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THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 20, 2011

DUNSANY, IRELAND

BETHAN CUTLER: We'd like to welcome Laura Davies and Melissa Reid into the interview room. Making her 12th Solheim Cup appearance and the only player to play in every edition of the event is Laura Davies here. She has 23.5 points to the European team, secondly only to Annika Sorenstam by half a point.
Melissa's making her Solheim Cup debut as a rookie, and qualified in first place in the early tee rankings, also celebrated her 24th birthday yesterday, so congratulations.
So, Laura, first of all, what's it mean to you to make your 12th appearance in this competition?
LAURA DAVIES: I'm obviously very pleased. That means I've played at a consistent level for a long time. The ultimate every two years is to qualify for the team and not worry about getting a captain's pick. And that is the mark of what you're trying to do. I guess I've done it 12 times now, which is very satisfying.
BETHAN CUTLER: And, Melissa, you've played well here at the Irish Open, tied for third. What's it mean to be back here at Solheim Cup?
MELISSA REID: Obviously, it's one of my goals of the year was to get to Solheim Cup, so I managed to do that, which was nice. I've got some good memories here. I think the course is set-up really, really well.
Yeah, obviously finishing third in the Irish Open is good, because it brings back some good memories.
BETHAN CUTLER: So, Laura, how does the experience now compare to when you were a rookie, a Solheim Cup rookie?
LAURA DAVIES: That was 1990. It's hard to remember that far back to be honest with you. But it was on a much smaller scale in those days. Obviously, the history of the tournament now makes it where it's a huge sporting event.
But back then at Lake Nona it was a lot quieter. The golf was fierce enough, the competition was fierce enough, but there wasn't all the infrastructure that goes with the modern Solheim Cup that we've got now. It's just grown.
BETHAN CUTLER: And you have many memories of this day. What would be the most significant of your memories?
LAURA DAVIES: Just the three wins. Three wins and eight losses, you try to forget the losses as painful as they are, and remember the good, the three wins and the fun you have with your teammates after you've achieved something that means a lot to all of us, really.
BETHAN CUTLER: Do you consider the European team to be underdogs?
LAURA DAVIES: If you look at the bookmakers, we're massive underdogs in a two-horse race, but underdogs do win things, and I think we've got a very good chance. We've got 12 good players, the course is nice and long. Most of our players hit the ball a long way, and I think the chance is ours.
It's up to us now. We've got to take the chance we've got.
BETHAN CUTLER: Melissa, how do you feel about Europe's chances this week?
MELISSA REID: I think looking on paper we are probably coming in as slight underdogs, but I think all 12 players, all of us are playing really, really well. The last two or three months, everyone's stepped up and started to play some really good golf.
So I think, like Laura just said, we need to take our chances when we get given them. And, yeah, I think there's a good buzz on the European team, and hopefully we can snatch it from them.
LAURA DAVIES: Good team spirit.
MELISSA REID: Yeah, good team spirit. Yeah, it's brilliant. No, it's good team spirit.

Q. Laura, I know you're both big football fans. If you were to pick two football teams at the moment, who would America be and who would Europe be?
LAURA DAVIES: We'd be Barcelona and they'd be Grimsby Town, I think (laughing).

Q. The bookies wouldn't agree with you.
LAURA DAVIES: No, it would probably be the Champions League final the other day. They'd probably be Barcelona, and we'd probably be Man United. It's a close thing. You know, the star players have to step up and win the points at vital times. So hopefully we'll have a Lionel Messi on that team or a Wayne Rooney.

Q. Would you like to see a sort of Liverpool-Istanbul type situation?
LAURA DAVIES: No, I'd like to start off strong and get further and further away from them. You don't need a close run thing, because they've proven over the years the singles are their forte.
I think we need a lead going into the singles. If we don't have a lead, we'll be in a little bit of a trouble, but our goal is to get a lead.

Q. There is no Irish player here, but what would you say to Irish people who haven't decided if they're going to come along on the weekend. What would you say to encourage them to come here?
LAURA DAVIES: They're going to miss out on a good crack really. Win or lose, it's going to be a really good fierce battle. Hopefully they'll be able to cheer on their home -- not the home nation, but the European Nation to try to beat the Americans because they're tough.

Q. Laura, 12 Solheim Cups. Is motivation an issue for you? Is it just the fact that you're playing event is the motivating factor for you?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, that's the thing. You know when this is finished, we start again. And you've got to be thinking for 2013 I want to try to be part of the team again, and you set your schedule out where you give yourself the best chance to qualify for it again to be part of this. Because the team's getting younger, I'm getting older, and it's harder to do it. But it makes it all the more fun when I can get in the team.

