Laura Davies decides not to play at St Andrews

07/26/2024 07:54 PM

At almost 61 years old, Laura Davies will not be at the start of the AIG Women’s Open in a month in St Andrews (August 22-25). The Englishwoman, a multiple Major winner and present at the 43 previous British Opens, felt that her game was no longer competitive enough against the best LPGA players.

It’s over! Laura Davies has decided not to start the next AIG Women’s Open, the last of the five Majors of the season. At almost 61 years old (on October 5), the Englishwoman with 87 professional victories, the only one to have achieved, for example, the double at the Evian Masters (1995 and 1996), feared that she would no longer be up to the standard of a tournament and a site (namely the Old Course) revered throughout the world.

"I just don't think I'm good enough anymore," explained the player who was knighted in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II. "That would have been great. I would have liked to stand up and say I'm going to try, I don't care what level I am. But I do care. That's the problem."

Laura Davies, who had not missed the last 43 editions of the British Open, was due to say goodbye to the LPGA in St Andrews, where she has been an honorary member at the highly respected Royal & Ancient since 2015. She will nevertheless be in Scotland at the end of August, but as a consultant for Sky Sports.

Still an amateur, she played her first British Open in 1980, at the age of 16, before winning it in 1986. Fifteen years before the tournament was officially stamped Major in 2001. Now "retired" on the "big circuit", she has not decided to hang up her clubs since she will be next week (August 1-4) in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) for the US Senior Women's Open. A tournament that she already won in 2018, leaving her runner-up, the American Juli Inkster,... ten shots behind!