GOLF / LPGA AT POWAY : Davies Has Only Irons in Her Fire

When you can hit a golf ball as far as Laura Davies does, who needs a driver?

Davies, a seventh-year pro from West Byfleet, England, is such a long hitter that when she began the season in a slump, she decided to forsake her driver and tee off with irons. She felt that she could afford to sacrifice a bit of distance in the interest of accuracy.

“I was struggling so much that I had to do something,” she said.

Judging from what the 27-year-old Briton has done in the first two rounds of the Inamori Classic at StoneRidge, her experiment is likely to become permanent. Her four-under-par 68 Friday gave her a 36-hole total of 138 and a one-stroke lead over Tina Barrett, who shot a 69.

Another stroke back is Robin Walton, the only one of three first-round leaders to stay out of trouble. Walton, whose loss of a contact lens and incredibly successful search for it made her the big news of opening day, added a 71 to the 69 with which she had shared the top spot with Caroline Keggi and Martha Foyer.

Meanwhile, Keggi and Foyer reeled to 75s and fell into a six-way tie for 15th place at 144.

Davies, twice the leading money-winner on the European tour, won the U.S. Women’s Open in 1987 before joining the LPGA tour. The Open victory made her an automatic tour member, and she has added three since then. Last year, though, she earned only $64,863, and this year she missed the cut in three of five previous tournaments and won only $4,630.

“It finally got to me in Hawaii two weeks ago,” Davies said. “In pro-am events and practice, I could hit my driver down the middle of the fairway. In a tournament, I couldn’t do anything.

“Luckily, I’m long enough with my irons that I can get along without a driver. I tee off with two-, three- and four-irons, mostly the three. I don’t carry a one-iron because I use three wedges and I want to keep three woods and a driver in my bag in case I need them.

“It was just desperation, really. The last time I used my driver, I hit one ball out of bounds, two in the water and one in a bunker.”

Davies said she used a wood for only one shot in each of the first two rounds.