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THE SOLHEIM CUP

August 19, 2009

SUGAR GROVE, ILLINOIS

BETHAN CUTLER: I'd like to welcome Laura Davies from England, the only player to have played in all 11 Solheim Cups, and Becky Brewerton from Wales, playing her second Solheim Cup. Perhaps Laura, can we start with you and how the week is shaping up for you so far.
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, very nice. We've had a couple practices this week, and the course it's a little different to when I played earlier in the year. But yeah, I think all the girls like it. Nice generous fairways, greens are really good, really getting quick. I think they'll be very quick by the weekend. It's just a really nice venue.
BETHAN CUTLER: How's your form coming into the week?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah. Hitting it better. Had that bad run in the middle of the year but that's all behind me now.
BETHAN CUTLER: Becky, you've been playing really well in recent weeks. Have you continued that form coming into the first few days of the week.
BECKY BREWERTON: Yeah, I feel pretty good. I'm enjoying the course. As Laura said, a little quite like getting used to it before the start of the tournament. It's in great condition. It's quite wet, so it's playing long, which is good for us.
BETHAN CUTLER: Any questions for Laura or Becky?

Q. Becky, why is the course playing long good for you?
BECKY BREWERTON: Because we've got lots of very long hitters.

Q. Yeah, but you had lots of very long hitters in the last two Solheim Cups?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, but the last time the course was -- because the weather was so bad, it was playing so ridiculously long it didn't really suit anyone because no one could get up on anywhere.

Q. Laura, Juli Inkster was in here yesterday and said this is possibly the strongest European team she's seen. You've played in every single one of these things. Would you concur with that?
LAURA DAVIES: I think it's a very strong team, yes. It's as strong as it could be at the moment. Whether it stacks up against some of the teams in the '90s when Annika was involved, it's hard to see a stronger team than when Annika is in there, but I do agree at the moment this is absolutely the best of European golf, and luckily we're playing well, so yeah, I think she's got a good point.

Q. Becky, I think anybody would say that Laura has been the heart and soul of the European Solheim Cup team since its inception. What can you learn from someone like your teammate here?
LAURA DAVIES: This should be interesting.
BECKY BREWERTON: So much. I mean, for me it was unbelievable, my first Solheim, and if I could have had any dream, it would have been to have played with Laura, just because she's all about what the whole tournament's about, the way she plays especially in match play, with an aggressive game. (Laughs.) Yeah, the way she plays with an aggressive game; there's so many Solheim Cup moments and so many of the best tournaments that I remember from watching on TV and playing last time seem to have had her involved from some point.
That says it all really, but to get to play with her in the first one was fantastic, and although she took Mickey over me quite a lot, it did help. So it was good.

Q. Laura, as you said, you've played in every Solheim Cup. There have been a lot of suggestions in various parts of the media that with Asian golf so strong now, that maybe the Solheim Cup needs to change or diversify. Not something Alison Nicholas agreed with at all. I wonder what your view on it was?
LAURA DAVIES: I'd just be interested in what flag you'd play it under because there's a European flag, but to this point I haven't seen the rest-of-the-world flag, so all the people running around with flags wouldn't have much to wave, would they. That would be the biggest problem I see, just having an identity with the rest of the world. We are confident in Europe, and if you take that away, the Solheim Cup is no longer as far as I'm concerned.
BETHAN CUTLER: What do you feel about it, Becky?
BECKY BREWERTON: Yeah. I couldn't agree more. It wouldn't be the event it is. It wouldn't be the Solheim Cup anymore. It would have to be a completely different tournament.

Q. Laura, could you speak to how important it is for you before you retire to win a Solheim Cup on American soil? Does that matter?
LAURA DAVIES: Oh, it matters a lot, yeah. At the moment as far as I'm concerned, we're 7-3 down, and I'd love to play in at least four more and try and make it 7-all. That would be my dream, and obviously that would constitute a couple of wins in America, which is the ultimate as far as I'm concerned. To overcome the crowds and the American team, which is always first-class and they always come in playing really well, which they've done again, and just to beat them over here, I think the sense of satisfaction Sunday night would be beyond anything I've achieved.
If we don't do it in my time playing in the Solheim then it would be a huge hole in my career.

Q. That said, would you agree that in the past, with Europe winning in the stakes, in the Ryder Cup, it changed the public's interest in the event? How do you see something like that affecting this event, the Solheim Cup?
LAURA DAVIES: I don't think it can be any bigger than it is now. If we win it, that's obviously great personally for us, but I think the Solheim Cup is set in stone now, and it is our equivalent to the Ryder Cup, which is probably the biggest tournament in men's golf, and this is by far the biggest tournament in women's golf, from coverage, excitement, galleries. So it would add to it, but it wouldn't make a difference.
Like you said, back in the '80s when we finally won in America, it was a huge thing because everyone started believing -- well, at the time I think it might have been Great Britain and Ireland still. People started to think the Europeans were worthy opponents.
But I think everyone thinks we are worthy opponents already, and if they don't, then they probably shouldn't be here.

