Laura Davies facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dame Laura Davies DBE
Davies at the 2009 Women's British Open
Personal information
Full name	Laura Jane Davies
Born	(1963-10-05) 5 October 1963 (age 61) Coventry, Warwickshire, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Nationality	England
Residence	Ottershaw, Surrey, England
Career
Turned professional	1985
Current tour(s)	LPGA Tour (joined 1988) Ladies European Tour (joined 1985)
Professional wins	86
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour	20
Ladies European Tour	45 (1st all-time)
LPGA of Japan Tour	7
Ladies Asian Golf Tour	2
ALPG Tour	8
Other	4 (regular) 4 (senior)
Best results in LPGA Major Championships (Wins: 4)
Kraft Nabisco C'ship	2nd: 1994
LPGA Championship	Won: 1994, 1996
U.S. Women's Open	Won: 1987
du Maurier Classic	Won: 1996
Women's British Open	T8: 2004
The Evian Championship	T41: 2014
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	2015
Ladies European Tour Player of the Year	1996, 1999
Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year	1985
Ladies European Tour Order of Merit	1985, 1986, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2006
LPGA Tour Money Winner	1994
LPGA Tour Player of the Year	1996
GWAA Female Player of the Year	1994, 1996
Best Female Golfer ESPY Award	1995
Commander of the Order of the British Empire	2000
GWAA ASAPSports /Jim Murray Award	2013
Middle East Golf Awards Ultimate Recognition	2014

Dame Laura Jane Davies is a famous English professional golfer. She was born on October 5, 1963. Many people consider her the most successful female golfer from England in modern times. She was the second non-American to lead the LPGA money list. She also won the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit seven times, which is a record!

By 2018, Laura Davies had won 86 professional golf tournaments around the world. This included 20 wins on the LPGA Tour, with four major championships. From 1985 to 2010, she won at least one tournament every year, except for 2005. She was the first golfer ever to win tournaments on five different continents in one year. Laura Davies is a member of both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. In 2015, she was added to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Becoming a Golf Star

Laura Davies grew up in Coventry, England. She started playing golf as an amateur and was very good. She won the English Intermediate Champion title in 1983. In 1984, she became the Welsh Ladies Open Stroke Play Champion. She also played for the Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup Team in 1984. She decided to become a professional golfer in 1985.

Early Professional Success (1985–1986)

Laura Davies began her professional journey on the WPGET, which is now called the Ladies European Tour. In her first year, 1985, she won both the Rookie of the Year award and the Order of Merit title. She also won the Sports Journalists' Association Peter Wilson Trophy as the best new international sportsperson. She won the Order of Merit again in 1986, winning four tournaments that year. One of her big wins was the Women's British Open, before it became a major championship.

Winning Around the World (1987–2023)

In 1987, Laura Davies traveled to the United States. She won the U.S. Women's Open after a special 18-hole playoff against two other golfers. Because she wasn't a member of the LPGA Tour at the time, the LPGA changed its rules to make her an automatic member. She was only the third non-U.S. player to win the U.S. Women's Open. For a short time, she held both the U.S. and British Open titles!

From 1988 onwards, Laura played on both the LPGA and Ladies European Tours. In 1988, she won tournaments on three major tours in the same year: LPGA, Ladies European Tour, and Japan. This was a first for any woman golfer.

She also made history by winning the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International tournament four times in a row from 1994 to 1997. No other LPGA player had done that before. In 1994, she became the first golfer, male or female, to win on five different golf tours in one year: US, Europe, Asia, Japan, and Australia.

In 2004, Laura Davies became the first woman to play in a men's European Tour event, the ANZ Championship in Australia. She played from the same tees as the men. She also set an LPGA Tour record by making 19 eagles in the 2004 season.

Team Golf: The Solheim Cup

Laura Davies was a key player in the Solheim Cup, a team competition between Europe and the United States. She was part of the very first European Solheim Cup team in 1990. She played in every European team until 2011, making her the only player to be in the first 12 Solheim Cup matches for either side. She holds the record for the most points won in the Solheim Cup, with 25 points. She later became an assistant captain for the European teams in 2019, 2021, and 2023.

Laura also played in other team events, like the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge and the JCPenney Classic, which she won with John Daly in 1999. She represented England in the Women's World Cup of Golf several times.

Senior Golf Achievements

When Laura Davies turned 49 in 2012, she started playing on the senior tour. She won her first senior event, the ISPS Handa Legends Tour Open Championship.

