Laura Davies in confident mood for Mission Hills
RANCHO MIRAGE, California (Reuters) - Britain's Laura Davies oozed confidence on the eve of this week's Kraft Nabisco Championship, saying she was in the best form of her career.
Mexican world number one Lorena Ochoa is widely regarded as the red-hot favorite for the first women's major of the year but Davies is excited about her own chances.
"I'm playing the best golf I've ever played in my life at the moment," Davies told Reuters at Mission Hills Country Club on Wednesday.
"My confidence level is not quite as high as it was in the days when I was winning five, six, seven or eight tournaments a year but in ball-striking and shot-making my game is as good as it's ever been.
"I am playing well and I'm thinking positive. If I can hole some putts, then I will be in contention."
The LPGA Tour veteran has an added incentive to shine at Mission Hills where she is bidding for her fifth major title and a career grand slam of four.
"Winning here would be massive," the 44-year-old said.
"I need it for more than one thing. I need it to get off to a good start to the year, I need it to get into the Hall of Fame and I need it for my own personal grand slam."
Englishwoman Davies, who has piled up 20 LPGA titles in a glittering career, won her first major at the 1987 U.S. Women's Open before adding the McDonalds LPGA Championship in 1994 and 1996 and the du Maurier Classic, also in 1996.
GRAND SLAM
The du Maurier Classic was replaced as a grand slam event by the Women's British Open in 2001.
Davies secured her first top-10 finish of the season at the Safeway International on Sunday when Ochoa romped to a seven-stroke victory, her second win in just three starts.
"I played much better than that, I just didn't putt well enough," Davies said of her tie for ninth.
"I would never have caught Lorena though. She's on a different planet right now.
"She is on such a high in the confidence stakes and she's obviously a very good player. It's all about confidence. Annika (Sorenstam) rode that wave for nearly 10 years and God knows how long Lorena is going to ride it for.
"At the moment it's daunting if you're up against it but I'm of the mindset that she's the one I want to play with on Sunday because if you're playing with Lorena you've got a chance to win and anything else is just an ordinary week."
Davies, who has been paired with American veteran Juli Inkster for the first two rounds at Mission Hills, has always enjoyed the par-72 layout.
"The tournament course here is fantastic," she said. "It's one of my favorite three or four courses in the world probably."
Davies has posted four top-five finishes at the Kraft Nabisco Championship since making her debut here in 1988, including a runner-up spot in 1994.
"That was the year Donna Andrews won it," she recalled. "I had the tournament for the taking. I had to make par at the last and I think the tournament was mine.
"But we decided to lay up, I hit a poor third shot, three-putted the 18th and lost by a shot. It was crazy stuff but there you go."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
