Port Stephens, Feb 13: Laura Davies shot a three-over-par 75 in the opening round of the ANZ Championship.
Britain's Laura Davies, the first woman to compete in an Australasian or European men's tour event, said she was tired and nervous after a three-over-par 75 in the opening round of the co-sanctioned ANZ Championship. The 40-year-old former world number one was joint 124th after recording two birdies and five bogeys on Thursday (February 12). She scored minus one for her round in the modified stableford system that rewards attacking golf. Davies said she remained hopeful of making the halfway cut. "If I can cut the rubbish out, make four or five birdies and then you never know what's going to happen," Davies said.

"I just can't play my normal game. I didn't sleep a lot last night to be honest," Davies told a news conference. "The trouble is, for these guys it's an ordinary event. For them they are just trying to win it and I'm out there under all sorts of pressure."



Davies is the latest female player to compete against her male counterparts. Fourteen-year-old Michelle Wie narrowly failed to become the first female to make the cut in a men's PGA Tour event at last month's Hawaiian Open.



Sweden's Annika Sorenstam, who won two of last year's four women's majors, became the first female in 58 years to play a PGA Tour event at the Colonial in May 2003.


Bureau Report