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WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAYFebruary 13, 2012Gary BecknerRocco BeneLuke DonaldGerald GoodmanGERALD GOODMAN: I'd like to welcome everyone to the 2012 Accenture match play media day. Man, does that sound good to say that. It feels good to say that. I'm Gerald Goodman, the executive director of the Accenture Match Play. It's my first time and first media day at that, and thank you for coming. Before we get started, I'd like to introduce some people, number one, our defending champ, World Golf ranked No. 1, PGA TOUR Player of the Year and European Player of the Year, Luke Donald. Also, from Accenture, we have Gary Beckner, senior director, global event marketing. Gary, thank you for coming in. From the PGA TOUR, we have David Pillsbury, executive vice president of championship management. Thanks for making the trip, David. And Rocco Bene with the Tucson Conquistadores, our tournament chairman. Thanks, Rocco. Like to recognize also in the crowd, David Mehl, one of the owners here at Ritz‑Carlton Dove Mountain Golf Club for having us here today, thanks, David. And I don't see Ed Honea, our mayor, but I see a lot of representation from the town of Marana, appreciate you having us here in the community. Thank you very much for coming out today. I'd like to thank Accenture for its sponsorship and continued support of this event. Having a first rate sponsor like Accenture allows this tournament to be successful and our commitment to local charities. Like to thank the Conquistadores, the backbone of this event. I get teared up thinking about how hard you work and the commitment you've made to this community. Before I get started, I'd like to cover four things. Some of you have heard me talk about it before with the media, but I want to make sure I bring it up again. We're allowing cell phones all week long out here at the Accenture Match Play. That's new this year. Number two, parking. Used to be a 30‑minute bus ride general parking from the corner of I‑10 and Tangerine. We've moved that up the hill 20 minutes. We're at the corner of Dove Mountain Boulevard and Tangerine. With the help of David Mehl, we've improved parking here. We've moved a lot of people up. The town of Marana has a great parking plan. For the first time we're going to exit people off on Twin Peaks Boulevard. We've not done that before. We've taken you all way down. So that road was put in, I'd like to say for us, so we're going to exit off that road and we're coming up. David let us push a little bit in different areas, and we feel like we've improved the parking here. Number two, tickets, ticket outlets. More ticket outlets than we've ever had before. Before you can still go on to www.WorldGolfChampionship.com and buy your tickets. Great pricing. But we've gone out and gotten some partners here in the community. 22 area Frys stores selling tickets for us, donating 100% back to the tournament that we can give to the Conquistadores. Phenomenal. Costcos, ten local Costcos selling tickets for us, donating the money back to the tournament and back to the Conquistadores. So we have some great ways to get tickets. We just launched a new one. You can buy a Wednesday ticket and get a Sunday free ticket. The reason behind that is Sunday, unprecedented on the PGA TOUR, haven't done it since a long, long time ago. Back probably before they had ropes, we're going to allow the final group to follow the leaders in the championship match, inside the ropes, literally, if it goes 18 holes or beyond. So that's a new initiative. Know some folks that want to get out. You can actually hear the player talking to the caddie. It's going to be a great time on Sunday. With that, I'd like to introduce Gary Beckner with Accenture, senior director global event marketing. Gary? GARY BECKNER: Thank you, if there's only some way we can get him passionate about this event. Again, I want to thank Luke for joining us. And also, thank you for attending the volunteer party last night. I know it was a big, big thrill for the people, big surprise, and very nice of to you do that given your schedule. I also want to thank all of the media for being here. I mean, we have a great event here, and we know that. But we need people to know it beyond the people in this room, and you're the ones who help make that happen. So we really appreciate all of your support and hopefully it's going to be every bit as exciting as it has been in the past and even more so this year. We particularly like the follow the leader program on Sunday. Because whether you have 6,000 or 7,000 people out here, they'll all be in the fairway following the golfers down the holes, so we think that's going to be a really good image on television and a first on the PGA TOUR in a long time. The coverage of 500 million households around the world seeing that image of Dove Mountain and the Ritz‑Carlton and the Accenture Match Play Championship should be pretty exciting. Anyway, I'm here representing our 244,000 