Laura Davies, Britain’s most famous woman golfer, has urged Georgia Hall to develop a ruthless streak as she seeks to build on her British Open victory. Hall’s success at Royal Lytham & St Annes on Sunday was only the fifth major win by a British female.
Davies, a four-times major champion who also won the British Open before it was afforded such status, will partner the 22-year-old Hall in this week’s European Championships at Gleneagles. “The main thing is not to say ‘yes’ to everything because she’ll be asked to do loads of different things and you’ve got to make sure that you don’t turn up at the next tournament without any energy,” Davies said.
“She needs to keep some energy to play some good golf because the eyes will be on her now. She just needs to manage her time and I am sure that her manager and her family will make sure that she gets the time to do what she wants to do away from golf. That’s the only thing she needs to do. The rest of it is easy. She has a good team around her.”
Davies, now 54, says Hall has a better chance to make a positive impact on women’s golf in the UK than she did, simply because of attention levels. “A lot of people will have seen what Georgia achieved on Sunday,” she said. “Not everyone is going to turn out to be world No 1 but even if it gets people started at an early age, that will be a good thing.
“When I was winning, there was no TV coverage. It was a small viewing public. Television is everything in professional sport, we all know that. It is hard for people to get excited when they are seeing the odd article [in the paper]. In my days, that’s what it was.”
Hall insisted she never contemplated withdrawing from the Scottish event after Sunday’s win, and which she has now immeasurably helped just by appearing. “I don’t understand that [not playing],” she said. “I was asked that after I won but I had committed to this tournament. I know the British Open is massive but just because I won it doesn’t mean I should change my whole plans. I should still stick to the events I was going to play in. I just love golf.
“I’m extremely happy to play this week and I’ve never played here at Gleneagles before.”