Q. What did Ollie say in the video yesterday?
LAURA DAVIES: It was just, you know, what you'd expect. It was just lovely to see it from a Ryder Cupper and probably a future Ryder Cup captain. I think he's almost nailed in to be the captain pretty soon, and I've been lucky enough to play with him over the years. It was just a nice -- everything was positive. It was whatever happens, keep pushing forward. It was just Ollie being Ollie, and it was just absolutely fantastic. I think everybody was pretty shocked. I was shocked that he would take the time out to make us that video. It was really nice.

Q. So many of us remember the great play, you and Alison as teammates. Now she's your captain. How's that going?
LAURA DAVIES: Good. I've known her since 1980. I think we very first met in the amateur scene. And yeah, the memories of us playing those first few matches at Lake Nona together and over the next sort of probably 12 years we played together as teammates. She's no different as a captain. She excited about it. She loves the Solheim Cup. That's one of her favorite tournaments, like the same as myself, and her enthusiasm just rubs off on everybody, and it's nice to see her getting the job -- she's been the vice-captain two or three times. So I think she very much deserved to be the captain because her record stands out.

Q. Are you taking notes?
LAURA DAVIES: No. I really would never want to be the captain. I'd rather be playing or watching or being involved in another way, but I just don't see myself as a captain figure, and motivational speaking is not my strong point.

Q. Would you turn it down if it was offered?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah. I've already turned it down.

Q. You've already turned it down?
LAURA DAVIES: Well, it's been suggested, what do you think? I said no, I don't want to do it. I don't think it's a bad thing not to want to do it. I don't think I would be a particularly good captain, and for that reason -- and I probably wouldn't -- if I couldn't give it my total commitment, then I wouldn't want to do it anyway, but it's not something that's interested me.

Q. Why wouldn't you want to be a captain?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah. I'm just not the person to stand up in front of a room of people and try and cheer them all up. That's just never been my way, and I think as a captain, you have to command the audience, and I don't think that's the sort of thing I can do.
Ali, she's very softly spoken but she's very good in front of the players and caddies and helpers. She's very good, and I've never been big on that side of it, and I don't know, I love playing. That's what I love doing. I'd love to be a vice-captain maybe and sort of loiter in the background if I can't play anymore. But no, not something that I fancy.

Q. Laura, what's your secret for staying at the top of the game for so long?
LAURA DAVIES: I don't practice as much as the rest; it's as simple as that. I honestly believe it's as simple as that. They're all out there again today smashing golf balls. And I've been doing my laundry and got some things for the team room. It's been a nice afternoon. And I genuinely believe that's why I'm here longer than most, because I don't play golf 24 hours a day. I do have time off, and some people have said if I'd been more dedicated on the range, I might have won more tournaments. We'll never know that. But that's why I'm still going at 45 and looking to go another five or ten years, as ridiculous as that sounds.

Q. How do you explain Liverpool's dire start to the season at White Hart Lane?
LAURA DAVIES: Well, we played Ryan Babel, and he's rubbish. Sorry to get off the track. But yeah, I haven't seen the team yet, but I guarantee he's not in it today. But we'll be there at the end of the year.

Q. Laura, obviously you and Helen Alfredsson and Juli Inkster are the veterans of this event. What's your take when you look around at these guys, your colleagues for all these years, the fact that you guys are still hanging with the kids?
LAURA DAVIES: I think it's great. I think people like seeing it. The biggest story in sport, let alone golf, would have been if Tom Watson won. I know he's a lot older than we are, but even so, he proved that golf is one of the very few sports where it doesn't really matter how old you are; if you're good, you're good. You can't run out of steam, really, because all you're doing is walking. It's not all that strenuous to be honest.
Everyone is going on about, we play 36 in a day; it's too much. We're walking; we're not running around. But we're lucky. Golf is a sport that goes through the ages, and I'm very pleased to still be going strong.

Q. Do you see yourself still playing golf at 45 or 50?
BECKY BREWERTON: I don't know. Because I'd be one of those that would be out there hitting balls, so by Laura's account I probably won't be.
LAURA DAVIES: She'll be done in five years. (Laughs.)

Q. Are you tempted maybe to take Laura's approach and see what would happen?
BECKY BREWERTON: I'm not sure. I'm not as naturally gifted as her, so I don't think I'll be able to do that anyway.

Q. I believe there's a casino somewhere in the area. Have you been to go to that?
LAURA DAVIES: We're barely allowed off the compound. How I nicked the captain's call for a bit of laundry this afternoon, I'll never know, but apparently all the caddies and helpers are going tonight. So if I can dodge the banquet dinner, I'll be with them, but I don't think that's happening.
BETHAN CUTLER: Okay. Thanks and play well this week.

End of FastScripts

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