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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

August 1, 2007

Laura Davies

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

COLIN CALLANDER: Thank you for coming in. Amazed when I heard you had never played the Old Course before. What are your thoughts?
LAURA DAVIES: No, I think it's probably a heck of a course. It's just natural. When you watch it on telly, you get certain ideas of how you think it's going to be, and it was nothing like it. It's much smaller, the way all of the fairways, you know, tie together and everything's close by. It's just a great atmosphere to play a championship like the British Open.
COLIN CALLANDER: Is it the atmosphere or the golf course that makes it so special?
LAURA DAVIES: Everything, it's magnificent. The greens, I've never been on greens like it, it's natural, blending into the edges of the fringe and running into the fairways. The size of the greens are amazing. You can't appreciate it; you hear about it and think they are exaggerating and they are not.

Q. So I take it you plan to come back?
LAURA DAVIES: If we have The Open here, I'll be back.

Q. We heard you changed your shoes in the car park the other day. Is that true?
LAURA DAVIES: Yes, it's more convenient. Yes, it's easier, you meet on the putting green and come over.

Q. Have you been in the locker room?
LAURA DAVIES: I had my golf balls down there went and got some golf balls down there it's fantastic, The Open trophies, see them up close like that -- obviously the history, everything about it, it's amazing.

Q. What is the locker room like?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, underneath when you go in reception, around the staircase, it's beautiful, very nice. It's just numbers, there's no names on the locker. Just locker No. 32.

Q. Your caddie Johnny has been a help hasn't he?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, because he knows the course and obviously he's giving us all of the lines today. And the greens, you need to really study really hard. I think if you paid them for loads and loads of times, two or three rounds wouldn't help you necessarily. But if you're local and knew them a lot, it would be really worth coming up and studying them, they are just so different.

Q. (Some of the players have hired local caddies to go around with them in practise).
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I heard that, not a bad idea. One of the guys we had in the group today, they were giving me and Johnny a few tips. Yeah, obviously they know how to play the grass.

Q. Does this course suit your game?
LAURA DAVIES: Yes, I think so. All of the championship courses you could play -- I love Lytham, my favourite course but didn't necessarily suit my game and this one does. Not necessarily saying that I'm going to do well and win or anything, but if I play my game, I'll have a chance because it sets up so well.

Q. So today is the first time you played?
LAURA DAVIES: Today -- no, I lied. I played 18 -- 1 and 18 yesterday. Ripped it out-of-bounds on the first and I was a -- I saw an Ian Baker-Finch, somebody saw me do it, knocking it out-of-bounds. It was windy.

Q. Do you wish you had played her in your prime?
LAURA DAVIES: I still am. Yes, I think I've got as much of a chance this week as I had in '94, '95 or '96, my three best years. I'm striking it better now than I've ever done, so as far as I'm concerned, it's come at a perfect time.

Q. Is there any reason why you have never played St Andrews?
LAURA DAVIES: Well, I don't -- I've been playing for, what, 23 years now. And I play 33 tournaments a year, and the last thing I want to do when I have a couple of weeks off is fly up to Scotland and get a tee time with loads of amateur golfers; so that was my idea of hell. (Laughter) So I waited for the right time and here we are at the British Open and it couldn't be better.

Q. Have you ever played it on PlayStation?
LAURA DAVIES: I don't like PlayStation. I'm not keen on that. No, I'm just really pleased to be here. It's not like I've got anything against St. Andrews. It's just our paths have never crossed before, and the British Open obviously is the ideal opportunity to come and see it.
I'm not saying I don't want to play it or haven't wanted to play it. There's loads of great golf courses I've not played, but maybe when I stop playing on the Tour I'll play all of the courses I've missed out on. At the moment it not on the schedule to play golf on a week off. I haven't played golf with my brother I think for about 16 years, so ask him about it. I just don't play.

Q. What do you think about the 17th being a par 5?
LAURA DAVIES: Well, I've never played it as a par 4 so it just seems as an easy par 5 really. Whether it's a par 4 or a par 5 it's a really difficult hole. I hit a great tee shot today and hopefully I'll hit four more of them. But if you don't hit the tee shot, you won't hit the green; and if you miss the green, we all know what can happen.
Today was the Pro-Am and pretty much straightforward but I'm not daft enough to think it might be that straightforward again. The fact that it's 5 probably helps a little bit, but it's not an issue either way I would expect.
COLIN CALLANDER: How close did you hit it?
LAURA DAVIES: 30 feet. My only birdie of the day. I could not make a putt out there, not for lack of trying but couldn't make any.

