England’s Laura Davies headlines the €200,000 SAS Masters at Oslo Golf Club in Norway this week, where she won when the Ladies European Tour last visited Norway four years ago.
Davies, who beat Spaniard Ana Larrañeta in a play-off at the venue in 2002, has had four runner-up places in Europe so far this season, including at last week’s Wales Ladies Championship, but this week she is hoping to go one better by winning for the first time since the 2004 AAMI Women’s Australian Open.
She revealed that her next victory would be the sweetest despite having won the LET’s order of merit six times along with 66 titles including four majors.
“I’ve won loads but the next one is the most important one,” she said. “Not having won for two years now is becoming a bit annoying and I want to win.
“Once I’ve won I know I’ll want to win again and again but that’s just the nature of being a professional sportsperson. To me, if you don’t win then to me you’re not doing you’re job properly.”
After her second place in Wales last week, Davies overtook French woman Gwladys Nocera atop the New Star Money List and is now on course to claim the title for a record seventh time. Nocera, who has won three times this year, is just over 8000 euros behind.
“My big goal is to win the money list – I want to win that again. Obviously last week by finishing second I beat Gwladys by a few thousand euros and I want to win this week to make some headway,” she said.
Davies has confirmed she will play in the Finnair Masters next week at Helsinki Golf Club in Finland from September 1-3 and in the Nykredit Masters at Odense Eventyr Golf Klubb from September 7-10, which are the final two tournaments in the Volvo Cross Country Challenge (Volvo XCC), a dedicated order of merit for events in the Nordic region which carries a prize fund of US$120,000 plus a Volvo car for the winner.
The SAS Masters is the second event in the Volvo XCC and Davies said: “The Volvo Cross Country Challenge is an extra bonus and I want to do well in that.”
Annika Sorenstam currently leads the Volvo XCC order of merit, having won her own tournament in Sweden but the next highest ranked contenders are Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, Nocera and Davies, who are currently second, third and tied for fourth respectively.
The three-time Solheim Cup player Pettersen is playing at her home course this week and is keen to earn her second Ladies European Tour title. Pettersen last won at the 2001 French Open but denied that her local knowledge would give her an advantage over the field this week.
“This is where I learned to play golf but as far as having an advantage goes I think all the players will be well prepared so when Friday comes, everyone will be starting from the same position,” she said.
Pettersen arrives at the tournament in good form after two top tens on the US LPGA Tour and a third place at the Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika in Sweden two weeks ago.
“I feel prepared. It’s nice to be back on my home track. I feel relaxed and now I’m just going to enjoy being back here and I’m looking forward to playing with Laura (Davies) and Gwladys (Nocera). From now on it’s just a case of taking it shot by shot.”
Helen Alfredsson, the European Solheim Cup Captain, is in the field and will be making her presence felt along with the past captain, Catrin Nilsmark.
England’s Rebecca Hudson, the OTP Bank Ladies Central European Open champion and last week’s Wales Ladies Champion Linda Wessberg are in form and will be aiming to win again on the LET this year.
Kiran Matharu of England, who made her professional debut in last week’s Wales Ladies Championship of Europe and finished in a tie for 15th, competes on the Ladies European Tour for the second week in a row. Meanwhile Norwegians Cecilie Lundgreen and Marianne Skarpnord are also in the field and aiming for a strong finish on home soil.
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