U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 1994

Laura Davies

LES UNGER: I have been checking the records this year, you have got three firsts here, three seconds here and a third. But if the information I have is correct, the highest you had been overseas is fourth; how come?

LAURA DAVIES: Second? Japan not second. How come? I was third in Belgium. That is better than fourth, but who knows, I played better here. I played well in Europe. It is just that all the European girls are playing really well. As I said, in Belgium, I was third. I played really well at Millburne. I played really well; finished fourth. It is -- the competition is tougher wherever you go nowadays.

LES UNGER: 1989, 7th year, I wonder what you can recall about your play back then, and has the course changed at all since then?

LAURA DAVIES: I haven't played it yet. We are going out about two o'clock to play. I remember shooting 66 on Sunday last time we were here to get -- to move right up there. So, obviously, got good memories of it. And as I recall, it is a pretty tough golf course.

Q. Does it remind you of anything in the British Isles at all? I haven't been there so...

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah. I mean, it has got a feel to it because of the long rough. I mean, you can hit some pitch-and-run-type shots into the greens. You don't have to just fly everything at the flags, as I remember it. It is five years ago. We will see this afternoon. I remember having a good feel here.

Q. You mentioned 66 on Sunday. What were the first three rounds for you like here?

LAURA DAVIES: I can't remember. I think I finished one under for the tournament, so I shot five under on Sunday. It must have been four over the first three days I got there, I don't know.

LES UNGER: 73, 71, 75. 66?

LAURA DAVIES: That must have been 72 back then; wasn't it?

LES UNGER: Par 71. At least this is what this is saying.

LAURA DAVIES: Whatever.

Q. Do you remember where you finished?

LAURA DAVIES: 7th.

Q. Laura, what did you buy yesterday?

LAURA DAVIES: Nothing really. A sweater.

Q. You window shopped?

LAURA DAVIES: Didn't see anything really that I'd fancy, so I didn't buy anything.

Q. Did it help you relax, get ready for concentrating on golf now?

LAURA DAVIES: No. I mean, whatever. I didn't go shopping to relax. I just went because I wanted to go. It is not like a build up type, keeping away from the golf course consciously. I just -- I never come out and play; particularly on a Monday. Sort of played on Sunday.

Q. Sports Illustrated recently did a profile of you in which they talked about your love; getting away from practice. You don't like to practice, you like hitting away and just gambling. I got two questions relating to that. Do you plan to go over to Windsor where they have a new casino; get away from it all? Tell us about your philosophy about staying away from the practice range?

LAURA DAVIES: It is not really staying away. It is when you play-- this year, I'm going to play, I think, it worked out, 38 tournaments; that is a lot of tournaments. And if you don't put ten hours a week on the practice range, you are going to get pretty fed up with the game pretty quick. That is why people say how can you do this? How can you play so many? How can you play in Europe, and Asia; everywhere that I play. It is a simple answer: I don't get up on a Monday morning and think I've got to go to the range. I get up and think wow, I will go to the mall or go whatever; going to do something different. That is one of the reasons that these other players seem to think that it is weird that I play so much, but I think it is weird that they practice so much. So, you know, I found my little way of doing it. At the moment it works. Obviously looks like I am right. When it doesn't work, then they can say if she practiced more she'd be better and you know so you are never going to win and I am not going to Windsor now.

Q. Found somewhere better?

LAURA DAVIES: No, this is the Open.

Q. You have had such a good year so far, do you find yourself changing your goals and maybe setting them a little higher as you go along? Are you looking at things differently now than you did, say, January or February?

LAURA DAVIES: No. I set my goal to do a certain thing this year. I am pretty close to it. So, hopefully if I can just keep playing the way I am playing I will reach the goal I set. I could easily surpass any goals I had made up for myself. I always set goals for myself. That is -- I know if I reach them; I know also if I don't reach them. It is just a personal thing. I am pretty close to them. That is all I will say.

Q. Would you tell us what those goals are?

LAURA DAVIES: Just my brother. He knows. He said what are your goals this year. I sat for like a half an hour and I said, right, this is my goal, and we are close to it.

LES UNGER: Is it a financial goal or a titles goal?

LAURA DAVIES: Title goal. Titles. It was the amount of tournaments I wanted to win this year and I have won four.

LES UNGER: So the goal is five?

LAURA DAVIES: Could be, you never know.

Q. When you reach the goal do you stop or you keep right on going?

LAURA DAVIES: Keep going; then you have got a few -- when you set your goals you have a few in the bag already. I am not a huge goals person. I just-- if you do it well having fun then life can't be too bad. I am having so much fun at the moment. If I go out and miss the cut this week, I would be disappointed because it is the Open but then again, second last week, you can't always have it your way, so it is just fun.

Q. Does the game come particularly easy for you?

LAURA DAVIES: Well, it is easy in the fact that I love playing it and I enjoy it and obviously, like you said, we get well paid for it. So it all blends in. When you are struggling, it seems like it is the hardest game in the world. When you hit a lot of bogeys, you feel like you are not going to stop. Yet on Sunday when you can see birdies everywhere -- it is that sort of game. I don't think it is easy for anybody. It is just streaky. I am in a good streak at the moment but equally I have been on-- where I missed the five cuts out of six in 1992 or 1993, I think it might have been. So you just -- you never really know.

