Laura Davies - Part 3 (The Majors and the Solheim Cup)

Lee Trevino 0:06

It went straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to be able to get a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit Welcome to another edition of For the Good of the Game and Bruce Dublin. We've interviewed 25 women since this guest was first on back in May of 2022. And I've got to say, and you'll probably remember, but most of these women have talked about this guest.

Bruce Devlin 0:35

Of course, most of them have been beaten by this guest. Anybody that's won 87 tournaments around the world has a history of people that she's beaten. So it is again a great pleasure to have uh Laura with us today. What a what a career you've had, young lady.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yes, not been too bad. I certainly can't complain, and thanks for having me back on the show.

Mike Gonzalez 1:00

Glad to have you. Our listeners uh probably won't know the issues we had with the connection when we first talked because the audio sounded really good. But uh uh you may recall where you were at because that uh venue has some fond memories for you, Laura.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah, yeah. Well, it was the very first time I won a pro tournament, the Belgian Open, and they very kindly invited me back last year, but it was in the middle of nowhere. I'm not sure there was too much internet around, and we had our technical difficulties, but uh it was certainly uh I actually missed the cut that week, so very a bit disappointing for me. But on the other hand, it was nice to be back in Belgium, which is pretty much where the winning started.

Mike Gonzalez 1:36

Yeah, if my memory serves, uh 1985 was your first year on the European Tour, uh the Belgian Open being your first professional victory. As a matter of fact, uh we just interviewed somebody that you know quite well that uh had another memory from 1985 about a young Laura Davies.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

It was actually Laura's first event as a pro. And she had just joined the tour, and actually, about three weeks earlier, there was a a shaft that they made where it was just kind of with graphite just getting started. I was in, I was, I was in uh France, and I was in the last group, obviously, and I was paired with Laura Davies. And um we had we were quite a I think we were quite a bit ahead of the other the other people. And so on the first hull, Laura and drove me by like 60 out of the and I'm like, and I didn't think anything else and I'm I'm nervous, maybe, maybe I didn't hit it great. And then the next hull was just dog leg, and um so she couldn't hit her driver, so we would have been at the same. And then on the next hull, the third hull, I thought I hit a really good drive, and it drove me by at least 60 minutes, and I went, oh I know what's happened. I bet the shaft is broken, and I had no idea how to create it. I said, I bet the shaft is broken like it did with my three wood. So I put my driver back in the bag, and I was playing my three wood, and um I was like, and and we played like three or four holes, you know, we played upon three and stuff, and then one of the sponsors and Ministry of Hennessy came up because he was allowed to walk with us in those days, and the gallery could walk with you. And he said, What do you think of Laura Davies? She's the she's the new superstar, but she acted roof Greg Norman last week in in Europe, in England, they did a test and she outdrove Greg Norman. And I'm like, what? You mean it's not my club? And I'm like, oh my god, stuff. I went back to hitting my driver and I finished up winning. I beat her. And when we got done later, she goes, Why did you stop playing in three wood on those long parfums? And I told her the story, and she she always teases me back to this day.

Mike Gonzalez 4:03

So do you remember that one, Laura?

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Well, I I didn't realize Jen was uh was I didn't realise the thought process had gone through. She thought her club had broken, but what I do remember is she beat me. So it just shows you drive for show and your pup for dough, because she uh she was obviously an absolute superstar at that stage of her career, and and it was just amazing that playing alongside Jan, because that was only my second ever professional golf tournament. And to finish second to Jan Stevenson felt like a win. And something funny happened on that day. Well, not funny, it really upset me, but Jan was there to um to have my back because um I'd I'd literally have just come out the amateur ranks and I was on Sunday, I was wearing my favourite pair of trousers that that I'd worn in amateur golf, and it was my go-to, just felt comfortable in them. And they were blue, but they most certainly weren't denim. And and at the time, Colin Snape was the he ran the WPJ, which was what the LET used to be. And after I came off the stage, he fined me£50 for wearing jeans, and in those days,£50 was a lot of money. And I I was in tears because I thought I'm wearing my favourite trousers, they're not jeans. And Jan got word of this because she didn't understand why I was upset because for runner up, I got an Abelle watch, and I think my prize money was about£9,000, which was huge for me. I mean, that was a huge payday, money I'd never even imagined. And Jan went into bat for me and said, you know, how dare you do this at this stage? So I've always had a real uh fondness for Jan, not just because she was a great player, but because she had my back in that very well, my second ever tournament.

Mike Gonzalez 5:37

Yeah, that's a great story. Good for her. That was uh for our listeners. That was the 1985 Hennessy Cognac Ladies' Cup, and that was the inaugural event that um that uh Jan won. Um you won the final edition of that event back in 1997.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I do, and I have I have that very poster up. I see it every day sitting here on my couch. I the the they used to do a poster for every tournament. So obviously, when you won an event, you really went after can I get a copy of the poster? So I see that uh poster virtually every day of my life when I go into my living room. So yeah, fond memories from those days.

Mike Gonzalez 6:13

The the other thing that happened that day was uh Jan became the first woman to win on five continents. Well, you won up her nine years later because in 1994 you won on five continents in the same year.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah, that was a big year. Yeah, that that was one of those years that you know, winning the this game, you all know how hard the game is, but every so often it becomes it feels easy. And I'd love to have that feeling back again one day, but it has it very rarely happens. Yeah, it does exactly right. It just doesn't last that long. But um at that particular stage, the game seemed easy, but it's never been the same again since.