employees around the world. Accenture is a global management consulting technology and outsourcing company. We deliver technology to our clients in some of the best known companies around the world. We're extremely happy to have an opportunity to sponsor this event and to work very closely with the PGA TOUR with the Conquistadores. I echo Gerald's remarks. I have not met a more dedicated, more passionate group in all my years in golf, some 35, close to 40 years. Just a really good group of people, and quite frankly, one of the major reasons we came to Tucson in the first place. They are the backbone of this organization and event, and we hope that they'll continue to take advantage and be partners with us going forward. We're very happy to sponsor this event. As many of you know or may not know, we feel that we started the Match Play Championship back in 1995 with a company called Isis. At that time we were a company called Anderson Consulting. It was the Anderson Consulting World Championship of Golf. We had five or six regional events around the world, with the Global Championship in Arizona, Phoenix, July 3rd or July 4th. We did that for three or four years. We feel that we validated global golf. It was the success of that event that I think kind of helped the International Federation of PGA TOURs get together and come together as one organization and to create the World Golf Championships. And we were very fortunate that they allowed us to be one of the World Golf Championships events and to carry over our Match Play Championship. So that started in 1999, and we feel it's been very, very successful ever since. We besides working as a sponsor of this event and working with the PGA TOUR, we also provide the PGA TOUR with our technology services and consulting services to help them become higher performers. Many of you don't know, but many years ago we worked on our very first program with them and it was to help bring the official World Golf rankings into the 21st century. Prior to that, the one person who had the one computer, if he ever got hit by a bus on the way to his office or home, nobody would know who the World Golf ranked golfers were. So we helped put that on the map. Our second program with them, again, had to do with their anti‑doping policies and the need for confidentiality with all of the players and the doctors and the medicines and so on and so forth, and we helped the TOUR put that program together. And we're looking forward to some exciting new things, David, that we can help bring the TOUR into new and wondrous ways with the technologies that we have available. Again, we're very happy to be part of this event. Very thankful for the Ritz‑Carlton who have done nothing but provided us with the first class service, not only at the golf course, but at the hotel which is just totally outstanding. The Conquistadores, again, I can't say thank you enough to everyone. The players, we really appreciate them putting us on their schedule and coming, and hopefully we'll have 62 or 63 of the top 64 players in the world, and we're looking forward to that. Luke, again, for joining us today and last night, and congratulations on just such a great year and congratulations on your new addition, your three‑month‑old. So you've got a family growing. If that addition improves your golf game to any degree that Elle did a while back, I have a feeling you're going to have another great year. So we wish you the very, very best. Again, thank you all so much for coming here today. We look forward to the coverage that you'll be providing us, and the print and electronic media, we look forward to you being out here and helping us pass the word around. We're looking forward to a very great event, very exciting event. We love being here. We love this event, and we hope to be part of it for many years to come. Thank you all so very much. GERALD GOODMAN: Again, Accenture's commitment to this event and the World Golf Championships as a whole is well‑documented. As I said before, the Tucson Conquistadores are the heart and soul of this event. Without their dedicated service, this event would not be able to have a charitable reach here in Southern Arizona that it does. The Conquistadores will reach a milestone, 50th year anniversary. It's awesome. At this time, please join me in welcoming my friend, Rocco Bene, Tucson Conquistadores. ROCCO BENE: We'd like to first start out and thank Luke for last night. I can never thank you enough for you showing up and helping our volunteer party. That was one of the most cherished moments of my life, and I think for our volunteers it says a lot about who you are. So you're now Tucson's favorite son. So appreciate you for that. On behalf of the Conquistadores, I want to thank all of you for being here. It's very important we celebrate this milestone. The 50th year of the Conquistadores. We're a wonderful group of men that work very hard to raise money for kids. And I'm very pleased to stand before you and say that I am fortunate enough to be the