Posted: July 10, 2015 9:53 pm

Laura Davies is just a salt-of-the-earth human being.

She appears continually happy while keeping up with players half her age.

That’s not really an exaggeration.

While Davies is 51, the average age of the players in the U.S. Open field is 25.

She is the only player in this year’s Open who played in the Lady Keystone Open, which was discontinued after 1994. (She won the LKO in ’89).

“I think most of the gallery were children when I was playing (in Hershey),” she said. “Now they are a bit grown up and have come to see me again.”

Playing in her 27th U.S. Open (she won in 87), she continues to play solid golf, following Thursday’s opening-round even-par 70 with Friday’s 2-over 72.

“I don’t practice to nth degree where you wear yourself out,” she said. “My wrist and my knee are a little bad, but (the knee) is just from playing soccer all those years, not golf. I just don’t think I wear myself out on the practice rounds. I really do think that’s a factor.”

Davies echoed the sentiments of most of the players, saying that if you keep the ball in the fairway, you’ll be fine. Miss a fairway and there’s a good chance you’ll drop a shot.

Davies owns 20 wins on the LPGA Tour and 45 on the European Women’s Tour. Certainly in the autumn of her career, things have not gone that well on this side of the pond this year. In nine LPGA Tour events, she has only made two cuts.

But she said she will know when it’s time to stop playing.

“As long as I’m not making a fool of myself,” she said. “And as long as I feel like I can win and I really do feel like I can win every week I tee it up. As long as that feeling stays around, I don’t see any reason to not go on for another five, 10 years. Who knows, I might play rubbish the rest of this year and decide that’s it, I can’t do it to myself anymore.”

Davies is OK on golf’s stage, but a real stage is something different. That’s why she’s a little nervous about her acceptance speech for being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Andrews, Scotland.

The ceremony is scheduled for Monday and she has some tight travel plans to get her to Scotland on time after Sunday’s final round of the U.S. Open.

“I hope I make it,” she said. “But first and foremost, I want to do well at the U.S. Open before I worry about the next bit.”