Q. Mel, having somebody like Laura there, for you particularly as a rookie, how important is that?
MELISSA REID: Obviously, it's great. We get on really well, and Laura's been a big help. I feel very, very comfortable around Laura, so the nerves haven't really crept in yet. And I think that's a massive part to do with somebody like Laura, to be honest.
We have a lot of fun. You do this with someone that's played that many Solheim Cups, they know what it's about and the experience that Laura has and some of the other players have played Solheim Cup before. So I think it's very important for the rookies to talk to the more experienced players and kind of get a feeling of what this week is all about, because it's completely new to us.

Q. How important do you think the home advantage and fans will be this week?
LAURA DAVIES: I think it will be huge. The home advantage is not the golf course, it's the fans, it's the galleries, it's the cheering you get. You know all over the golf course whose won a hole. You don't have to guess at it. And it works against you in America, because you know exactly what's happened over there too.
If it's quiet on a home course, you know things aren't quite going your way. So you need the crowd to be in it early on.

Q. We're in a golden age for the European mens, there was a run of six straight majors won by the Euros and four or five Ryder Cups. Not so much with the women with the Solheim Cup here, and not so many major championship wins. How motivated are you to prove yourselves?
MELISSA REID: Yeah, I think obviously we do have something to prove. I think, like I said before, I think everyone's kind of come into form the last three months, and everyone's playing really, really well. It's not as easy for us to go out there and play on the LPGA as it is for the guys. So we don't get to play against the same sort of competition as they do. So maybe that's the difference. I'm not sure.
I think definitely we've got something to prove, especially somebody like myself who is desperate to try to get on the LPGA. It's not as easy for women to do so. I definitely -- somebody like myself has a point to prove this week to show what Europe has to offer.

Q. I wanted to ask about a few spats over the years between Europe and American players. What do you make of that and does that act as an extra incentive?
LAURA DAVIES: In the Solheim Cup?

Q. Yeah.
LAURA DAVIES: There's only been a couple. We had a punch bag thing and we stabbed it once because Dottie Pepper annoyed us -- we didn't stab it, Annika actually stabbed it. So that was quite contentious. We enjoyed doing that.
There have been a couple of things. They made us re-chip one on Loch Lomond, they made us re-chip because of playing out of turn. It was crazy. And that caused a bit of a ruckus. But, overall, I'd say these matches have been played very, very friendly.
The things is, for me especially, because I've played out in America a long time now, most of these girls are friends of mine. Although you really want to beat them, you don't want to be nasty because they're mates of yours. It's just friendly competition, and there is nothing quite like beating one of your friends at something. I've always enjoyed that.
Mel beat me on the back nine today, so I think she enjoyed that.

Q. You'll enjoy beating Annika's record then?
LAURA DAVIES: Well, who knows. I didn't even know that stat, but I need a point. So hopefully if I get a chance to play in the foursomes or the four balls and then obviously the singles. You just don't know. You can only try your best.
But I'd be very disappointed not to get at least one point and hopefully three or four.

Q. How much of a confidence boost do you think your recent form has had on the rest of the team and yourself?
MELISSA REID: I'm not sure on the rest of the team, but obviously winning last week was nice. It gave me a nice boost of confidence coming into this week. So it just made me -- it just gave me a little bit more confidence on what I was working on, et cetera.
But like I said, everyone's coming to form. Everyone's playing well. I definitely think that everyone's coming into format the right time.

Q. My friends have enjoyed having you as their guest the last few years for the Ladies Irish Open. And do you get a chance to relax this week at all as you would for that event or is it tense.
LAURA DAVIES: It's not so much tense. There's always something going on. Last night was the welcome party. Tonight's a bit more less, but we've got the photos to do, so you're always on a schedule. You can't just sneak off on your own and have a few hours away because there's always something for us to do.
But if you've played in a enough Solheim Cups, you realize this is a week for the team. So you go where the team goes, so it is different than normal weeks.

Q. Did you get down to the pub?
LAURA DAVIES: Of course we did, yeah.

Q. Did you enjoy that?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, really nice. The people in there are really nice. It's always nice to meet the local people. Nine times out of ten, they're into the sport and they love watching it and a lot of them are golfers.
So, yeah, we went in there last night and saw them again, and they were wishing us good luck. It was nice.

Q. Was that Brady's?
LAURA DAVIES: The one on the corner, Galvin's or whatever it is. It's nice, next to Paddy Power. I didn't go in there.

Q. Laura, you've been in a lot of these. Could you compare this team with other Euro teams?
LAURA DAVIES: I think it's strong from player number one to player number 12 if you could label it, because obviously it goes in three different portions our team.
Obviously, Suzann Pettersen would be the standout. I think she's two or three in the world rankings now. She's our marquis standout player. But with the rest of us on any given day, you know, you could throw a blanket over us.
We're all good players, and now we can take the Americans into singles. And a couple of the American girls haven't been playing quite so well lately, so hopefully -- they'll probably come out and have a great week this week. That's how it works. You can never single anyone out and say I'd like to play against her, because on the day, anyone can do it. But finally we've got 12 that can stand toe-to-toe in the singles and have a really good crack at it.

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