Golf Interview with Laura Davies: Donald McRae finds the doyenne of the women's game more interested in making the cut than making feminist statements in Sydney this week
"My idea of a great week," Laura Davies says as she looks forward to making history tomorrow as the first women's golfer to play in a tournament on the men's European Tour, "would be to make the cut and not get on anyone's nerves. That would be brilliant. I'm not stupid enough to think I might actually win it. I know that's never going to happen, but I'm certainly good enough to make the cut. As for annoying anyone along the way, well, that's not the intention . . ."
It is already too late. Since it was announced two weeks ago that Davies had been invited by Steve Frazer, the tournament promoter, to the ANZ Championship at the Horizons resort near Sydney, some of the biggest hitters in the men's game have been annoyed, aggrieved and plain old angry.
Greg Norman dismissed Davies's invitation as "another gimmick" which rolls out the bandwagon started on the men's US Tour last year by the world's best woman golfer, Annika Sorenstam, and subsequently boarded by the obscure Suzy Whaley and Michelle Wie, the 14-year-old prodigy.
The most biting comments, though, came from the toothy old Great White Shark. "If the girls think they can play against the guys - and fail every time - that can't be very positive for the women's tour," Norman said while mocking the fact that Sorenstam, Whaley and Wie all missed the cut in their US tournaments. "All this can be very detrimental."
Davies is bemused by any attempt to describe Wie's phenomenal display at the Sony Open in Hawaii last month as a failure. The teenager missed the cut by a single shot while finishing level with British Open champion Ben Curtis and outscoring 47 male professionals, including Craig Stadler, Jeff Sluman and Adam Scott.
"Well," she says dryly, "if Michelle Wie turns out to be as good as her potential suggests then I think there's a chance that the men might actually want her to play with them. It would be like the reincarnation of Tiger with all the renewed publicity and sponsorship that brings the men's tour. As for myself and a few other players getting the odd invite, I don't see any problem."
Davies may have just slipped out of the top 10 in the women's rankings and not be the same formidable player who was world number one for three successive seasons, but she remains an intriguing choice to head this latest spat between the golfing genders. With her passion for playing football and cricket and her obsessive interest in most sports, she suggests the worst form of insult, and downright lie, would be even to joke that she has any archetypal girly-girl interests or searing ambitions to campaign for women's rights. Davies regards herself as a golfer and Liverpool fan who happens to be a woman.
Davies is indignant at suggestions she may have taken the place of a struggling male professional at the ANZ. "Those kind of guys don't need to worry about the odd woman golfer. They wouldn't have got the invite anyway. When they're good enough they'll get their spot in the field. They won't have to rely on a sponsor."
While conceding her own invitation is seen by many as a publicity stunt - and one which is clearly working because the ANZ would remain a relatively trivial event were it not for the furore surrounding her participation - she believes the increased attention can benefit all the various tours. Wie certainly dominated the week in Hawaii and greatly increased the exposure normally offered to the otherwise minor Sony Open.
Davies, following events from her home in Surrey, was transfixed. "I watched the entire tournament on telly. I was gripped. I must admit I thought Michelle might struggle. She really surprised me. The whole week was good for golf."
She feels scant sympathy for Scott or any of the other men who took a Wie-pounding. "I would hope that they're all big enough to just take it and accept that she's a great golfer. They should encourage her. I can't see any reason why anyone should get scared or defensive.
"I've been out on the range with Michelle quite a lot. I know her pretty well. She's a really nice girl and still acts a little like a normal 14-year-old. But when you talk golf with her she's very down to earth. That temperament is going to be one of the key factors. Can she keep her head when, basically, everyone around her is going to be losing theirs?"
Davies, at 40, is fully equipped to deal with the media onslaught which awaits her in Sydney. She promises to be unfazed by the attention. It is not, after all, the first time she has played against men. Last year, again as the lone woman on a special exemption, she played in the Korean Open where she missed the cut by four shots. In Australia she also took on Tom Watson, John Daly and Peter Senior in a fierce game of Skins. "On the last hole," she remembers, "John holed a 30-footer. If he'd missed it I would have had a 10-footer to win the whole bloomin' thing. But Korea was different. It was just one of those weeks. I putted badly and the greens were weird with some really stupid pin positions."
While it is likely that Davies would have accepted any offer to make her debut on the European men's tour, the fact that the invitation came from one of her favourite courses was a decisive factor, as was the "very appealing" Stableford format under which this tournament will be played. "It'll help me more than ordinary strokeplay. I also have good memories of Horizons."
She has spoken to Sorenstam, who played so commendably under intense pressure at the Colonial in Texas, especially after Vijay Singh had called her appearance "ridiculous", and emerged unscathed to win her fifth major the following month. "I don't think she's keen to play any more men's events. But if somebody offered her a particularly intriguing invite I'm sure she'll think about it.
"The point is she's so good that she can actually compete with most of the men. She won't win anything but she could make the cut most weeks. As for me, if I play well and another chance comes along, my attitude will probably be 'why not?' If I play against the men two or three times a year it doesn't seem such a big deal."
Even after "65 tournament wins and just under £4.9 million in prize money", Davies claims to be "playing as well as ever. It's just a case that, when I was dominant, the standard of women's golf was nowhere like now. Every year it gets better. It's incredible. But I'm still hoping that these next two or three years might be the best of my career."
Returning to Australia after 10 weeks away from golf, Davies has spent much of that time playing football, on her own floodlit pitch at home and at indoor arenas, or watching sport on her huge widescreen TV. "As for (Gérard) Houllier," she suddenly exclaims, "I think it's time for him to go. I get so frustrated as a Liverpool fan when you see the ball being pumped long game after game. It drives me crackers."
Before we get too embroiled in football chatter, I ask whether she has recently hit many golf balls. "No," she admits ruefully. "I haven't played since I came home in late November. This invite for the ANZ came out of the blue. If there had been some whispers I might have squeezed in a little practice.
"But I've got a few days to loosen up in Australia. Nothing that might happen after that will worry me too much. It'll still seem like a good idea for me to be out there playing against the men for a change. Whatever anyone else might think is totally up to them. I'm just going out there to do my best and play some golf."