Mike Gonzalez 6:51

Well, in our first get together with you, Laura, we had a chance to talk about most of your wins, not not every one, but most of the key ones uh throughout your career. Um but um I do remember that you talked about uh I guess regret at not being able to come through at the dinosaur and winning that event. We'll talk a little bit about the majors, but that's one you vividly re- remembered as being a yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Yeah, that was just pure disappointment. Uh Donna Andrews, fair play to her, she she outgunned me down the stretch and you know I had a one-shot lead playing the 18th, and we all know at Mission Hills what kind of a hole that was. It was a really great risk reward hole. And unfortunately I didn't hit a good T-shot, so laid up, she laid up, she hit it to I don't know, 15 feet, I hit it to 30 feet. Well, I managed to three part and she sank her 15 footer, so that cost me. And and that's the one that keeps me up at night. You know, that's the one I felt like I should have won. But Donna did the business, you know, she hold the part under pressure, a 15-footer, and uh fair play to her, but it does that one that one hurts.

Bruce Devlin 7:57

So Laura, we we uh we keep pretty close tabs on uh on the playoffs that uh all of our great players have had, you know, 71 uh interviews now. Remarkable to know that in the playoffs our great players are less than 50%. And I just happen to look at your record playoffs on the LPGA. Uh I mean you you took that number down a little bit from 50%, didn't you? Two and eight?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yeah, the two and eight, and and it got even worse on the European tour. I think my record on the European tour is horrendous, and I was in a few playoffs in Japan. I think my first ever win in a playoff was against Jane Geddes in um in uh Japan. Uh and I thought, oh god, I finally won a playoff. But of course, my first playoff win was an 18-hole playoff at the US Open. And if I hadn't won that, maybe I wouldn't be sat here today because that that kind of spring, we probably mentioned it before, but that was the victory. But it wasn't a sudden death playoff. I was just horrible at sudden death playoffs. I don't know if I relaxed or whatever I did, it didn't work.

Bruce Devlin 9:00

It is a bit of a crapshoot though, isn't it? Really, when you think about it. You know, you play place 54 holes and you end up tied with somebody and then you just go whang, you know. Bang.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

For whatever reason, I I I I I can't put my finger on it because I don't know. You know, it wasn't like I ever settled for second being being okay. It was I I was all about the win, but just couldn't get the job done on a one on one on one thing. Maybe I was too aggressive in the playoffs, I don't know. But uh yeah, gave a few away. Hate to bring it up, but I was once I was once four under in a playoff and lost it. How about that? Oh, I played against Tammy Green. There were three of us, I don't know who the first one out was, but there were three of us in a playoff. I went birdie birdie eagle. I went birdie eagle birdie, she went birdie eagle eagle. So I was four under in a three-hole playoff and I lost. So there you go.

Mike Gonzalez 9:54

Oh my boy.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

That was Tammy Green.

Mike Gonzalez 9:58

Yeah, was that at the Giant Eagle LPGA classic?

SPEAKER_01 10:01

That was exactly the one it was, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 10:03

There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

It was a par five, reachable, it's a very reachable par five, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 10:07

So Tammy Tammy did the business, so that was that was all you can say, but boy, well I'll say uh you weren't the Lone Ranger in playoffs. Jan Stevenson told us last week. I mean, she struggled. She was like one and four on the LPGA uh uh playoffs. Ben and Crenshaw, 0-8. It's amazing, really. Kathy Whitworth lost 20 times in a playoff.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Well, there you go. It just shows. Well, at least I feel better now. I'm in the every name you mentioned there is one of my golfing heroes. So I feel better now.

Mike Gonzalez 10:37

Well, there you go. Well, let's talk about some of the other majors then, uh, because you had a quite a record in in all of them. Uh uh at least one uh unfortunately came a little later in your career, and that's the one that probably was your favorite over the years because you played in a lot of them. That's the ladies' British Open. But let's just start with the LPGA, where uh uh you had 34 starts, 22 cuts made, and uh in addition to your two wins in 1994 and 1995, uh you had several other top tens. You could almost won three in a row, I think, maybe uh uh wedged in the middle there in 1995 at DuPont, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yeah, I think Kelly Robbins, she she held me off that week. Yeah, she played great. I'm pretty sure it was Kelly anyway. Yeah, it was. So yeah, I had a little run of one-two-one. So, you know, that's the thing. When you're in contention with those players, that the Kelly and I used to play a lot against each other on Sundays, and uh we we kind of got the best of each other on a I'd say a pretty even footing. And yeah, that that was one I remember she just played amazing that day. But that golf course suited my game. It was just a lovely course when and she was a long hitter too, obviously. So that course definitely helped the longer hitters.

Mike Gonzalez 11:42

Yeah, there was a nice stretch of uh of the of the event being played there. I think they started playing there in 1994 and went at DuPont through I think 2004, so it would have been 11 years playing there.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah, and before it was the LPGA championship, um we played there a few years before as well, because I actually won the year before, so I actually went 1-1-2-1 in that on that golf course. So that was a certainly a golf course I absolutely loved.

Mike Gonzalez 12:14

Yeah, we we we talked about that win. So uh you know, at DuPont, you go uh uh not all the years, but win second win. You had a T4, T7, T6, T6. So you must have liked DuPont Country Club a lot.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Yeah, it was it was a it was a really nice core, really old-fashioned, big trees, lovely, small greens, but very undulating, really nice.

