Less practice to last a lot longer,

says Laura Davies

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By OLIVER BROWN
Laura Davies, fresh from winning her 73rd worldwide title ahead of this week's Australian Masters, offers the most powerful antidote to Padraig Harrington's habit of obsessive practising.
The Surrey-born 46-year-old - in her 25th year as a tour pro - does not hesitate to ascribe either her longevity or resurgent form to a scrupulous lack of work on the range.
"You see so many young players now injured all the time, maybe it has something to do with all the practice," she said at the Royal Pines resort, on the Gold Coast.
"If you want to play the amount of time I have played – this is my 23rd season – you can't stand on the range all day. You have to be sensible."
Davies appears a woman reborn in Australia, to revisit a tournament she has won three times. She has foregone the frequent trips to a nearby casino in favour of betting on horses and Premier League matches, where she has incurred serious losses as a lifelong Liverpool fan. At least it has helped with management of her practice time – more precisely, with limiting it:
"It means I'm getting older, but it's good I'm still competitive. Who knows, I might try to perform over five decades in 10 years' time."