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GINN OPEN

April 14, 2007

Laura Davies

REUNION, FLORIDA

DANA GROSS-RHODE: Let's go over your score card.
LAURA DAVIES: Birdie on No. 3. I hit a 3-iron off the tee because it was into the wind today. So 3-iron and then 4-iron about 110 yards with a pitching wedge, hit it to about four feet and holed that.
7, just drove it off the left edge, so I had about a 30-foot eagle putt and 2-putted. Left the first one about five feet short but made the second one.
No. 9 I hit a really good drive and 5-iron just on the back fringe and two putts there from about 40 feet.
Then nothing much happened until a terrible tee shot on 13 really. Sliced it out to the right, was in a bush but got a good break. So I'm still in the path because so I could have moved it forward, but I was still on the cart path and got a free drop and made a mess of the next one; so had to chip out again. So in the fairway for three and hit a pitching wedge to about ten feet and missed the putt for double.

Q. How far was the pitching wedge?
LAURA DAVIES: It was about 102 I think.
Then the next hole pulled my tee shot in the left-hand rough with a 3-iron and hit a 7-iron just right in the green. 3-putted from just off the edge, bogey there.
Then 17, hit driver, and laid up with a 6-iron to about 109. Hit a sand wedge to about eight feet.
Then at the last, driver, sand iron. Sand iron was about 111 -- no, actually 129, and hit that to about eight feet.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: Obviously with the exception of the poor tee shot on 13, you've had a great tournament, but there's still that nagging little person, Lorena Ochoa, keeping pace with you, but you have to be happy with the tournament so far.
LAURA DAVIES: Hopefully she's worried about me as well. Obviously she's the best player on form at the moment. I think even Annika would admit that.
Tomorrow is not going to be easy. I'm just pleased to be in this position. This time last year I missed the cut, so this is a lot more fun.

Q. What we've been talking about all week, it's been a while since you've won, but you've been there so many times; that being said, do you anticipate a little bit extra in the way of nerves, jitters that sort of thing tomorrow?
LAURA DAVIES: Absolutely. I fully expect not feeling too well on the first tee tomorrow, but that's what makes it fun. Even Europe last year when I was in quite a few last groups on Sunday, you still feel nervous because you just want to win. You really want to win the tournament badly, so hopefully I will; get over it after the first two or three holes, and hopefully relax and enjoy it and try to give Lorena something to worry about.

Q. Might seem like a silly question, but is it more fun or exciting when you're going against Sunday someone you've been tied with the whole week going back and forth?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, we've had matched score cards every day, so far that's nothing to split us. We've both done exactly the same thing. Yeah, I think it will be. It should be a good match. Hopefully the weather is not going to spoil it. From what I can understand, it's going to be pretty miserable tomorrow. That could ruin it. It could be survival of the fittest. It could be had a miserable out there; you won't be able to hit good shots. You've just got to survive.

Q. Do you think if the weather is miserable physical play into your hands?
LAURA DAVIES: See, if it's raining, I don't play golf. It's no fun at all. As far as I'm concerned golf in the rain is just no fun. But having said that, if it does rain tomorrow I'll just get on with it because, well, what else can you do.

Q. (Inaudible.)
LAURA DAVIES: No, probably not.

Q. If it does rain do you use a tee for your driver --
LAURA DAVIES: No, doesn't make any difference. No, doesn't make any difference.

Q. Lorena has become the top player out here; with a victory tomorrow she can take over the No. 1 ranking. If that happens, eventually whenever it happens, do you think she can stay there for a long time?
LAURA DAVIES: It's debatable whether she can stay there as long as Annika has. I don't know when -- the Official World Rankings haven't been out that long but Annika has been rated No. 1 in the World Rankings for ages. There's a lot of good young players, a lot of them that can challenge, but at the moment you'd have to say that Lorena is by far the best of rest.

Q. Forgive me for another Hall of Fame question, given your overall career, what you've done not just here but in Europe, are you maybe the one person that is hurt by a Hall of Fame -- your career as a whole is obviously a Hall of Fame career.
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, but it's the LPGA Hall of Fame and I haven't quite done enough. If I had played in the sort of mid 90s, if I had played full-time over here rather than going back and forth, I honestly think I'd have been in by now. But, you know, made my decisions back then to play more in Europe and now I'm struggling to get in.
You know, it's also a good challenge. I'm up for it and I think I'll do it. I might be, you know, I might be wrong, but I think I will. Might not be this week and another week. It might be two more down the line, who knows.

Q. Knowing what you know about Lorena, she's not just trying it figure out a way to not match your card or win a tournament, she's going to know like everybody else that a win will be No. 1; will that add pressure or does she have the makeup where she can insulate herself from that kind of thinking?
LAURA DAVIES: I just don't think it will phase her at all because she's so confident at the moment. She's won so many tournaments recently. I was in that position in '94 through '96. Just nothing worries you. You know you're going to win. You know you're playing well enough and you know you can make the birdies at the right time. And I'm sure she'll be thinking that tomorrow. I'm sure she'll be thinking: "She hasn't won for a long time and I'm the best player." She should be feeling confident tomorrow. It's up it to me to put pressure on her.

Q. Do you feel confident?
LAURA DAVIES: I am confident. I'm hitting it well. Like I said I'll be nervous but that's never a bad thing. I am confident. I think I'll go out and shoot a good round tomorrow, might be proven wrong, but I have to be sitting here thinking I'm going to -- 14-under after three days on a tough golf course is decent stuff.

Q. Does the pace of play bother you?
LAURA DAVIES: Absolutely. It's ridiculous. Someone should have been shot I think. (Laughter) I mean, five hours and 45 minutes, that's insanity. I'm going to miss my flight tomorrow night because of this. I've got a flight to London at 5:25. So I think I can guess that good-bye. I'm in the last group, so it's not bad.

Q. Do you have any idea why it was so slow?
LAURA DAVIES: They are foolish. They mess around on the greens. They look at things from a hundred angles. They don't just get on -- that's why it was so nice playing with those two because they just get on it; Natalie picks a club, her and Greg, and they fire.
You see these other players, it's their turn to hit and they get the yardage book out and that's what takes the time. Again, it's the coaches, the pre-shot routine, it's all got to be the same. Drives me mad.

Q. Will you be joking as much tomorrow as you did today?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, they are good friends of mine. It's a serious business, but, it's still got to be good fun. If you're not enjoying it, you're wasting your time really. It's the best job in the world. Why not enjoy being in there Sunday with a chance, makes it enjoyable.

Q. Playing with the same group of people and having that much fun, does it make it that much easier for your nerves?
LAURA DAVIES: Exactly. If you've got a frown on your face walking down the fairway not talking to each other, chances are you might get a little more nervous about it.

Q. Are you going home?
LAURA DAVIES: I'm supposed to be, but like I said, I think that's pie in the sky now.
DANA GROSS-RHODE:: Thank you for coming in. And your 20 wins in your career, 12 times you've been the leader or coleader going into the final round and you've won eight, so best of luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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