Mike Gonzalez 12:35

Yeah. Well, we talked about your big US Open win in 1987. Um a tough one. Was that a was that a a tougher adjustment for a European with all the the the thick rough that and how the USG would set up the golf course?

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Well, the thing was I went over there. My dad lived in America, he came over from South Carolina to uh meet me and my brother. My brother was caddy, my cousin came along for a for a bit of a holiday, and it seemed very easy again. It was one of those things. We turned up, wasn't it, uh making the cut would have been a huge week for me. And then all of a sudden we found ourselves actually on the on the Tuesday, we won the playoff on the Tuesday because we had a raid delay on the Sunday, finished the final around Monday, and I had 18 holes to play against Okamoto and um Joanne Carner. So of course I had absolutely no chance. Well, you know, 24 hours later I did have a chance and I hold that. I had two putts, I think, for about eight feet to win. I actually hold the first one. So it was all a bit of a blur because I I no one expected me to win, at least of all me. I certainly didn't expect I'd done okay in Europe, you know. I'd I'd had quite a few wins early on in my career on the European Tour, those first two years. I'm not sure how many it was, but it was it was enough when I was in contention. I felt like I had some game, but not at that level, US US Open level, but it just worked out.

Mike Gonzalez 13:55

Yeah, Bruce, we had a chance to talk to Joanne Carner since we first met with Laura. Of course, she doesn't uh have the fond recollection of this playoff as Laura does. Well, let's uh let's talk about the British Open then uh because uh while that was uh only a major from the year 2001, uh you've played in a few of those, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Yeah, this year will be my I'm gonna say I think 43rd. Truman's a 40th, so 47, either 42nd or 43rd open, and uh I've got I think this one at uh round round where I live at Walton Heath, and then well I I'll be 60 next year, and that'll be up at St. Andrews, so that'll probably I think my last one. You you can play till you're 60.

Catherine Lacoste 14:41

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

So if I wanted to play again, I'd have to uh I'd have to go and qualify. I don't think I'll bother with that, but it's certainly been a tournament I've loved playing.

Mike Gonzalez 14:49

So was your first one in 1980 or 81 then? 81?

SPEAKER_01 14:53

I think it was 80, it's at Wentworth on the East Course at Wentworth.

Mike Gonzalez 14:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

And then the next one I played, I'm pretty sure, because it was the Royal Wedding on the Saturday of the open. We were up in Newcastle playing. Um, that's my recollection of it anyway.

Mike Gonzalez 15:06

Yeah, so Debbie Massey won. Uh the first one you played in, that was at Wentworth. So uh I'm just trying to think of there are any of these venues. Because I think there's been 20 venues of the Women's British Open. Any of these venues that you didn't play, maybe maybe yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

I didn't miss one from eight eighty onwards. I didn't there was a year where we didn't have the open because we didn't have a sponsor. I think that might have been eighty-three or four or something like that. 83. But I play I've played in every every one since 1980. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 15:37

Yeah. So the the early ones, I don't know if they ever repeated at these venues, the early ones before you started. Fulford, Lindrick, Fox Hills, and then Southport and Ainsdale.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

I don't know if you played uh Yeah, well Lindrick, Lindrick we played. I played at Lindrick once in the open. It must have been I think Corinne Dibner won there. Um but yeah, the other courses, no, I don't think I ever played them.

Mike Gonzalez 15:59

Gotcha, gotcha. Well, it's too bad it wasn't a major, I guess, earlier on, but uh uh 43 of those, that's that's quite an accomplishment. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah, no. I mean it's it's it's the one tournament every year. I say people talk about the US Open, which obviously is a magnificent championship, then a bisco that was, it's now the Chevron. But for me it was always the British Open. I I I so wish I'd won it again when it was a major, that would have been nice. But you know, I won around Birkdale, which makes it feel like a major. And I know all the people at Birkdale, they made me an honorary member about ten years ago, and you know, so it feels like it was, although it's not a major, I know it doesn't count as a major, it was a it was a big win for me.

Mike Gonzalez 16:40

Yeah, and uh lately, particularly in the last few years, uh well, I guess for a while, you guys have been playing some sensational venues, the the the same venues that the men have been playing.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah, I mean it's this year's unusual in the we're we're at Wharton Heath, which is a Heathland golf course, really, and it's a very nice course, but uh it certainly doesn't feel the same as as when we go on the Lynx courses and St. Andrew's Troon, Lytham. I think Litham's for me the hardest one. I mean the bunkering round there, Burkdale, I think's superb. But they're all superb, but yeah, it's it's nice now that the women's open is considered to be played on Lynx Golf, which is what it really should be.

Mike Gonzalez 17:22

So moving on to the De Maurier, which um was a major from uh 1979 to 2000, in addition to your 1996 win there. You had a few other top three finishes and some close calls probably as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, yeah, that was uh that that was another one of the ones where I took a one-shot lead up the last. Uh it was up in the hills. I'm gonna say Calgary. We played somewhere. Um, can't remember the name of the course, but Kari Webb hunted me down. I I I I make a habit of bogeying par fives to lose a one-shot lead. She birdied 18, I bogeied 18, so that was one that got away. But the one I did win, I think was 96. Um, and it was the best best round, I always say the best round of golf I ever played. I shot 66 in really difficult conditions, and I think I think I was out a bit early. I think Lopez and Kari Webb, a young Kari Webb, were at the top of the leaderboard, and and I posted a number they just couldn't reach. So I always say that's the best round I ever played.