In 2018, at 55 years old, she finished second at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup on the LPGA Tour. On July 15, 2018, she won the first-ever U.S. Senior Women's Open by a huge 10-shot lead. Later that year, on October 17, she won her second senior major, the Senior LPGA Championship.

Awards and Special Honors

Laura Davies has received many awards for her amazing golf career.

• In 1993, she became an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Ladies European Tour.
• She was named the Sports Journalists' Association Sportswoman of the Year in both 1995 and 1996.
• The Sunday Times also gave her their Sportswomen of the Year Award in 1996.
• In 2000, the LPGA recognized her as one of the top 50 players in their history.
• She received special honors from the British Empire:
  • Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1988.
  • Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000.
  • Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2014. These awards were all for her contributions to women's golf.
• In 2013, she received the ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award for being great with the media.
• In February 2015, she was one of the first seven women to become an honorary member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
• She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2015.
• In 2016, she became the first honorary president of the Parliamentary Golf Group. She also received the "Spirit of Golf" Award from the Golf Foundation.

Life Off the Golf Course

Laura Davies on the practice range during the Women's British Open 2004 at Sunningdale Golf Club

Laura Davies wrote a book about her life in 1996. She loves all kinds of sports, especially football. She is a big fan of Liverpool F.C.. She even organizes a yearly football match at the Evian Masters golf tournament. Once, she was fined by the Ladies European Tour for watching a football match on a portable TV during a tournament she ended up winning!

She also enjoys cricket and is the captain of the Rest of the World team in a yearly match against Australia. Since 2001, Laura Davies has worked as a golf commentator for BBC Sport. She even built a nine-hole golf course in her own backyard!

Laura has always been interested in gambling and used to work as a bookmaker's assistant. This led her to become a racehorse owner. In 2006, she walked 56 miles along the Great Wall of China to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital, a children's hospital.

A Short Football Career

In 1997, when Laura Davies was 33, she signed a contract to play for an American soccer team called Myrtle Beach Seadawgs. This was mostly a publicity stunt. She played in one game for six minutes. The team even offered a bonus to any player who could help her score a goal!

Professional Wins

Laura Davies has won many tournaments throughout her career. Here are some of her major wins:

LPGA Tour Wins (20)

• U.S. Women's Open: 1987
• Circle K LPGA Tucson Open: 1988
• Jamie Farr Toledo Classic: 1988
• Lady Keystone Open: 1989
• Inamori Classic: 1991
• McDonald's Championship: 1993
• Standard Register PING: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
• Sara Lee Classic: 1994
• McDonald's LPGA Championship: 1994, 1996
• Chick-fil-A Charity Championship: 1995
• du Maurier Classic: 1996
• Star Bank LPGA Classic: 1996
• PageNet Tour Championship: 1998
• Los Angeles Women's Championship: 2000
• The Philips Invitational: 2000
• Wegmans Rochester International: 2001

Ladies European Tour Wins (45)

Laura Davies holds the record for the most wins on the Ladies European Tour. Some of her wins include:

• Belgian Ladies Open: 1985
• Women's British Open: 1986 (before it was a major)
• Evian Masters: 1995, 1996 (before it was a major)
• ANZ Ladies Masters: 1993, 1994, 2003
• AAMI Women's Australian Open: 2004, 2009
• Pegasus New Zealand Women's Open: 2010

Other Tour Wins

• LPGA of Japan Tour (7 wins): 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996 (2), 1999, 2001
• ALPG Tour (8 wins): 1993, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010 (2)
• Ladies Asian Golf Tour (2 wins): 1993, 1994
• Other Wins (4): 1996, 1998, 1999 (with John Daly), 2008

Senior Tour Wins (4)

• ISPS Handa Legends Tour Open Championship: 2012
• U.S. Senior Women's Open: 2018
• BJ's Charity Championship: 2018 (with Trish Johnson)
• Senior LPGA Championship: 2018

Major Championships

Laura Davies has won four major championships in her career:

• 1987 U.S. Women's Open
• 1994 McDonald's LPGA Championship
• 1996 McDonald's LPGA Championship
• 1996 du Maurier Classic

She has also had many top-10 finishes in major tournaments throughout her career.

Images for kids

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  Davies at the 2009 Women's British Open

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  Laura Davies on the practice range during the Women's British Open 2004 at Sunningdale Golf Club

See also

In Spanish: Laura Davies para niños