Davies suffers nightmare round

Britain’s Laura Davies suffered one of the cruellest days of her career today when she shot an 81 and dropped right out of contention at the ADT Tour Players’ Championship at West Palm Beach in Florida.

While Annika Sorenstam boosted her hopes of retaining the title with a 67 for five under par and a three shot lead, Davies fell from joint overnight leader to 12 shots off the pace.

The round had started so well for Davies when she moved two clear of the field by driving the green and making a 40 foot eagle putt at the 335 yard par four sixth.

But a triple-bogey seven at the eighth and a double-bogey seven at the ninth started the rot, and the harshest blow of all was a quintuple bogey eight at the short 17th.

Davies hit three balls into water at the par three and, understandably, was almost lost for words to

explain how she felt.

“It was the tee shot into water at the eighth that started it all,” she said. “There’s not much more to say.”

For Sorenstam, who had been suffering from an eye infection earlier in the week, it was a near perfect day as she cruised into a three shot lead over American Solheim Cup players, Meg Mallon and Cristie Kerr.

“I’m feeling fine now and couldn’t be happier with my position,” said Sorenstam who is aiming for her seventh LPGA title of the season and, today, collected the trophy for the LPGA’s Player of the Year.

Kerr had a 71 and Mallon had a 72 to share second spot, while South Korea’s Se Ri Pak, who needs the win to clinch her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame, was alongside American Beth Daniel in a share of fourth place, four behind Sorenstam.

Wales’ Becky Morgan moved four ahead of Davies after a 73 for 219, while the third Briton in the field, Catriona Matthew, had a 74 for 232.