Mike Gonzalez 18:20

Yeah, and uh uh we gave that pretty good cover the first time we got together where you were able to give us uh more of the details, but uh uh four top fives at the DeMaurier, uh so pretty good record there, and then and then moving on to the the the final one that you were able to compete in, but again, it came along late as a major, and that was the Avion Championship, which started as a major in 2013. Uh I think you've played it in about seven times, but uh uh not necessarily in your prime, was it?

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Yeah, yeah. I mean the fur the Evian was a really good tournament. Well, it was the apart from the open, the women's open, it was the best tournament on the European ladies, the LET tour. And I I think I won the second and third edition of it way back in 90, I don't know, three and four, something like that. Um and then obviously it became a major. I I got close once. I I finished second to Webby and I tied with Michelle Wee. I think it was a major at that point. I know it was uh probably the biggest check I I ever won. So I think the month the prize money had gone up, which makes me think it might have been a major. Uh but whatever year Kari won it her first time, that that was my closest actual run at it. But yeah, never really got a chance to win that one.

Mike Gonzalez 19:30

Yeah, you know, Bruce, uh, in addition to the 87 professional wins, in addition to being a World Golf Hall of Famer, in addition to winning four majors, I think Laura Davies' legacy uh might be for most people found in the Solheim Cup.

Bruce Devlin 19:47

Yeah, and well on record she's played in it well, I think, uh either play or being a uh Vice Captain, what, 15 times, Laura is it?

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah, I think the only one I didn't was in Colorado when um who was the captain? Lotta Neumann was the captain, and yeah, that that was I I she rang me up and told me I got close to getting a pick off her, but she didn't give me the pick. That's the first one I missed. And I did a bit of Sky TV, did that? So I was actually there at the venue, so I I actually have been to everyone, but uh that's the one that I had no actual involvement in the team. So um yeah, I mean it's a it's a well I say that. I I've there was there's been others since obviously, but that that that Colorado one was I mean that was difficult to be at, to be honest with you, because I played in the first 12 editions of it, and then there I am doing television and you're not in the team room, and it's just it was just different, but certainly great memories playing those first ones.

Mike Gonzalez 20:46

And Europe took Meg Mallon and that US team down big time in that one, didn't they?

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Yeah, yeah, that was that was uh really good. I remember Holy, we had hole-in-one's, it was all sorts going on that week, and and yeah, and it was it went down to the last couple of groups, as they Solheim Cups normally do. We haven't had there's been a couple of blowout wins. I I think uh Minnesota, America beat us quite well, and but the last two editions certainly have been close, and that uh that particular one was a really good Solheim Cup, even though I wasn't involved in it. I really enjoyed it.

Mike Gonzalez 21:17

Yeah, well, what a record uh record for most appearances uh as a player 12, record for most points, 25. So you go all the way back to the beginning, and we've talked to probably quite a few players from these teams now, uh, going back to this inaugural event in 1990 at Lake Nona when Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Walker were the captains.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

That's right, yeah, yeah. I remember that. Um I think there was eight, only eight in each team. Obviously, I was I was in it. Ali Nicholas, I remember, played, and Trish Johnson. Um it was just a a bunch of European players that had no, we had no idea really, and we were up against, I think, out of their team, probably six of the eight. Would be LPJ Hall of Famers, let alone World Golf Hall of Famers. Um, and we got flogged, um, quite rightly so, because we had no business being there. Um, but funnily enough, the very next one over in Scotland, the I think the sides then went to tenniside, and incredibly we beat them. And I I always say that's one of the biggest upsets in sport, not golf, in sport, because again, we were just a ragtag group of players that you know loved to play and good European tour players, but we didn't have many LPGA stars at that point, and it it lots of Neumann probably and Alfie and myself, Trish Johnson was over there, but it was a big victory.

Mike Gonzalez 22:39

Yeah, and Laura Davies just won a smooth 3-0 on that one, too.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Yeah, yeah, I got lucky. I remember I think I played Brandy Burton in the singles. I remember beating Brandy, which was fun, and had a great partner in Allie Nicholas. We played a lot of foursomes together over the years in in Solheim Cup, and I think we had a pretty decent record.

Mike Gonzalez 22:57

Yeah, well, you had some wonderful captains, of course, on your side, Mickey Walker, and then Pia Nilsen and and Dale Reed for a while, Catherine Nilsmark, Helen Alfredson, uh Allison Nicholas, you just mentioned uh um uh uh matched up against Beth Daniel in 2009 when when uh uh you guys played at Rich Harvest Farms. Your first Forsom's partner, that must have been Allison, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:22

That was Allie, yeah, definitely.

Mike Gonzalez 23:24

1990. Is that when you took down Lopez and Bradley, or was that uh at uh Rich Harvest Farms?

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yeah, no, I think that that was that was the very first match played, and and uh so we were on the T and it was Forsom's obviously, and Allie uh Ali's I'm on and Ali was already on the T and we were both very nervous as you can imagine. And Pat Bradley was on the T with us, and we're going, oh my god, you know, because we didn't know we didn't know them that well at this stage, we just knew who they were. And Ali says to me, Well, don't look now, here comes Nancy Lopez walking up onto the T. So there were big galleries, there was none of that big send-off that they get in the Sol Iron Ryder Cups now. It was very quiet, very tense, and we went out there expecting to be you know beaten pretty badly, but uh we managed to take down the two at the time, probably the two best players on in their team.

