shot I have been playing well the last couple of years; especially with my wedge and my sand iron which is again, like I said, that is what I am going to be hitting a lot of little knock-down; it requires a lot of draw spin, so I am going to be setting the ball out well right to the pin. I am not going to try to cut the ball because it is not a shot I have been playing on a regular basis so there is no point in changing it for one week because it won't work. It will be a lot of knock-down sand irons and knock-down wedges.

LAURA DAVIES: It is fine. I mean, it is fun -- it is fun to do it. It is fun to hit -- if people rush up on the tee to see you hit the driver, there is nothing wrong with that. I certainly never had a problem with it and I enjoy it.

LAURA DAVIES: Maybe stupidity, I think -- I think the thing is I am actually driving the ball extremely straight at the moment, so combined with getting the extra length and putting myself in -- I'd rather take the risk of hitting drivers in the fairway than 2-irons and leaving a lot more club in. I may as well go with what I got. If I do happen to miss a few fairways, then I just have to try and put the ball on the green somewhere where I know the 2-putt is the easiest. Obviously, it will be tough, but it is a U.S. Open, it is supposed to be tough. So as far as I am concerned, the tougher the course, the better.

LAURA DAVIES: Move it out a bit. Not just for me, I think Michelle McGann can get it out there in this position.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, it is definitely going that way in the ladies' game because the golf courses we are playing are definitely getting tougher and I think that is what everybody wants, and certainly -- I mean, we are -- all three of us that you are talking about are all playing very well at the moment. It won't be like that maybe -- who knows how long we will play well, but certainly at the moment, while we are playing well, the length is a great advantage.

LAURA DAVIES: When it all happened in '87 I was obviously out on holiday; I got invited to play in the U.S. Open. I came out to have some fun and ended up in that playoff with Ayako and Joanne. At the time it was just: Oh, well, that was a nice win because I won tournaments in Europe before. As you go on year by year, you then start realizing how important The Open is to everybody and now all of a sudden it is almost impossible to win it. I think 7th is my closest since then at Indianwood, so you snow, it is a great tournament to try and win. Having said all that, though, it shouldn't be any more important than the Thailand Open or the English Open or anything else. It should be -- the week you are at should be most important tournament, so obviously this week, this is my most important tournament; next week it will be JAL, so I try to keep it on that basis rather than get to worked up about it. Having said that, if you walk off on Sunday afternoon, it is a massive bonus to be The Open champion.

LAURA DAVIES: I didn't do that. Everyone says that. I mean, what happened was I won the Golf Writers Award for Golfer of the Year in England and the presentation just happens to be at the Men's Open, so they said to me, you have got to come to the dinner. I said, well, get me invited to the tournament and I will come to the dinner because basically I am playing in the JAL tournament. That was what I said and then they said, would you want to play in a men's tournament; I said yeah, maybe, I don't know, so it wasn't like I came out and said, oh, I think I should play in a men's tournament.

LAURA DAVIES: No, I mean, I have not -- no, as far as I know - nothing.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, we were at the Champion's Dinner last night, and certainly I was asked about my memories of '87 and, you know, you couldn't help thinking that it is good memories playing this week with the two of them again. Hopefully, we can go five rounds again together. I will be more than happy with that. It will be fun. Definitely, for all of us, I mean Joanne made reference to it. It wasn't one of her winning moments, but it was one of the references she made, so it will be fun to be out with them again today.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, I don't know really got an advantage. If you are playing well and you are playing smart, you got an advantage. If you basically, you know, do not stay mentally strong all week, you are not going to do well. Especially on the greens, as we keep saying. I mean, it is not the longest golf course in the world because of the conditions, you know, the rough is not that long, but it is all down to the short stuff. I think a great bet if -- Liselotee Neumann would be a great bet. This is just her kind of golf course. If she is out of the top 10, I will be surprised.

LAURA DAVIES: If I even par on Sunday, I will be happy. Unless they slow the greens down. If the greens get slower then the players are so good now they are going to start to make some birdies, but if they stay at this speed even par, I mean, 8 under might could win it.