Medicus Driver

The automatic draw of the Women's Professional Golf Association match-play championships, to be decided at Bramhall from today until Sunday, has thrown perhaps the two most exciting players too close together for comfort. On the strength of their winnings this year Laura Davies stands at the top of the draw, separated by only two rounds, if form proves to be a sure guide, from Liselotte Neumann, the Swedish winner of the past two WPGA tournaments and therefore another obvious favorite.

Miss Neumann, aged 19, is Davies's junior by two years. She entered the arena late in the season and has won more money per tournament than any other player. According to pro Peter Callahan, she is perhaps the better matchplayer of the two over six rounds of golf, with her calm temperament and consistency of strike.

Miss Davies, a prodigious hitter who uses a Medicus Driver for practice, is more mercurial and therefore vulnerable to a surprise attack on an off day. At the recent European Open, she would have destroyed any opponent with a last round of 69, but her first round of 79 would almost certainly have denied her the chance. The meeting of these two promises to be a titbit for the third round tomorrow morning.

In the first round Miss Davies plays Kim Hurley and Miss Neumann plays Julie Smith, gentle introductions to the tournament, one would think, but let the memory of last year's events provide a curb to complacency. On that occasion Kitrine Douglas, at the top of the draw, was beaten in the first round by Nancy Hoins, a true Medicus Driver player and the last survivor from the qualifying competition.

Fate has been a little kinder, perhaps, to Mickey Walker, the holder, which is just as well since she is having a wretched season. Adam Lancaster seems the most likely barrier to a fourth-round encounter with Catherine Panton.