Mike Gonzalez 24:14

I'll say. Did you ever think back looking back at in 1990 that it would become the kind of event it's become?

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Um no, I don't think so. I mean, that we had the the Ryder Cup in those days wasn't even what it is today, so you had nothing to reference it by, but certainly you know, the crowds and everything that goes on at Solheim Cup weeks now, yeah, no, you I don't think anyone at that stage would have even been thinking like that. It was for the players, it was just fun to play and have a have a crack at the Americans once every two years and see how good you were, really.

Mike Gonzalez 24:46

Yeah. What's your personal highlight as a player, something you did in the in the competition over those uh twelve times as a player? Anything really stand out, a shot or a moment for you?

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Um I think probably one of the best shots I ever hit in this in a solemn coup was at Saint Pierre when it was uh on the four balls, and it was really cold and miserable, and I hadn't even gone the range, and I decided I decided I'd just warm up by keeping warm. It was a chilly old day. And I walked out on the first and I and I was playing the Trish Johnson in the four-ball. I think we were playing against Pat Bradley and Val Skinner. Got a feeling it was them, and I hit Driver Driver in the middle of the green down the first, and one that we won the hole and went on to have quite a good result. And I think that that particular start always sticks out in my mind because you know, normally you go to the range, you warm up, you get everything sorted.

Bruce Devlin 25:36

No practice balls.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Driver driver straight on, yeah. So no, that was that always sticks in my mind. Obviously, there's there's lots of individual shots that probably helped you win your match, or it was uh yeah, but that that one sticks out.

Mike Gonzalez 25:50

Yeah. So you're heading to Espana then as uh as a vice captain this year for the 2023 edition. Uh you'd mentioned uh offline with us that the vice captain job is a little bit more low pressure than having to play or having to run the team. Uh what's your involvement leading up to it?

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Well, we have uh we have not that many um you know FaceTime calls with the captain and the three vices. Um and it's just really who's playing well, who have you seen, who do you like. Um Suzanne does all the well, Suzanne and the team at the LET, they do all the the main the main work of getting all the logistics into place. And for the advice captains, it's just whatever Suzanne wants, really. Um and if we've got any ideas, obviously when the because there's six picks, so that'll be quite interesting. At the moment, I think it's just too far out to be thinking who you're gonna pick because so much can happen, you know what it's like in golf. People get form, lose form, and with six picks, it'll be very fluid when it goes down those last three or four weeks. There'll be players that you think can't miss out, and then someone will push them out. So I don't think Suzanne's thinking too much at the moment, and I'm certainly not. I'm just watching the scores, watching the way Europeans are playing. And if Suzanne needs any you know advice, then I'm there to give it.

Catherine Lacoste 27:07

Yeah, yeah.

Bruce Devlin 27:10

Well, after the uh all of the uh Solheim Cup uh attendance here, you've played a little bit more golf, played on the Legends Tour, four victories there, two of the majors, and of course uh Mike mentioned it earlier, the inaugural US uh senior women's open and Chicago Country uh golf club. Uh you you snuck a victory right there, didn't you, just by ten shots?

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Yeah, that was nice. That was that was one of those weeks though. I pay, you know, you get weeks. We all know you get weeks like that. And and I just I played very well, but I hold putts, you know. I hold putts that I've been trying to do the last ten years on the tour to on the regular tour, and they just all went in that week because it was a good field, you know, Julie Engster, Trish Johnson. There was there was a really solid field of uh legend or senior players on out there that week, and it was just one of those weeks, and it it obviously it did seem I made the turn with about a a six or seven shot lead, and I still didn't feel comfortable there. You've got Julie Engster breathe in Daniel neck, six shots doesn't seem enough. So I just kept pressing and I remember I hold a putt on a par five for Eagle, the monstrous putt, over a hill, down a hill, up a hill, and in she went. And I think at that point Julie thought, well that's enough, I've had enough of this. And that was that.

Bruce Devlin 28:25

I would bet, yeah. And then you uh yeah, you didn't you weren't finished though in 2018, were you? You ended up winning the uh LPGA championship by four over Helen Aferton and uh Sylvia Cavalieri.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Yeah, yeah, that that's uh Pete Die course. It's a really interesting golf course, not a course I ever thought I'd do well on, um, and I ended up winning it. I played in it, oh I think we played there at least six, seven times. It became a major, but we had played there before. Um that first time, I think it was the first time it was a major um on the seniors tour, and it just went my way. And I I remember I played very well. It's it's a very it's an awkward golf course, and it's it doesn't suit if you're a long hitter, it doesn't suit your eye because there's a lot, the lot can go wrong. You miss a fair way in the wrong place. You're making doubles and triples. So yeah, I was pleased to get that win. And obviously, again, by then Alfie was um old enough to play in it, and yeah, that that's always a nice player because she's such a a great champion, Alfie. It was nice to finish ahead of her.

Mike Gonzalez 29:26

I want to take you back to this uh inaugural US Senior Women's Open and ask you a few questions about it because I I I think I watched every shot in that tournament. It was just so cool as the as the first one. Um, I guess the first question is uh, did you wish that the USGA would have done this a few years earlier?