Q. Should you play the 17th as a par 4 for a par 5
LAURA DAVIES: Like I said, we've never been here before. So who is to say the men shouldn't play it as a 5, who knows. It's a great hole as it is, and whether it's a four or a five; it makes a difference, four shots at end of the week. So the winner will be four shots more under par than if it would have been a par 5 four. Maybe mentally if you say it's a par 4, the average would be slightly less purely because it's a par 4. I think if you mind that, you play it that way another year, the stroke average on the hole will be lower than if it was a four.

Q. Do you like it here because it suits your game?
LAURA DAVIES: Well, you know, we play lots of courses I like, and I think this is just one that is so generous off the tee, as long as you keep it out of the bunkers -- and there's a lot of it out there and a lot of fairway and a lot of light, wispy rough. I played hitting a tee shot -- it was easy for me as I've ever seen probably but I've only played it once in a mile wind. If it it's blowing a gale, hitting the fairways --

Q. Did aybody tell you about the course before you got here?
LAURA DAVIES: My caddie, Johnny, he's played here 30, 40 times. He's said all year that looking forward to getting there because you're going to love it, and he's quite right.

Q. What's his name?
LAURA DAVIES: Jonathan Scott.

Q. Is everyone looking forward to playing here this week?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah -- about this week? Oh, no, everyone has really been looking forward to. I have not heard one person say anything other than how excited they are to be here. The men come here so often -- well, they probably don't get blasé about it because it's that sort of place, you're up for it when you see it. But for us it's an extra special treat because it's the first time we've been here.

Q.
LAURA DAVIES: It could suit anybody, can really can suit anybody. But if you start losing your confidence a bit, you're not 100% sure on where you're going, if you're not on the fairways, you can find bits of trouble. I think it's a great test for everyone and not just for a links; it could be low or high depending on the wind.

Q. Which side on the first did you hit it out of bounds yesterday?
LAURA DAVIES: I did a Baker-Finch. Left (Laughter).

Q. Did it go out on the fly?
LAURA DAVIES: Oh, no, it ran a long way. It was a pretty decent strike. No, I was knocking it around -- I had people heckling me on the first tee, as well, so it was a hard shot.

Q. What were the hecklers saying?
LAURA DAVIES: Just tell them, don't hit it out-of-bounds, basically.

Q. You were quoted recently as saying the British women's game is in trouble. Do you think that's true?
LAURA DAVIES: No, I never said it was in trouble. I don't think it's a shame -- I was asked questions whether there were young players coming up to take mine and Trish's place, we had Becky Morgan in America has been playing very consistently. But there don't seem to be an enormous -- at the moment it seems like you have to be 14, 15, 16, to be considered -- you have to be really good at that age to become one of the next really good players and I haven't even that many young British girls about.

Q. Why is that?
LAURA DAVIES: I have no idea. Who knows? The Americans are producing really good players again now. The Swedes had their run at it. The Spaniards are going to come through I think in a couple of years. They have got lots of really good young players. Hopefully our turn will come and the young girls -- I do a clinic with Se Ri every year in December, and there's a girl, she's eight now, I think one day she will be a fantastic player. She's not very tall, very little, thin, but just whacks her driver about 190, 180 every single time, got a great swing, a bit of touch. So there's a potential youngster that might come through in ten years time maybe. (Laughter).
There's a few girls that come along on Sunday morning in the winter and they all -- I forgot their names, the swing stands out, her name doesn't but her swing does.

Q. How old are they?
LAURA DAVIES: She was eight, some are nine and ten, the oldest that comes are at 12. The youngest is six, and they are keen.

Q. What are your thoughts about Michele Wie and the way she is struggling?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, it's just a shame, she's struggling. She's obviously had the injury and it seems to be going on a bit. But hopefully she's over the injury and can start getting confidence back because I know what it's like to lose confidence. I was practising next to her on the range at Evian last week, and she doesn't look that confident on the range at the moment but it will turn around. She's too good. It might be six months, it might be six weeks, would knows. But no question, as good as she is, she will hopefully be winning tournaments soon because it will be good for all of us.

Q. How much did the wind affect your drives today?
LAURA DAVIES: Well, we've got it close to the front on 18 downwind so that was 290 something I think we've got there and drive into the win on No. 2 probably went about -- probably best drive of the day on two and it went no more than 250. So there's a 40-, 50-yard difference. But you get very few down or into the wind shots. You get a lot of cross wind.
COLIN CALLANDER: Thank you very much, Laura, and good luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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