Solheim Cup partners come to Singapore
created on : 6th Feb 2012

 

Laura Davies and Melissa Reid, who have been announced as the two invitees for next month's HSBC Women's Champions at Tanah Merah,  cannot wait....

 


 

HSBC, Women's, Golf, Champions, Reid, Davies

 

Davies, who turned professional in 1985, is a winner of four LPGA majors and a total of 81 tournaments around the world. Reid, who played in the Curtis Cup of 2006 and made the switch at the end of 2007, is a three-time winner on the Ladies' European Tour.

It was always possible that the two might be mentioned in the same breath for the HSBC invites following the way they combined as European defeated the Americans in last year's Solheim Cup at Killeen Castle in Ireland.

The pair lost a cracking match against Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressell on the 18th green in the first fourball series but, when it came to the second day, they had a win of wins over Brittany Lang and Michelle Wie at the top of the line-up. What added to the afternoon's achievement was that their point was the one Davies needed to pass the legendary Annika Sorenstam as the Solheim Cup's leading points' scorer.

 "The way Mel played and the way I played today, it was one of the best matches I've ever known in all my years of Solheim Cup golf," said Davies who, for the record, has played in every game since the inaugural match of 1990.  "Mel just puts confidence in you. She's always very solid and doesn't hit many loose shots."

Where Davies has always been famed for the length and strength of her drives, Reid stands out for the accuracy of her iron play.  At times, she is positively Tiger-like with the way she knocks one middle-iron after another down the flag.

Across 2007 and 2008, Melissa worked with Sir Clive Woodward of rugby fame on his British Olympic Athletic programme.  Among other things, Woodward introduced her to Dave Afred, the former rugby international who has helped Luke Donald to reach the No. 1 spot in the men's game.

Under Alred's guidance, Reid had to hit so many pitches of a given distance and so many putts - and enter the results on a chart which the two of them would discuss on a weekly basis. The idea behind the exercise was to help the player to measure her improvement in practice as well as in her tournament results. In Alred's opinion, far too many golfers practice without any real purpose.

Davies and Reid have been friends from the day Reid first arrived on tour. Davies was Reid's great hero and the two were natural allies in that they have rather more than golf in common. Both play a useful game of tennis and both are keen footballers, with Davies at one point having had a pitch in her back garden.

Reid only turned to golf when, at the age of 11, she was no longer allowed to play football with the boys in her class.  According to the caddies on the Ladies' European Tour who have played a bit of football alongside her, the explanation could well have had something to do with the fact that she was showing the boys up.

Reid reiterated at the Solheim that Davies was the reason that she chose golf.

"She was the first lady I looked up to and it's great now that I can say that we're quite good mates. Anything that Laura says, I take in. I respect her as a player and - you know what - she's all right as well.

"It's nice to have someone on Tour that is a legend like Laura that you can feel comfortable around..."

 

To which Davies replied, "Melissa's like the daughter I never had."

 

Without a doubt, both players will have their share of spectators at Tanah Merah.
 

 
 
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