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Um well yeah, I suppose you you would really, and because now I'm I'm coming up for 60 when I'm playing the US seniors this year over at Waverley in Portland, you know, this girl's gonna be 10 years younger than me, and it's how well Jill McGill won it last year, you know, she just turned 50. Um yeah, certainly 10 years ago would have been much nicer. But having said all that, that you know, the chips fell in the right place to win the inaugural one was I think quite special to have you on such a major trophy, not major as in majors, but you know, USGA event, doesn't matter what version of it it is, it's always a bit special. And for my name to be on there first is is was a lovely thing. So maybe if we'd done it ten years ago, would have been Inkster or Trish Johnson or or someone else.

Mike Gonzalez 30:30

It's it's uh that trophy's a nice match set with that US Open trophy you've got.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Oh yeah, yeah, no, the it's uh is it was something special to have, and they they let me bring it over to England, so it was in my in my house, and all my friends got to see it and family got to see it. So yeah, it was it was a really special win that to be honest with you. But I think it it meant quite a lot to me at the time, and certainly as years go on I'm finding it harder, you know, to win it again. Um yeah, it's a it's it was a good one to get tucked away early doors.

Mike Gonzalez 30:59

What did you think about Chicago Golf Club?

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Well, I I loved it. We played the practice round the when we first got there, I was out with Trish, I think, and um maybe Allie Nicholas, I think, played with us too, and not anymore, that was it. And we all we all loved it. I mean it was a lovely like rolling golf course. You you couldn't spray it because the long the long fescue grass, I suppose you call it, and those square greens, they they just look so strange, but so lovely to part. They were like I said, that week I putted unbelievably well, and they were they were dangerous greens. I can think of a couple of them. I think eleven was the one that got everyone scared, hitting even hitting your shot in there. You you knew you had your work cut out. But yeah, from the minute I saw it in that practice round, I fancied that it suited my eye.

Mike Gonzalez 31:44

Yeah, I think the the one of the things that uh some golf fans learned about you because obviously this was a big stage, a lot of television coverage, prime time, and uh uh for the first time some golf fans uh realize that you have a sort of a unique way of teeing your ball.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Yeah, yeah. I said I funnily enough, I played yesterday in a one-day event called the Rose Series over here, and I was hitting off a T and I was hitting it really badly, and I thought, you know what, I'm gonna hit it off the deck again. And the last two drives were absolutely perfect, so I think I'm going back to putting the little tuft in the ground. It's actually it started out as a very small tuft and the ball was teed down really low. Now I have it kind of at T level, so quite high, the tuft is, but it just allows me to get through the ball better, and I did it for my whole career, and I don't know why in the last year or so I've been hitting off a T and driving it badly. So the penny dropped yesterday on the 17th T. So I'm playing the Founders Cup in New Jersey on the LPJ in two weeks' time, so I will be ruining their T's for them so that they'll look out.

Mike Gonzalez 32:47

Well, you probably needed smaller tufts because when you started, you had much smaller clubheads, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, 91 I started doing it. I hit a horrific tee shot out to the right in um Youngstown. Never forget it. And I just got spooked with the driver. And after a while, my brother said, Well, you know, you'll hit a driver off the deck into a power five. Why don't you start hitting it off the deck? Literally drop it on the T and hit it. And that's how it started. And then obviously the tough got bigger and bigger as we went on, and and then it was just part of my game.

Mike Gonzalez 33:18

Well, we're gonna head out to Portland in uh in August. We hope to see you out there at uh Waverly Country Club for the I'll definitely be the 2023 edition. Um uh Bruce mentioned two majors that uh that year. Um but uh for the first time in your career, I think uh you're kind of slowing down your playing this year, aren't you? You've got some other things going on.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Yeah, yeah. It's you know, you get to a point 58 is way too old, probably, to be playing with these youngsters. I'm still gonna play, probably gonna play seven on the LPJ this year. And and you know, the way things are going, having having started commentating last season with us with a much smaller, I made the decision to to say to Sky, look, I'll build a small playing schedule around commentating. So I thought that would be easy to do. But when you go, my last tournament tournament was six months, well, yeah, it would have been December, so I played the Australian Open, actually played pretty well, finished 22nd, you know, so I was quite pleased with that. But I'd had three weeks in Australia before practicing, so I was ready for that. But now, as it's come round six months later, uh the ball striking's not quite so good, but you can't have everything, and you know, I enjoy doing the commentary with the with the team that I work with, as Andrew Coultard and Nick Doherty and radars out there on the course, Beamer, Rich Beam. Um, and it's a different it's a different thing now for me. So I talk about it. It's a lot easier talking about it than taking the clubs out, I can assure you of that. And I've I'm I'm enjoying it. I think you know, I haven't been fired yet by Sky, so I'm doing okay at it at the moment, and we'll just uh we'll see where where it goes from here. But it's yeah, it's a big commitment, you know, 19 tournaments. It doesn't leave much else to be able to do, but yeah, it's a bit of a change.

Mike Gonzalez 35:02

Did you get much good advice and training, or did they just kind of cut you loose like they did with Bruce when he started his broadcasting career?

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Yeah, well I was very lucky. I did a bit for the BBC back in well, it would have been 15, 20 years ago, and I was on course, but I did do a little bit of in the booth and I was in with Peter Alice. So and and Alex Hay. The master and Peter and Alex were really nice, they were really generous. In fact, in my office, I've got a picture of us um at Wentworth when we did a I did a bit of on course at the uh match play one year.

