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THE SOLHEIM CUP


October 21, 1994


Laura Davies

Alison Nicholas


WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WEST VIRGINIA

BETH McCOMBS: Start with opening comments about the match; then we will need to know both of your highlights of the match.

LAURA DAVIES: Obviously, very nip and tuck all the way. We were never one down, but never more than one up until we got to the 17th. We could never relax, we had to keep on trying to knock hit close, it was using me hitting irons in. I was trying to get Alley somewhere because she is such a good putter. I never got her close enough early on. They just kept at us, kept making good pars when they needed to. But on the 16th and 17th, I gave Ali two chances and she took them both. A. 16 was about four, five feet and 17 was about eight feet.

Q. What iron did you hit in at 16?

LAURA DAVIES: 8-iron and 8-iron, both holes.

Q. Just distance.

LAURA DAVIES: 153 and 151, I think the other one was.

Q. Talk about Ali's shot in the first.

LAURA DAVIES: Brilliant shot. It was -- the one thing I didn't want to do there was go left off the tee and did the complete opposite, stuck under a tree, and I am used to those shots. But Ali doesn't miss as many fairways but she hit a fantastic shot. She had one shot and she hit it. It was unbelievable. I must admit, I did not have my putter out when I had stood in the fairway. I said to her, "if you knock it on the green, I will hole the putts." Once she done that, I had to follow through.

Q. Ali, could you give us the yardage on the shot and what you were looking at number one; just kind of walk us through it.

ALISON NICHOLAS: I didn't really -- I think Mark told me how far it was, I can't quite remember. I only had about 80, 90 yards or something, but basically what I was trying to do was just punch it out just left of the trap and let it run onto the front of the green and it came off. I mean, the thing is, it is just a good -- anybody else wouldn't have had a chance. The same on 15, anybody taller wouldn't have been able to get a swing at it, so it was perfect.

Q. Where was that from on 15?

ALISON NICHOLAS: That was left in the trees.

Q. You hit that --

ALISON NICHOLAS: I hit it to the front edge. Laura did say if you get on the green I will hole the putt. What more can you do, hey?

Q. What was the distance on number one with the putt?

LAURA DAVIES: 18 feet.

ALISON NICHOLAS: Yeah, about 18 feet.

Q. What club did you hit?

ALISON NICHOLAS: I punched the 6-iron out. I had to keep it low because there was a branch right in front of me.

Q. The 15th?

ALISON NICHOLAS: Same club, 6.

Q. Pretty fired up after you played, were you like that on the first tee or did that just get you going?

ALISON NICHOLAS: That got me going, really, because obviously you want to get your first shot away, and it's just a relief.

Q. You have routine positions?

ALISON NICHOLAS: Delighted first day. Delighted about it, really. Obviously Laura and Dale that was a great result, especially for Laura, it is her first Solheim Cup and she is a bit of a fighter and that was tremendous.

Q. Laura, can we have your thoughts on the first day, please.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah. Brilliant. I mean, it would have been really nice if Trish and Pam had just held on there at last. I thought they were going to be honest with you, but a great shot from Sherri Steinhauer there, but 3, 2 is brilliant. I think the foursomes is probably our best of the 3, so it was great to get in there and actually do really well at it.

Q. Was it different for you two not being in the first match today?

LAURA DAVIES: No. We thought we would be clever and make ourselves around a bit so they couldn't judge who was going to play against us. We decided it would be nice to play down the order a bit. And just have to see what happens tomorrow. I'm not quite sure where we were going yet. It doesn't really matter where you play or who you play, you've just got to try and play your best and win the point.

Q. Laura, now that it started, and Ali, does this feel different than Dalmahoy or what is the atmosphere?

LAURA DAVIES: No, it's great. I have enjoyed every one of them. If this just keeps going on, it is great. It is a really friendly atmosphere out there. We were walking down the fairway, all the players and all the caddies were there walking up the with the last match and it was -- it's a great atmosphere to be involved in. You are trying to beat each other ultimately. We are still great friends at the end of the day, I think that is what everyone wanted and that is certainly what happened.

Q. Going back to the opening ceremony yesterday, whose idea was it to put the flag--

LAURA DAVIES: One of the American -- well, Tammie Green's friend, Amanda, travels around on tour with us a lot. She gave it to me as a lucky charm so I put it in my jacket and Mickey saw it and said, oh, that would be a good idea, she had some respect to the American team and to their flag at the ceremony so we thought it would be a nice idea to have us all put a flag in. That is what Mickey did, she rounded up 11 flags and we all wore them.

BETH McCOMBS: Any other questions?

Q. What is your impression of the golf course?

LAURA DAVIES: Very tough. I think it is a really tough golf course and, you know, it is sort of a track where you are got to win holes with pars; especially on the foursomes format. I think it will be slightly different tomorrow because of the four but we were be able to go to the pins a bit more; hopefully make a few more birdies but I think we made about 5, I think, which was pretty good. It is very tough. Obviously a great golf course, beautiful condition.

Q. Are you playing well?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I think so. We just won, you know.

Q. Do you feel really in control?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, we finally -- I hit 2 really good 8 irons in and Ali hit 2 great putts, very miserable putts and she put a good stroke on them, so we are taking it personally for going into tomorrow two birdies, you can't ask for more than that. If you hit a few bad ones early on, that is the nerves, I missed a few greens early on, and I think you just try a little bit too hard especially in that foursomes format because if you hit a bad shot for yourself you got go and do it; I keep seeing Ali in these trees; it makes you feel bad.

Q. How much pressure do you feel on yourself personally this week because you have been built up be a leader of the European team; does that weigh down on you?

LAURA DAVIES: We have only got one leader; that is Mickey. We all go-- help each other and we all go on the practice round in the morning; talk to each other; try to put each other at ease. Only one leader for us; that is Mickey and if the people think that, you know, it is me, as well that is nice, but it really is Mickey. We look to -- and tell you what, when Mickey makes a decision, you stick to it usually because she won't have any back chat from us.

Q. Was it nice playing with Donna Andrews again, kind of?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I mean it was a good draw for Ali and I. Ali is really good friends with Betsy. It was just nice to get out there with two great competitors and hopefully beat them. They are really nice girls. It was really good atmosphere the match was played in. We always got excited when we made putts and equally they did with us. It would not be normal if we didn't get excited about that.

Q. What are the realistic odds on the match now?

LAURA DAVIES: Pretty much still the same. There's a long way to go and we had a great start. If we are still in this position a point ahead going into the singles matches, then I think it's, you know, game on. Tomorrow is important for us, in my opinion, that we really have to get a good four-ball result. 2-and-a-half points will be really good if we can do that, I think, that is just my view.

Q. This is the first time visiting countries have been ahead after any day. Is this just carry-over from '92?

LAURA DAVIES: No. It just shows in this sort of format anything can happen. And 3 points to 2, 2 points to 3, it is all very close. At one stage there we were in the middle of the fairway one up on 16 and it looked like we were watching Laura and Dale lose a whole they ended up carving it and then winning the very next hole. We won the 2 and then all of a sudden from two matches that were looking pretty dodgey we won both within, you know, 20 minutes. So two points were decided very quickly there. It could happen either way, so...

End of FastScripts....

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