U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 26, 2008

Laura Davies

FULL AUDIO INTERVIEW

Q. Good course?

LAURA DAVIES: It's the best chance for a U.S. Open for me. I've been saying that ever since they announced it that I'm really looking forward to playing a U.S. Open here because of the Solheim Cup. That's obviously a different feeling, but I remember a little bit of freedom, a few more drivers than normally on a U.S. Open. So yeah, I've been looking forward to this one.

Q. How many drivers did you hit?

LAURA DAVIES: Probably seven or six. Probably hit six on the front and then on the back nine only hit -- probably only hit one. But, because it's the fairways the -- sorry, the fairways are pretty quick and the 3-iron's running out. Not miles, but it's plenty.

But no, two on the back nine. The first and the second. But you just got to make sure you're in a good position for some of those uphill shots.

Q. Go back to the second shot on nine there.

LAURA DAVIES: It was a beauty. I hit a really nice 3-iron on the tee and left ourselves where we wanted to be and it looked perfect. And instead of having a four foot birdie we had a 40 foot chip. It was a really nice up-and-down. It's nice to come away -- I think I would have been very disappointed coming away with a bogey there, because it was two really good shots.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LAURA DAVIES: It seemed so easy then as well. Yeah, it was, it was a breeze, I remember just turning up, winning it, winning it on a Tuesday in a 18 hole playoff, it just seemed so simple.

Q. You didn't know any better, did you?

LAURA DAVIES: I really didn't. Now I do. This is, what, my 23rd straight U.S. Open and it's not as easy as I thought it was.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, the course and the fact that I'm playing well, I'm not doing well. Last week I had two rounds really over par, at the moment I don't seem to string four together. But the way I look at it this is a great week to do it.

Q. The length of the game obviously suits your game?

LAURA DAVIES: It is long. There's a couples holes where I have an advantage or longer hitters have an advantage. Like 10. I hit 4-iron in there today and the others have got to go to the right, which means they can't actually go for it.

But actually length, because it's so fast, the fairways, it's not actually a, you know, a long hitter is not necessarily going to win this. It's an accurate hitter and someone who is really putting well. Because if you get yourself on the wrong side of the hole there's a lot of 3-putts out there.

Q. Lorena was saying it was probably as ideal as any scoring conditions as any she's seen. There was water on the greens. You've always been an aggressive player, did it suit you?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, like I say, I started on 10. And the first 11 holes, like I say, I hit driver as hard as I could. And then all of a sudden you hit that area around the far side, well you can run through fairways and leave yourself absolutely stone dead.

So you got to just back up a little bit and hit some irons and keep it in play. But certainly the back nine's open to just flogging it.

Q. On this hole right here, is that your line, flying it over the left bunker?

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, it's 274 -- well no, it's -- right on the very corner you can see a little bit of sand on the right hand edge of that left hand bunker and it's 275 and we carried that by two yards today. It's got to be a perfect strike.

Q. So then what did you have?

LAURA DAVIES: 4-iron. It was about, I actually don't know the number. Johnny just said hit the 4-iron and so I did.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LAURA DAVIES: No, possibly, but no, we have always been on the back tee, so I very much doubt that. Because it played a lot longer at the Solheim because of the time of year. I remember hitting a driver in the foursomes in there one day. So.

Q. You can reach 7 from that forward tee, but does your ball flight fit that hole?

LAURA DAVIES: I almost thought about it today, but I was so angry that I had that flier out of the rough on 6 and got over it dead in the back bunker. That's so frustrating to hit a really nice shot and to be absolutely dead there. And I didn't want to compound one error with another.

So we just decided 6 iron, wedge was easy, but then I spun it off the side down the front of the green. So it was a bad couple of holes around that area for me.

Q. That was your lone bogey?

LAURA DAVIES: No, I had a bogey on, I 3-putted the par-3 12th as well.

Q. Jumped out of the rough and you blew it over the green?

LAURA DAVIES: On 6, yeah, I had 185 to the pin and we thought we would play to the front of the green, leave ourselves a 30-footer up the hill. And I pitched it past the pin and it went in the back bunker. I mean, a flier is a flier, there's nothing you can do about that.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LAURA DAVIES: Oh, yeah, a lot. Could have been better, but if I hadn't got up-and-down at the last and hadn't got up-and-down on 5 I might have frittered away a couple more. So I have to be quite pleased.

Q. Your five on the last hole to save par there?

LAURA DAVIES: That was brilliant. I hit two good shots in there and to walk off with a bogey there would have been very frustrating.

Q. They talked about having some fairly conservative hole locations. Did you find that to be the case?

LAURA DAVIES: There's a couple of them. 12 was in a really wicked spot. 3-putted that one. But on the whole I would say they were pretty fair to us.

Q. Are you a better player now than you were 21 years ago, does experience at all matter?

LAURA DAVIES: I don't know, really. My head's not quite as good as it used to be. I tend to see more negative stuff than I used to, but that just comes with playing a lot of golf, I think. The more bad shots that you hit you remember the older you get.

Q. Do you find yourself putting more pressure on yourself when you come to Majors than you used to?

LAURA DAVIES: No. I just, for me wherever you are is the most important tournament of the year because you can only win this one and winning is what it's all about.

So next week the Arkansas tournament is going to be the most important tournament of the year because that's the one I'm playing in. It's just, it's nice to win a Major, obviously, because they're, the style of course you're on, the atmosphere, I mean, look at these people. So it's more fun to win this event, no question about it. But next week is just as important as this week is when you get there.

Q. The Arkansas people will be thrilled to hear that.

LAURA DAVIES: Absolutely. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. Did you play well during the Solheim here?

LAURA DAVIES: I played very well. Yeah. Really well.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LAURA DAVIES: That's a whole question. I haven't really thought about Solheim venues. Yeah, I would say Muirfield village would have to be the best for everything, where we stayed and just the whole, the way we never left the grounds for a week. That was great. And that course is unbelievable, yeah. But this is fantastic too.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LAURA DAVIES: It's irrelevant. Until I do it it's irrelevant. People say, oh, you know, Hall of Fame this and that. And I say when I got enough points I'll be in and not before.

Q. Have you petitioned at all to be on the international ballot for the Hall of Fame?

LAURA DAVIES: I'm not interested in that. I'm certainly not worried about it. I won't lose any sleep, let's put it that way.

Q. Is it almost the stubborn side of you that wants to do it this way?

LAURA DAVIES: If I don't get in on merit. I don't want to be in. As far as I'm concerned I've had a nice career, but if I can't get the 27 points then I'm not as good as Karrie and Joanne Carner, and all those great players who did it. They did it and I've not done it yet, so I don't want to be in their company yet.

Q. You played so much overseas, you took probably at least five tournaments away during your peak years?

LAURA DAVIES: I would say it's safe to say if I would have played full-time in America then I would have been in 10 years ago. But I didn't, and I'm not, and I've got to get on with it.

Q. You won this thing in '87?

LAURA DAVIES: '87.

Q. Was that actually your first professional victory?

LAURA DAVIES: No, no, I won, I won the Belgian Open, I won the Manchester Open, I won several back in 1986. I think I won the first year and three or four the second year. And I had won a couple before I got to the Open. So I probably won six or seven times. It was definitely the first LPGA win.

Q. Is this as much fun as it was?

LAURA DAVIES: It's more fun really because I'm trying to prove that I can still play. Whereas before people knew I could play, now they think, oh, she should be at home doing something else now.

Q. What would you be doing?

LAURA DAVIES: Nothing. Doing this. That's why I'm here.