Catherine Lacoste 35:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

And there they are, and you look back and think of Peter Alice, the the great, the great Peter Alice, I'll have to describe him as that. And to have him sat next to you for the first time ever, it was terrifying, but he was very generous with his time. And if he thought I was doing something wrong or something right, he would he would just steer me in the right direction. So I did have a little bit of training, although most of my stuff with the BBC was on course. Um yeah, that that was a nice stepping stone. But now obviously you and you and Murray and and all the guys there, they they've been very helpful since I started, to be honest.

Mike Gonzalez 36:04

Yeah, yeah. So you're probably familiar with this term, Laura, because you you spend a lot of time over here on this side of the pond. Uh, but you to me are like the energizer bunny. You just keep going and going and going. Uh because you you're involved in a lot. I mean, you you you you've always maintained a pretty rigorous golf schedule, but there's just so many other things that uh you enjoy doing, that you get into that um that you're passionate about. Uh why don't you tell us about some of the things that outside of golf keep you going?

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Well, I just I just enjoy being busy, really. You know, I I did I have my junior clinic over here and seeing the young girls, and then obviously follow all the amateurs in the Curtis Cup and don't get too heavily involved with that. But you know, you you there's no point, you know, you're a long time where you can't do things, so you may as well if if someone gives you an opportunity, it's a lot easier to say yes than no. So I try and do as much as I can do. Obviously, now the priority is a little bit of the commentary, but yeah, just just keep busy. And I th I my thing is every day get out. I want to achieve one thing every day. That's all I ever do. But it might only just be cooking something, but it's just so you don't waste a day. I hate wasting a day. It might be just taking the car down to get it clean, but it has to be something I have to have something to get my teeth into. But um, yeah, it's uh it's it's it's there's no point sitting around. You gotta you've got to get out there and get involved.

Mike Gonzalez 37:28

Yeah, Bruce, uh this is probably as an extensive a list of honors and accomplishments uh as any guests that we've had of the 71 so far. No doubt about that.

Bruce Devlin 37:39

And uh what what I think is very interesting for people is that in 1988, uh Laura received uh she was a member of the uh Order of the British Empire, an MBE, and then she got uh CBE, and then she got a DBE, a commander of the Order of the British Empire, and uh Dame Commander of the British Empire. How about that? That's pretty fancy, Laura.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Yeah, you know, that that's the sort of thing when you know, when you're on the range with your brother when you're twelve oh, I didn't start playing till I was fourteen, you know, fourteen, fifteen. You couldn't even imagine if someone tap you on the shoulder and said, Oh, by the way, one day you'll meet the queen, you'll go up to the Buckingham Palace and that she'll pin a damehood on you and these other honours, and it's it's it's ridiculous, really. Just for playing a game and doing something I love, it's amazing that these sort of things have come around. But you know, it's uh it's the icing on the cake of of what's been a fun career. And you know, I I'd all these young girls I do these the junior clinics with, I just they've got to enjoy it. But you know, if you get it, if you're good enough and you've got a chance, go for it. Because yeah, there's some tough times and you not everyone makes it. But if you are one of the lucky ones that can do it, what a life it can give you. So I've got no complaints at all.

Mike Gonzalez 38:58

Well, in 2015, Laura was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. That induction ceremony was at St. Andrews. She was introduced by Charlie Meacham, but um I don't think you were there, were you?

SPEAKER_01 39:10

No, I was not. There was uh well the thing was it was on uh Monday after the US Open. Um and I made the cut. And and when once I'd made the cut, there was one flight from Philadelphia Airport that I could re I could get to and get home in time into London and then fly up to Scotland. I think the ceremony is about three o'clock in the afternoon. And um the airplane, it was so hot that week um in Philadelphia, the aeroplane, the British Airways flight I was on, it sank into the runway while it was well into the you know the jetway. Um when it was it had landed and it had, you know, doing coming down the jetway to people that come from London, ready to take us back, and it sunk. And that was me, me sunk. I didn't make my uh the the flight was delayed by some six, seven hours. Um luckily because I'd missed because I'd made the cut, um, the Hall of Fame people were clever enough to make me do an interview just in case of something that could have gone wrong. And I luckily did a a thank you speech via this interview they did in in one of the studios at the open and at the US Open. So they had something to play, but certainly Charlie's a great friend of mine, and I just think he's brilliant. And I just it's just a shame I wasn't there with him, you know, when he was introducing me. It would have been lovely to have been there. But I got there, I think, at around about six o'clock by the time by the time the main ceremony had happened, they they all went then to St Andrew's University for a for a big function. And luckily enough, um I got there, and obviously all the Hall of Famers were there, and I got to mingle with them, and I had a chance to just thank all my friends and family and everybody actually in that function, and and obviously thank Charlie most of all because you know he made all the effort to come over and and I hadn't made it. But anyway, it's it's one of those things, and it was just unfortunate. But the main thing for me was I made the cut at the US Open and I was more than happy with that.

Mike Gonzalez 41:02

Yeah, well, you got inducted with A. W. Tillingast, um uh Marco Mira and Bruce's good friend from down under, David Graham.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

David Graham, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. I managed to had a few pictures taken with those two guys that actually at St. Andrews University, and yeah, made that made the most of what was um a bit of a a bit of a hiccup, really, but nothing anyone could do it. We all know what it's like. Travel, travel can be a nightmare.

Mike Gonzalez 41:28

Yeah, in the same year you were recognized as one of the first female members of the Royal Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. And uh what were some of your other favorite uh awards or honors, maybe the most fun perhaps that you participated in?