chairman in this 50th year. I want to thank Gary Beckner. Without you, this wouldn't be possible, and we wouldn't be able to provide kids in our community an opportunity to have a chance. So thank you. Mr.Pillsbury, and the PGA TOUR, we're very appreciative that you've allowed the Conquistadores to be a part of this great event. To the town of Marana, who I've got great‑‑ I spent a lot of time with outside of this venue getting ready for the golf tournament, thank you for everything, and thank you for your commitment, and it's been an enjoyable experience working with you. The reason I'm thanking all of these people is last year we were able to give $1.348 million dollars back to charity, and that's tremendous. That says a lot about the commitment of the town, Accenture, professional golfers, and the PGA TOUR. So we're very appreciative. So the message that I leave you with today is we still have tickets to sell. We have the number one player in the world, and he's coming here to win it again. He's Tucson's favorite son now and Marana's favorite son. So, Luke, I'm pulling for you. When the little bracket comes out, I'm going to put my $20 on you. So thank you, and please continue to tell the world that we still have tickets. Look at this beautiful venue. Mr.Mehl, I cannot thank you enough for building this. This is a landmark in this community, and you'll be forever remembered for it. Thank you. GERALD GOODMAN: Thanks, Rocco. Now it's my pleasure to introduce our special guest today, Luke's coming off of a career year that saw him rise to the number one in the golf rankings, and earn PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors. It all started right here at the Accenture Match Play February, where he outlasted Martin Kaymer in the championship match to win his first World Golf Championship and his first PGA TOUR event since 2006. It's an impressive week for Luke never trailed in a single event. Never played the 18th hole, very impressive. Luke posted 14 top 10 finishes on the PGA TOUR, 14 top 10 finishes on the PGA TOUR, includes a tie for the Masters, tied for fourth at the Masters, runner‑up finish at the playoff in the Heritage, tied for fourth in the Players Championship, a very close call at the World Golf Championship, Bridgestone Invitational where he finished tied for second. And this is very impressive, Top 5 finishes in three of our four PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, very impressive. He eventually finished number three in the FedExCup, and wrapped up the season in Orlando at the Children's Miracle Network Hospital Classic, the last official event of the year where he won. A year that saw him ascend to No. 1 in the official World Golf rankings, and recently became a member, recently became the first member of the PGA TOUR and European Tour, to win the money title on both tours. The first member of the PGA TOUR, European Tour, to win the money title on both tours in the same season. To cap it off, of course, his peers voted him 2011 PGA TOUR Player of the Year. Proud to have such an accomplished player as our defending champion, and even more honored that he's made time for us today to kickoff the 2012 season. So before I turn it over to him, let's take a quick minute to look at some of the highlights of the 2011 year. Luke, would you come up and share a few comments about your 2012 year? LUKE DONALD: Thank you, Gerald. Are you for hire? You could be a good mental coach for me. You're making me feel pretty good. Obviously, it's great to be back here. This is really where it all started for me for last year. I mean, as Gerald said, my last win before coming here and winning was 2006 at the Honda Classic. So it had been a while since I'd won on the PGA TOUR. To come here and play against the best players in the world and to win in the fashion I did, gave me a huge amount of confidence. I'm very excited to be coming back here next week, and looking forward to trying to defend my title. This has been a great event. I'd like to thank Accenture for all the help they've done. Obviously, the money that they raise through the el Conquistadores is tremendous. It's just a privilege to be here and back next week to try to defend. GERALD GOODMAN: We'll take questions for Luke. Q. Could you address how the players look forward to a match play event as opposed to the typical stroke play that you guys experience every week? LUKE DONALD: I certainly look forward to it. I've always thrived at match play. The fact that we do play a lot of individual stroke play tournaments during the course of the year, when you have a match play event, it's something different. It's new. It's a bit of a different strategy to it that makes for very interesting TV. I certainly enjoy the challenge of one‑on‑one. It's a tough challenge it's a tough format, because you can have days that you play well and go home. I think all of the players really enjoy that difference. And match play, you know, different strategies, different feelings, every match you feel like it's