Q. Are you playing the best golf you ever have?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, unquestionably, yeah. Definitely.

Q. I know you are a very laid back person, but do you feel any pressure at all being up at the top as you are world number one?

LAURA DAVIES: No, it is lovely. It is something I have always wanted to be, and if I stay there for one week or one year or two years or whatever it is, doesn't really matter now because -- it does matter because I'd like to stayed there for the next ten years but obviously that shouldn't happen. It might not. It might. Who knows. But no one can ever say I didn't reach it. I have done it now. I have reached it on paper alone, I mean, too many good players out there for any one to be the best player Beth Daniels, for instance, she won three times since I lost once, so who is the best player in the world? I'd said Beth, but on paper, obviously, it says my name still at the moment but if Beth keeps going, she will do it. When Beth stops winning someone else will do it. There is always you someone there.

Q. Was that one of your goals too?

LAURA DAVIES: When the leader board started I certainly said right; one day you are going to be the leader; then you can say that, you know, obviously you are rated as one of the better players.

Q. This notion of playing your very best, is it technical or mechanical or just mental or a combination of both?

LAURA DAVIES: It is feel and confidence and attitude. Those are the three things that I got going for me at the moment. Everything I see-- I visit -- every time I stand over a shot, I am obviously seeing a shot and they are coming off more and more; whereas they obviously they couldn't always come off; obviously, I shot 76 in Toledo on Sunday; plenty of shots that didn't come off, but the feel is there, the confidence is obviously there, because every time you get in a top ten, it is a confidence builder and obviously the attitude, the change as well. I walked off, as I said, the 76 last Sunday in Toledo and you know, started chatting with my friends and off we went down the road to New York and you got to have that attitude. You can't sit and moan and brood about it because there is always another week and if that is not a good week, there is always another week after that.

Q. This is only slightly off. You are such a long hitter. You are very distinctive looking. Now, you are at the top of the money pack. Do you ever feel like life is a fish bowl? Do you feel like you are sitting here answering all these questions from total strangers; does that ever bother you at times?

LAURA DAVIES: Not at all. It is lovely.

Q. How do you deal -?

LAURA DAVIES: I look at it-- like my mom was saying, you know, coming in here, on the phone she said, oh, you have to do one of these things a week? I said I was coming in here. When you are on the top or near the top of the money list, that means you are doing well; it goes hand in hand with that. It doesn't worry me at all. It is fun. You get to enjoy them. After awhile you pretty much say the same thing every week, different order of questions.

LES UNGER: Also you hope there is more than one a week?

LAURA DAVIES: Be nice.

Q. Can you say how often on an average round you use your driver?

LAURA DAVIES: Last week Wykagyl, it was twice everyday, on the first and the third; then it was 2-irons and 3-woods, this week, I don't know yet. I had forgotten the course a little bit, but if I can reach a hole easily with the 2-iron and 8-iron down-- I will hit my 2-iron now because it is just good sense because I am hitting it 250, 240 pretty much straight; it is not every time, of course, no one can could that, but it is getting me in play more often than not. I use my driver where I really need it now. I think there is one hole near the fourth, I remember, I can almost drive that. I think I remember it from a couple of-- five years ago, I don't know if they have lengthened it. That will be a hole if there is a chance, I can make up some ground; then I will do it.

Q. Was there a time earlier in you career where you used use your driver almost every hole?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, because I was stupid then.

LES UNGER: You said 2-iron, 240?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, in regular conditions, yeah.

LES UNGER: Driver on the same conditions would go how far?

LAURA DAVIES: Probably 275, 280, I'd say. It can go further. You are trying to keep it in play on the course, but if there is a wide open hole like in Toledo where you can just smash it all over the place and could go for the big drive and a couple of time I smacked on out there, nearly 300.

Q. You are rare in using irons off the tee on this Tour; aren't you?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, probably, yeah.

Q. On average, how far do you hit it passed the other players?

LAURA DAVIES: I don't know. If you go by the Tour statistics, then not that far, but I mean, if you name the average players maybe 20 or 30 yards passed them if its a reasonably, you know, good hole, it is not too tight no out of bounds or whether or not I can have a go and they can have a go; sometimes it is a bit more.

Q. Does that go for irons too, are you about two clubs longer than the average player?

LAURA DAVIES: Usually one, one, sometimes two with the shorter players. When I played the other day; every time it was one club, sort of difference, on the par threes and stuff.

Q. With your power and what have you, what is the reaction by the U.S. fans? Are you sort of John Daly character?

LAURA DAVIES: They tend to like seeing me hit the driver. They like the 2-iron because I hit it pretty hard. There is always reasonably good reaction.

Q. Talk a little bit about your-- about handling pressure because, you know, now, you seemed to be the complete player from a standpoint of you don't get rattled?

