U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2000

Laura Davies

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I think I pretty much agree with that sense. I wouldn't say I'm the favorite by any means, with the way Annika is playing and Webby and Beth herself. She could be winning a tournament very, very soon no reason why it shouldn't not be this. One if you're a good ball-striker and you hit -- you don't have to be long, but you have to be long enough. And there's a few holes out there, like No. 3 is reachable for the long hitters. No. 8 is certainly reachable, if the wind isn't down. Yesterday was downwind, today, it was in. But it's an open course, and normally you expect trees, not so much water, because that's not traditional golf, but I was surprised -- pleasantly surprised when I saw it, I have to say. My kind of golf course, definitely.

LAURA DAVIES: Just frustrating. I feel like I'm playing well enough. I feel like I'm putting well, but you're just not getting the result. Last few weeks, I finished 35th, 44th the week before that. I've had two wins this year, which is obviously the bright side, but I feel like I'm better than the middle of the field after the cut has been made. Last cut I missed was the Open last year, so, you know I feel like everything is good, but it's not quite good enough.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, that is his life all the time. I think it would be fun for a while, but I think it would get you down after that little while is over, because you know, he can't get -- I mean, it was -- it was kids and they wanted to see Michael. But I asked him, I said, "Is it like this wherever you go?" And he said, Well, I tend not to go places because it can get ridiculous with people screaming at him all the time. I don't think you can ever feel sorry for someone like him, but it must be weird to not be able to go and play golf without that kind of attack. He was really nice. It's always been my ambition to play golf with Michael Jordan; so that's one of my ambitions out of the way. Wish I could have played 18. That would be nice.

LAURA DAVIES: If I'm in contention come Sunday, I'll be nervous. I've never made any pretense about that, but that's why I've won 60 tournaments. If you're not up for and not nervous, you don't win, in my opinion. You can't go around blase about every single thing because it doesn't work out for you. That's the way it's always been and I'm happy to be like that.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, five hours -- I mean, it's a good few miles difference. No one could have done a better tournament gallery-wise. I'm okay. I haven't got a lot of problem with it. There's a lot of people here watching us. Obviously, there will be great interest over there, but I understand it will be the best coverage we've had all year, anyway, even though it is going on. If they were close to each other, then it would be a massive problems, like both British Opens, but not with 4,000 miles in between.

LAURA DAVIES: It was. And I thought I played my way out of it Saturday, and then Sunday afternoon, I reached the winning score. I was at 3-under, which won the tournament, and at the time, Juli was 8-under. I never imagined that would be good enough to win, but I 3-putted and then missed another putt on the next hole. And that's been the story of the year; whenever I've been in contention, I've made stupid bogeys. Certainly, if I shot a couple under from that point, I'll win the LPGA Championship, but it went the other way and I made two bogeys.

LAURA DAVIES: Oh, definitely. You need some serious competition, and now we've got it. You know, I think after six weeks of the TOUR this year, everybody pretty much thought the Money List and Player of the Year was decided, but obviously Annika has decided to pick up the something and now it's neck-and-neck again. So that's definitely good for the rest of the field. The sponsors are going to want them playing, there will be more interest in the game, and that's good for everybody. I know Juli is having another good year. If she wins this week she'll be in the mix, as well. So it's good for the Tour, definitely.

LAURA DAVIES: Well, I feel like I'm hitting lots of good putts and they are not going in. All you can do is hit a good putt; so I'm just going to keep doing that. I got a new putter and I've started rolling them in again. It was slightly different, center-shafted and now I'm lipping in more than lipping out. Just got to keep trying things, keep being patient, keep hitting the ball well, and good things will happen eventually. No point in getting down about it because it's just going to make things worse.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, instead of the other type, and the minute I picked it up, I know I liked it. Got my eyes further over the ball, and while I was waiting an hour or so to come in here, I've been putting and I've made quite a few. I always feel like that's the thing for me. If I putt well, I'm in contention, and if I don't, then I'm out of it; so I have to make some putts. These girls are just too good now.

LAURA DAVIES: It's hard. I had my back on No. 8, a little match on the front nine there, and hit a drive down the right-hand side and tried to move it probably further than I would have done in a normal practice round, and it just really grabbed hold of my back. And it's not too bad, but certainly, I know it's there, definitely. So you need to keep out of the rough. I don't need to hit driver. The course isn't very long. Keep it in play and hit a lot of greens. I think if you hit greens in regulation, you might win.

LAURA DAVIES: This course is slightly different, because if you miss the fairway you're just in the rough; whereas, around this golf course it was out of bounds everywhere. It was a really tight golf course. I'll go with driver on the par 5's. And so far, the only driver I'll probably hit on the par 4's is No. 9 because that's a genuine par 4. That's a good hole.

LAURA DAVIES: I'm not much about rededicating. I've all been pretty dedicated to the game and to my career. I am practicing more, though, I made no secret about it. I'm chipping and putting a lot more because I think I'm not good enough now; whereas, before, I always felt like I was always good enough to be one of best players. But now, because they are doing what they are doing, I'm not good enough anymore and I need to be better, and as it turns out, practice is the only way I'm going to get better than I was. So, yeah, I'm hitting a few more shots.

LAURA DAVIES: Not a huge amount. Like I was on the range yesterday, and probably I've been on the range more Tuesdays this year than in my whole career put together. I would turn up at a Pro-Am and start on Wednesday, but this year, I'm starting on Monday and Tuesday, hitting shots and getting a feel for the course. But I'm hitting a lot more shots. But not ridiculously. I would never spend a day out there. (Laughter.) I've already become too professional. (Laughter.)

LAURA DAVIES: You just can't think of Juli as a 40-year-old. She's one of the nicest girls out here, so much fun. So age doesn't really come into it as far as I'm concerned. The inspiration part of it how much fun she has and how she's doing that is how you want to do it, with big smiles and dancing across the green, and that's the part about it that I like, the fact that she's 40 is pretty irrelevant.

LAURA DAVIES: That's great. I saw Grace Park yesterday and one of the sponsors we did a clinic with, and she was saying how she made the cut, being youngest person ever to make a cut in a U.S. Open when she was 15. Yeah, there's nothing wrong it that. I think people like the interest. Certainly the Wongluekiet sisters, Aree or Naree, which one -- what she did at the Dinah Shore, it doesn't matter how old you are in this game. And any sport now, tennis, the sports that are not so much strength sports, anyway, for the women. There's no age limit really as far as I can see.

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