do or die. You feel like you're teeing it up with the last group on Sunday in the match. That makes it exciting for the players too. Q. Could you go through the last year 2011, career making year for you both personally and professionally? LUKE DONALD: It's certainly my best year by far. All starting here, winning this tournament really gave me a huge amount of confidence, not just in winning, but the way I wanted. As Gerald said, I never went to the 18th. Usually in match play you have to dig out a few matches. It just seemed that year, that week, everything went smoothly. I was able to control every match, never get behind. I think because of that, it led up to a lot of the successes I had after the win. Also considering the match at Wentworth, going head‑to‑head with the No. 1 spot and playing well enough to hold on to it, and still being ranked No. 1 right now. Picking up another win in the Scottish, and my most satisfying win was probably Disney. Going there, and knowing that I had to win to have any chance of winning that money title, and pulling out the goods when I needed to. Those are the moments that define a career and make me more proud because I was able to kind of find the shots when I needed to. But certainly, yeah, a tremendous year. Winning both money titles, doing something that nobody ever had done officially. Those are the kind of things that you'll always aspire to do to create history and change the history books. Certainly it will be tough to match that, but I'll give it my best shot this year. Q. You are a goal setter. Tape it on 2012 and go I'm on the run, but what is setting in right now when you look at 2011 trying to match 2012? LUKE DONALD: The reality is it's always tough to follow a great year, tough to follow a great round with another great round. That's just the way it is. It's a challenge we always face. I'm trying to approach 2012 with a clean slate. I've got new goals and new opportunities, new things to achieve. I'll certainly take all the confidence I gained from last year and use that to my advantage. But, again, I'm starting fresh this year. Q. Luke, who is the player you'd least like to meet next week? LUKE DONALD: Well, it's a tough question, when you're playing against the top 64 guys in the world, no match is going to be easy. And over 18 holes anything can happen. As I said, it is unusual to go through a tournament like I did last year and not have one of those really close matches that went down to extra holes and you had to grind it out. That doesn't usually happen. Each match is going to be tough. There are a lot of players playing well right now. Rory's playing well. Phil played tremendous golf last week. But, again, match play, anything can happen. So it's not one individual person that I would section out. I think they're all going to be tough matches. Q. The second part was can you give an idea why you think European Tour players have had such success here in the match play over the last five or six years? LUKE DONALD: I think these things go in cycles a little bit. Obviously, the European Tour is enjoying a great and rich vein of form. I think we have the top four guys in the world rankings right now. I think a lot of the Europeans grew up playing match play as amateurs as well, and I think that helps a little bit. But these things go in veins of form, and the European Tour is enjoying a great run right now. We've had success in the Ryder Cups. We've gained some confidence from those matches, and sometimes those little things add up. Q. What is it about your game that seems so well suited for the match play format? LUKE DONALD: Well, a few things. Obviously, when I first saw this course, I didn't actually think it was that well suited to me, just because of some of the tee shots.  If you can carry a few of the bunkers that are sectioned on some of the corners of the doglegs, you can gain a little bit of an advantage. Which, certain bunkers I can't carry, certain ones where other guys can. I think it all equals out with the greens. The greens are quite tricky. They have a lot of slope to them. You have to be very proficient around the greens. Be very smart where you're hitting your iron shots to the greens, and I think that kind of plays into my hands. In terms of general match play, I just don't think I make a lot of mistakes. I think that's my biggest advantage in match play. The last thing you want to do is give away holes to silly mistakes, and I try to limit those. Q. You mentioned, Luke, being able to pull out the goods when you needed to. Are you at the point in your career now where you really start to focus on winning a major championship and pulling out the goods in one of those? LUKE DONALD: Well, since I first turned pro, the goal and achievement was always to win majors, and that hasn't changed. I certainly think my game is getting to a point where a lot of people say you want to peak for majors. I feel like if I continue to improve the way I've been doing, and I have been improving. I'm working as hard as