LAURA DAVIES: No, as I say, I don't -- I have had-- I have won nearly something 6, 7 times in the last 12 months, so it is very difficult to now, you know, start to get worked up when it is not going your way, so I tend to use that in my favor now and if like Toledo again-- I go back to it because it was the worst round I had all year out here, and you can't always do it and there is no point when you get in a pressure situation like there was on Sunday, it was fun because it was obviously very good if I did well, but if I didn't, the U.S. Open is next week and the British Open is in three weeks; always something to look forward to. That is the way I do it now. Obviously if you got a 2, 3 shot lead in the Open this week, you might worry too much about the iron shot next week and then the Scottish because this is very important to everybody.

Q. You aim for this and then the British Open?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I am playing the Irish and the Scottish in between as well. Every tournament is very important. I never play unless I think it is important. So I mean, you do cite this one as being a little bit more important, I suppose it is.

Q. How many weeks in a row would that give you then?

LAURA DAVIES: 8. British Open will be the 8th week.

Q. It is a long trip?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, but I don't practice, you see.

Q. Laura, could you talk a little bit about the international flavor of the game now? There is so much talk about that last week at the Open championship. Seems to me that maybe there has been-- it has happened longer for longer periods of time on this Tour, than on the men's side?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I mean, you know, the two big American tours started it off for us. It gave us something. We all love playing in Europe. Obviously all the guys as well, they have all come over here now something to strive for to get out on the tour and obviously we have all brought really good golf games out; whether it is the ladies or the men's game; it is something to strive for from all the younger players. You hear all the players in Europe the younger ones, you know, they are enjoying playing European golf, but I think their final goal LPGA or for the men's, PGA tour.

Q. I want to bring you back to length again. Many of the better younger players are long hitters like you, Kelly Robbins who is a long one. Do you see that maybe this is how the women's game is going to change now that the better players are going to have to be longer hitters?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I don't know if you have to be, but I mean, obviously, a lot of the really good players now are the younger ones and as you say, longer hitters like Alfredsson and Brandie Burton, you know, I don't know, I don't know why people are hitting it longer now, but they are.

Q. Do you think they are going to have to lengthen the courses?

LAURA DAVIES: I hope they do. The longer the better as far as I am concerned. I will never worry about putting the tees back. I don't know, you know, I don't think they would ever worry about making it longer because a few of the players are hitting it further now. I think they always set a course for the average hitter like they should.

Q. How much has your all around game improved since you won at Plainfield and what areas have you improved to become a better player?

LAURA DAVIES: Well, I think the whole game has improved. I think much better on the golf course. You can go through every department, the putt. Putting was great at Plainfield, so that has not improved any. That is just a streak. I am on a good streak with my putter at the moment. My short game is probably 10 times better than it ever was before in the last year or so, and obviously, the iron play gets better, the more shots you hit, the more practice-- I mean, I do. I do practice a fair bit anyway, but you just groove it in and it is an extra, what, seven years of experience and that counts for everything.

Q. Did playing in the Solheim Cup two years ago have anything to do with your success now at the beginning --

LAURA DAVIES: I don't think it was the direct result of that that I am playing well now. I have always-- who knows why I am doing well now. I think it is -- attitude is the main thing and my attitude was-- still always has been reasonably good now. It is better because I can brush off the bad moments and enjoy the good moments. That is the main thing. You have got to enjoy the good moments because they are not around all the time. It helps you then if you have enjoyed that to realize that the bad times aren't quite as bad as you really think they are.

Q. Was that performance the best in any event for you; do you think?

LAURA DAVIES: At the is your Solheim Cup?

Q. Yeah.

LAURA DAVIES: I played really well that week.

Q. Nobody beat you for-- 3 and 0?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, but that doesn't mean -- yeah, I played good golf. I don't know if it is the best I have played but it was certainly good.

Q. You not only played good; you took charge; you got that team riled up.

LAURA DAVIES: I think to the point where they felt they could win and they did. Mickey was right there too. Walker, she got me going. I got a feel -- Allie (Nicholas) was there. Allie is a great inspiration to everybody. There was a lot of good-- not veteran players but well experienced players. I think that helped out a couple of the younger ones. We had a good balance and the basic reason I think we won because our team was -- a lot of people have always been good friends and now we have a chance to do something as a team; we are also really good friends. I mean, the American players, I am sure, know each other, but I don't know if they are really good friends all of them. I mean, I could name anyone in that team, and you know, I know them pretty well.

Q. Shook up the golf world, though?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, it is good.

Q. What would it mean to you if you won this tournament?

LAURA DAVIES: I mean, trying not to think about it. I have always said that winning that first U.S. Open seemed easy. I just played and I got in the playoff and it was fun and I was out on invitation and then you know, I win by two shots against two of the best player I have ever played. That seemed easy. Now just seems the most impossible thing in the world. I am just hoping I play well and if I got a chance Sunday morning that, to me, will be a good week. Whether I win or not; whether I finish second or drop out to be 15th, like I did in Toledo, it doesn't matter; just to have a chance Sunday morning, it will be nice.

LES UNGER: We wish you good luck. Thank you for coming in.

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