Laura Davies has sights set on the Hall of Fame

Ladies golf could have done without the publicity generated by Helen Alfredsson last Thursday.

The player-tuned-pundit came away with a crass comment about the Clutha Vaults helicopter tragedy less than a week after the event.

Her immediate apology did little to repair the damage.

At least Laura Davies is still around to keep the golf played by the fairer sex on the map for the right reasons.

A professional since 1985, she turned 50 in October but has no thoughts of retirement.

“It really all started for me at the US Open in 1987 where I beat JoAnne Carner and Ayako Okamoto in a play-off,” she reflects.

“JoAnne played behind me at the recent Handa Legends event and is now 74! That’s how long I’ve been around!”

The big-hitting Davies was such an instant box-office attraction it led the LPGA to amend its constitution because she was not a member of the LPGA Tour.

So the LPGA changed its constitution to grant her automatic membership.

But, so far, the LPGA has declined to alter its rules that currently have Davies one Major or two regular Tour events short of a place in their Hall of Fame.

And the six-time Major winner stubbornly refuses to give up on her dream to do it by the rules even though the golf world lobbies for the LPGA to amend

the rules to favour her a second time!

“I’m still playing well. I just need my putter to regain its ability to find the hole,” she laughed. “It’s all about making putts.

“If you make putts, you are going to be in the mix.

“If you don’t make putts, you can miss the cut or finish well down the pack.

“But I’m confident I’m going to keep winning. I need two more points to get into the Hall of Fame. That is the No 1 job.

“I don’t think anybody apart from myself thinks I can do it and that includes my family. I still have more wins in me. Until I’m physically making a fool of myself, I’m still playing.”

Her omission from the Solheim Cup this year, after being the only player from either side to play in every event up till 2011, was a sad moment for her she admitted.

But she enjoyed commentating after things got brighter for Europe!

“Watching from TV monitors etc, was pretty unusual after 23 years of my life I had been right there in the mix,” she stated.

“It wasn’t much fun at the beginning of the week but once it all started and we started winning it became more and more enjoyable.”

With her CBE and OBE, Major championships and tournament wins by the score, has she any regrets or wishes that she might have done things differently?

She said: “Oh no, you can only do what is going on in your life at that time.

“Hindsight is 20-20. But the present is what counts, and the Asian girls are a huge presence now with the Chinese on their way and they are all here to stay, simple as that.”

But every cloud has a silver lining according to Davies, and you don’t have to look far for them as she points out.

“Suzann Pettersen had another great year and Catriona Mathew came so close,” Laura said.

“The Solheim Cup win showed we ‘ve some really talented players who can compete with the best, so it’s not all gloom and doom for Ladies golf going into 2014.”