I have, no matter what kind of game I come to any of the tournaments, including the majors, I'm going to have a chance to win and that's the goal. I had some progress last year. I had a chance at Augusta. Didn't play nearly my best in the PGA and still was thereabouts. So I saw some improvements and hopefully that improvement will continue. I'm excited about the majors. As I said, I've gain aid lot of confidence from last year, and I'm looking forward to the challenges of Augusta in a few months. Q. With the USGA and the R&A reviewing the belly putter issue, what is your opinion on that? LUKE DONALD: Well, someone who putts very well with the short putter, I'd be all for it. I know Tiger was speaking about it a little bit last week, and it's nice to see him showing some opinions about that. He's obviously very influential. His opinions get heard. I think it's something they are seriously thinking about. It's a big decision. I know when you look at technology and the golf drivers and the golf ball, maybe the USGA and the R&A felt like maybe they didn't act quick enough. Last year we saw a huge boom in terms of the belly putters and anchoring those putters. I think if they're going to make a decision, they need to make it soon. Q. Can you talk about how you balance the force of will? I mean, going into something you know you have to win, and at the same time having a mental state that's calm and in the present? How do you manage that balance? LUKE DONALD: It was tricky because before Webb started putting some pressure on me my goal was to have seven weeks off after that point, after the Tour Championship. I had five, and a lot of things happened. My dad passing and my second daughter being born, so it was a strange time off. But because I wasn't that mentally prepared to play that event, it was tough for me to switch on. Certainly you saw it in my game at times. I struggled off the tee and hit a few very loose tee shots. But to come up with great tee shots and great putting on that Sunday when I needed to, that was something I was most proud of. It does come down to a little bit of just willing it. And obviously the things that had preceded that really helped in terms of confidence levels, knowing that I had done it. I had won three times before that week. So it's just about trying to find that balance of feeding off past results, and knowing that you could hole these putts when you needed to. Q. There's been a lot of streaks in sports, but I don't think your 390‑plus, non‑three‑putt green has been give en the credit. How did you do that? That's unbelievable? LUKE DONALD: I don't think you're giving me enough credit. It was 400‑something, wasn't it? Q. Well, whatever it is. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, 449. Yeah, those are the thing that's I keep in the back of my brain that gave me added confidence. It's good having a sports psychologist telling you you're great, but when you can rely on things that you've absolutely positively done or physically done, that's really going to increase what's up here. So I have something I was very proud of. Again, I work hard at my short game. I work hard at my putting. It's been a huge key to my success. Obviously, when I did three‑putt, I had a three‑putt in Europe at the Dunhill, I was pretty annoyed. I wanted to keep that streak going. But, yeah, it was something I was very proud of. Q. Can you talk about the importance of getting off to an early good start to the season, what it does going forward? LUKE DONALD: Well, my first tournament I missed the cut, so I don't know. I know Phil Mickelson missed his first cut too. He seems to be playing pretty well. But joking aside, it's always nice to start off strongly. Maybe if I had played well at L.A. last year, maybe I wouldn't have come here and won. Sometimes a missed cut can get you a little bit more motivated in a way. But, yeah, it's nice to start well. Obviously, this win here set me up great because of counting in both Europe and the PGA TOUR. This really set me up to give me that opportunity to win both my titles. After this week, I don't think I gave up the lead on the money list in Europe because of this win. And that was a big motivating factor to try and win both money titles. Q. How important is that No. 1 ranking to you? Do you know how to do the calculations on that or do you have to look it up like the rest of us to see where you stand? LUKE DONALD: Well, it is important and it isn't. It's something I'm very proud of. To know that my best is good enough to beat the best in the world is very gratifying. I wouldn't say it's ever really been the focus of my attention and my goals. It's more of a process of the things that lead you to it that I'm more concentrating on. I think my goals have always been to continue to have chances and to put myself in contention to win tournaments and to win majors. That's no different whether I'm ranked No. 1 or 500. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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