England’s most successful female golfer, Laura Davies, is hoping to bounce back from one of the ‘low points’ of her phenomenal career with a return to form at this week’s UNIQA Ladies Golf Open, presented by Raiffeisen, in Austria.
The 43-year-old missed her first cut in a solely Ladies European Tour event in more than two decades when she bowed out of last week’s Ladies Scottish Open after the second round.
But the 35-time LET tournament winner says she has consigned her disappointment to the scrapheap of history as she goes in search of her first trophy of the year at Golfclub Föhrenwald this week.
“Last week was a weird week,” she said, after heavy rainfall delayed the second day’s play and forced some players to complete their second round over two days.
“It was the first cut I missed on the Ladies European Tour for 21 years (that was not a co-sanctioned event). Obviously that’s a bit of a low point.
“But it’s just one tournament, you have got to forget about that and get on with it.”
Another player looking for more favourable playing conditions is 25-year-old Bettina Hauert.
The German suffered disappointment at a wind-ravaged Solheim Cup in Sweden a fortnight ago, with American Nicole Castrale storming to a 3&2 victory over Hauert in the singles to retain the match-play trophy for the US Team.
Hauert, the current New Star Money List leader, is determined to make amends and build on her breakthrough season on Tour which has so far yielded her first two victories – at the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open in May, and the Finnair Masters in Finland earlier this month.
“I have my memories (of The Solheim Cup), and I know that I want to work hard,” she said.
“We always work hard and try our best. This is something we are going to do anyway.
“There are many fun, exciting memories, and some that will make me work so hard.”
Hauert and Davies aren’t the only big names in the field this week. Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson is among the favourites following her five-stroke victory in Scotland on Saturday.
The 33-year-old is also the defending champion in Austria, having edged Davies, her Solheim Cup Team colleague, by two strokes to claim the title in 2006.
Other top names taking part in the four-day tournament include the 2005 champion Federica Piovano from Italy, Solheim Cup players Trish Johnson, Iben Tinning and Wales’ Becky Brewerton, as well as Lisa Hall, who won the Nykredit Masters in Denmark three weeks ago.
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