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Well, I think you know, the going to down to the palace to meet the queen, it doesn't get much better than that. I'm a big royalist, I love that. Um yeah, I mean I've had I've had lots of honorary memberships of golf clubs, really nice. Finnspang in Sweden, where I played with Lotta Neumann at her home course. They made me an honorary member and they they did a little ceremony, it's just little things like that, and I've still got those certificates on the wall. It's you know, it doesn't have to be a grand thing, it's just it's just nice that you know you're recognized for bits and pieces, and I've got all the memorabilia around my house, and you see these things, and it immediately takes me back to Sweden and other places and other things where other you know Royal Berkeley made me an honorary member um a few years back, and it's it's just nice stuff.

Bruce Devlin 42:28

Yeah, so you've got some other interests too. I I I'm fascinated about one of them. I want to know all about this fast car business. What what are we driving today?

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Well, at the moment, it's I've I've kind of because I don't do much driving anymore because there's I didn't used to drive into Europe and stuff. So I've had I had a couple of Ferraris, lots of different M5, BMWs, stuff like that. But at the moment there's a there's a mini, there's a mini called a Mini W Mini Cooper Works, and it's like a really souped up mini. And so that's my car of choice at the moment. It's an absolute little beauty. I love it. People laugh at me. They see me in this mini and they go, I said, Well, you get behind the wheel and see how stupid it is. It's a really nice little car. But I've always loved driving. Um, yeah, it's one of those things. I'd rather drive eight, ten hours to a tournament in America than get in an aeroplane. I just enjoy driving and probably got a few speeding tickets over the years, but there you go, it comes with the territory.

Bruce Devlin 43:23

Well, if you like fast cars, you're probably going to get a ticket or two, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

Yeah, I've been lucky though. The thing is with these can the introduction of the cameras was the downfall of me because nine times out of ten in England that most of the policemen are golfers. There are a lot of policemen are gonna so they'll stop me, they'll run the number plate, they'll come up and tap on the window, and you'll wind the window down and and you'll um you know say I'm pretty awful.

Bruce Devlin 43:45

Hi Laura, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Oh, okay, don't worry about it, but uh stop your speeding, Miss Davies, and they let me go. So I was let off several times, but those cameras don't care.

Bruce Devlin 43:54

You're a big sports fan, and uh I understand you especially like to watch football.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Yeah, that's my thing. I watched um I've been home because I haven't I haven't done a commentary for the last two weeks, and there's been a really good run in the Premier League for EPL. Um so I've been watching game after game after game. Tonight there's a huge game. My my team, Liverpool, are playing West Ham, which is not the big game, but there's an Arsenal against Man City, which is a top of the table clash, which I'm looking forward to. Um but yeah, that's that's my thing. Watching love watching cricket, love watching golf. You know, anytime the the golf's on the telly, I've got I've got three TVs in my living room, so I can I can have three different events going at any given time.

Mike Gonzalez 44:36

So there you go.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

It's a nice little setup.

Mike Gonzalez 44:39

Well good. Well listen, uh as as we wind down here, Laura, with your story, uh there are a handful of questions that Bruce and I like to ask, and uh Bruce, I'll let you go first. Okay, Laura.

Bruce Devlin 44:52

Uh if you knew when you were twenty years old what you know now, what would you have done differently?

SPEAKER_01 45:02

Um I wouldn't have been so angry all the time when things weren't going my way on the golf course. I think I I think if I could have taken that, I'm not saying I'd have won any more or any less, but it would have just been a lot more fun than than being so upset with a with a seven at the last, you know, at the end of a round or something. And I did spend a lot of time quite angry and and unaccepting of a bad finish and and just just overall, maybe enjoy it just a little bit more.

Mike Gonzalez 45:30

I've got a feeling I may know the answer to this next question, but we're gonna give you one career mulligan. Where do you take it?

SPEAKER_01 45:37

Oh, it's a Mission Hills, and it's that do you know what it is? It's not even the three putt, it's the tea shot. Should have hit driver. I hit a I I kind of went to lay it up and I ballooned it way right with a three wood because that that was a weird tea shot, that one at Mission Hills, and blast the driver, and then if I mess it up from there, if I go in with my two iron or three iron and hit it in the water, I can live with that, but set myself up for a three-part. So I want that drive again.

Bruce Devlin 46:03

Fair enough. All right. Our last one is uh how would Laura Davies like to be remembered?

SPEAKER_01 46:11

Oh, I don't know, really, just um someone who had a bit of fun. And I know, I know I do walk I you used to walk around with a bit of a long face if things weren't going my way. You always knew how I was how I was doing on the golf course. It was either a big smile or a head down and miserable. But I think overall, I think you know, someone who really enjoyed doing what they were doing and knew how lucky I was to do it.

Bruce Devlin 46:34

Well, we want to say thank you, Laura, for all your time. We've had uh had to do this uh in a couple of sessions, but it's been an absolute joy to have you with us, and we thank you for your time and congratulate you on a fabulous career.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

Well, thanks for having me on, and um, I love watching all your podcasts with all these other great players that I've I've seen over the last you know year or so since you've been doing these. So, yeah, thanks for having me on.

Mike Gonzalez 46:59

Yeah, thanks for being with us, Laura, and we hope to see you out in uh Portland, Oregon this summer.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

I will be there.

Mike Gonzalez 47:06

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Lee Trevino 47:31

It went smack down fairway. Okay. It went smack down the middle file.